16 September 2017 — Oír y hacer la palabra
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 59 viewsNotes
Transcript
If Jesus was telling this story today, he might well include other categories as well. What about the seeds that were planted in good soil but were ruined by acid rain? What about the plants that were coming up nicely but were bulldozed by occupying forces to make room for a new road? There’s plenty of room to develop different lines of thought.
If Jesus was telling this story today, he might well include other categories as well. What about the seeds that were planted in good soil but were ruined by acid rain? What about the plants that were coming up nicely but were bulldozed by occupying forces to make room for a new road? There’s plenty of room to develop different lines of thought.
But of course what Jesus was doing was not commenting on farming problems but explaining the strange way in which the kingdom of God was arriving. Many of his hearers were expecting something big and obvious to happen: for a new king to overthrow Herod, a new and legitimate priest to oust the present high priest, and in particular for a Jewish movement to get rid of the hated pagans who were their ultimate masters. None of that was happening, certainly not in the way they thought. Jesus was keen to open their eyes and ears to see and hear what God was actually doing.
Luke has already told us enough about Jesus’ public career for us to be able to see the sort of people he’s talking about. Here are the villagers in the synagogue at Nazareth, hearing Jesus’ sermon on Isaiah, but unwilling to accept what he’s saying. The word is trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air are snatching it away. Here is the Pharisee at table: he has invited Jesus to dine, and obviously wants to give him a hearing, but what Jesus does and says is so unexpected and shocking that he tries to distance himself from it as far as he can. The seed has landed in among the stones of his prejudice, and nothing can get near it to nurture it and allow it to grow. Here are the people of ‘this generation’ (7:31), who have other things on their minds, and don’t want a prophet like either John or Jesus. The seed has landed among thorns, and is being choked.
But here is a Gentile centurion who believes that Jesus has authority to command even serious illness to depart. Here is Levi the tax-collector leaving his shady business and following Jesus. Here is the unnamed woman whose extravagent behaviour shows that she has experienced God’s forgiveness and new life deep within her heart. Here are many, many more, already in the first few weeks of Jesus’ kingdom-project, who show that the word he is speaking is producing fruit. Here, indeed, are the Twelve, whom we shall gradually come to know in Luke’s story. Though he doesn’t highlight their weaknesses as relentlessly as Mark, he still shows them as muddled and puzzled, needing, often enough, help and new direction. The plants are growing up, but they are not yet mature enough to ‘produce fruit patiently’ (‘patience’ occurs here only in Luke: we may suppose that, from his perspective, the promised fruit did indeed take time to appear).
And here, too, is a group of women (8:1–3) whom the other gospel-writers don’t mention until much later—until, in fact, they turn up at the foot of the cross, lend a hand with the burial, and then are the first at the tomb. They have heard the word, and been healed by it (Luke implies that they had all been healed, not simply Mary Magdalene). And they have done the unthinkable: they have left the well-defined social space of home and family, where they had a role and a duty, and have chosen to accompany Jesus and his followers on the road from place to place, looking after their needs and doing so, moreover, out of their own pockets.
This is every bit as shocking, from a first-century Palestinian point of view, as the story of the woman letting her hair down and kissing Jesus’ feet. (The fact that Mary Magdalene is mentioned in this way so soon after that incident may be Luke’s hint that she was the unnamed woman, but there is no firm reason to say that she must have been.) One can only imagine the looks they would get, and the things people might say about such a company. But one can also imagine Jesus thinking of them not least as people in whose hearts and lives the word had had its effect, people who were already bearing fruit, putting life, reputation and property at the disposal of this extraordinary new kingdom-movement.
Look out of the window at the people walking by. What sort of soil is the seed being sown in today? What can we do to plough up the rough ground, to remove the stones, to weed out the thorns? What can we do to sow the word more successfully? The answers will vary from place to place and time to time. But perhaps the first and most important answer is to ask ourselves how much mature growth, how much fruit, the word is producing in our own lives. If we have ears, we must learn to hear.Jesus’ miracle-strewn Galilean ministry began to attract a considerable entourage. At the core were the Twelve. Around them was a large contingent of devoted followers, generally spoken of as disciples (cf. 6:13), and along with them a band of women who gave of their own means to support the ministry. Jesus’ human anonymity was gone forever.
Aconteció después, que Jesús iba por todas las ciudades y aldeas, predicando y anunciando el evangelio del reino de Dios, y los doce con él,y algunas mujeres que habían sido sanadas de espíritus malos y de enfermedades: María, que se llamaba Magdalena, de la que habían salido siete demonios,Juana, mujer de Chuza intendente de Herodes, y Susana, y otras muchas que le servían de sus bienes.
Lucas 8:1–3
Aconteció después, que Jesús iba por todas las ciudades y aldeas, predicando y anunciando el evangelio del reino de Dios, y los doce con él,y algunas mujeres que habían sido sanadas de espíritus malos y de enfermedades: María, que se llamaba Magdalena, de la que habían salido siete demonios,Juana, mujer de Chuza intendente de Herodes, y Susana, y otras muchas que le servían de sus bienes.
Lucas 8:1–4
Whole towns emptied to see the miracle-worker and hear his unique message. The parallel account in adds that
And again He began to teach by the sea. And a great multitude was gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the whole multitude was on the land facing the sea.
Otra vez comenzó Jesús a enseñar junto al mar, y se reunió alrededor de él mucha gente, tanto que entrando en una barca, se sentó en ella en el mar; y toda la gente estaba en tierra junto al mar.
Marcos 4:1
Some believe this crowd was the greatest yet in his ministry. A vast heterogeneous assembly sat in a great arc on the rising shore, facing Christ, who was seated as a teaching rabbi, while the sea gently lapped the shore.
“The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge” (v. 1). Some believe this crowd was the greatest yet in his ministry. A vast heterogeneous assembly sat in a great arc on the rising shore, facing Christ, who was seated as a teaching rabbi, while the sea gently lapped the shore.
It was an impressive scene. But, as we have come to expect, Jesus was not impressed. Today too, large crowds do not mean that God’s work is being done. Virtually any church in our country could be packed out every Sunday night if “worship” ended with a raffle for a luxury car. Mustang and Corvette Nights would always be well-attended, especially by the under thirty-five crowd, and Jaguar Nights would be standing room only, with the over-fifty group filling the front rows. People of the world love a gospel that is “good news” as they define it.
Juntándose una gran multitud, y los que de cada ciudad venían a él, les dijo por parábola:
But Jesus was concerned about his vast audience. He knew that many had not come to hear his word but to sample it, to see what was going on. Indeed, some had no spiritual interest whatsoever. In fact, some by their repeated hearing but not believing were becoming hardened to the gospel. So Jesus delivered a brilliant parable that, if understood and applied, would open his hearers to undreamed-of blessing.
El sembrador salió a sembrar su semilla; y mientras sembraba, una parte cayó junto al camino, y fue hollada, y las aves del cielo la comieron. Otra parte cayó sobre la piedra; y nacida, se secó, porque no tenía humedad. Otra parte cayó entre espinos, y los espinos que nacieron juntamente con ella, la ahogaron. Y otra parte cayó en buena tierra, y nació y llevó fruto a ciento por uno. Hablando estas cosas, decía a gran voz: El que tiene oídos para oír, oiga.
Lucas 8:5
[read up to …Ciento por uno]
The Parable of the Soils/Hearts (vv. 5–10)
Jesus’ earthly story with a heavenly meaning drew on a rich agricultural image with which his hearers were all familiar—a man with a seed bag tied to his waist, walking his field and rhythmically casting the seed. “Seed” was a proper and powerful symbol of the Word of God springing to life. Within every seed there is almost infinite potential for life, and God’s Word is seed par excellence because it can sprout forth in eternal life! The “farmer” is, of course, Christ and anyone else who puts forth God’s Word, whether in preaching or personal conversation. The “soil” represents the varying conditions of the human hearts on which the seed is tossed.
As the sower casts his seed, some falls on the roadside junto al camino, and the birds flutter down and steal it away. He casts again, and it lands on rocky soil sobre la piedra, where it quickly sprouts, only to wilt in the Palestinian sun. The sower throws seed in another direction, and it falls among thorns entre espinos, where it is choked, and growth is strangled. Other seed is tossed onto good soil buena tierra, where it marvelously multiplies 100 times! End of parable.
Then Jesus called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (v. 8).
Y otra parte cayó en buena tierra, y nació y llevó fruto a ciento por uno. Hablando estas cosas, decía a gran voz: El que tiene oídos para oír, oiga.
[begin with …Hablando estas cosas]
Jesus was the Word incarnate, God’s ultimate communication. His every fiber longed for his hearers to comprehend his spoken words that day.
But sadly, not everyone had ears to hear. Some understood, but many were perplexed. Even some of Jesus’ followers were in the dark.
Y sus discípulos le preguntaron, diciendo: ¿Qué significa esta parábola?
Verse 9 tells us that they began asking him about the parable, and Jesus responded with one of his famous “hard sayings”:
Y él dijo: A vosotros os es dado conocer los misterios del reino de Dios; pero a los otros por parábolas, para que viendo no vean, y oyendo no entiendan.
“The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, ‘though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand’ ” (v. 10).
What did Jesus’ mysterious pronouncement mean? The sixth chapter of Isaiah sheds some light on this because Jesus’ words allude to it. There we find the record of Isaiah’s great encounter with God in the temple:
En el año que murió el rey Uzías vi yo al Señor sentado sobre un trono alto y sublime, y sus faldas llenaban el templo.
The result of this holy confrontation was Isaiah’s call and his acceptance:
Después oí la voz del Señor, que decía: ¿A quién enviaré, y quién irá por nosotros? Entonces respondí yo: Heme aquí, envíame a mí.
Isa
This is then followed by the oddest commission ever given to a prophet (at least it appears that way on the surface) because Isaiah is told to charge the people not to understand and thus to make their hearts hard:
“In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple” (). The result of this holy confrontation was Isaiah’s call and his acceptance: “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’ ” (v. 8).
“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’ ” (v. 8).
This is then followed by the oddest commission ever given to a prophet (at least it appears that way on the surface) because Isaiah is told to charge the people not to understand and thus to make their hearts hard:
Y dijo: Anda, y di a este pueblo: Oíd bien, y no entendáis; ved por cierto, mas no comprendáis. Engruesa el corazón de este pueblo, y agrava sus oídos, y ciega sus ojos, para que no vea con sus ojos, ni oiga con sus oídos, ni su corazón entienda, ni se convierta, y haya para él sanidad.
Isaías 6:9–10
How did Isaiah obey this strange commission? Certainly not by preaching with obscure expressions and complex reasoning. On the contrary, Isaiah’s preaching was plain, systematic, and reasoned. In fact, “the sophisticates of his day scorned him as fit only to conduct a kindergarten.” They disdained him, saying,
“Go and tell this people: ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” (vv. 9, 10)
¿A quién se enseñará ciencia, o a quién se hará entender doctrina? ¿A los destetados? ¿a los arrancados de los pechos? Porque mandamiento tras mandamiento, mandato sobre mandato, renglón tras renglón, línea sobre línea, un poquito allí, otro poquito allá;
Isaías
So Isaiah fulfilled his commission to blind and harden the people by clearly preaching the truth, and when they rejected it he preached it again in the clearest form possible, so that their repeated rejections effected an increased hardness of heart. Some hearts were so hardened that they went beyond the point of response.
How did Isaiah obey this strange commission? Certainly not by preaching with obscure expressions and complex reasoning. On the contrary, Isaiah’s preaching was plain, systematic, and reasoned. In fact, “the sophisticates of his day scorned him as fit only to conduct a kindergarten.” They disdained him, saying, “Who is it he is trying to teach? To whom is he explaining his message? To children weaned from their milk, to those just taken from the breast? For it is: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there” (, ).
“Who is it he is trying to teach? To whom is he explaining his message? To children weaned from their milk, to those just taken from the breast? For it is: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there” (, ).
So Isaiah fulfilled his commission to blind and harden the people by clearly preaching the truth, and when they rejected it he preached it again in the clearest form possible, so that their repeated rejections effected an increased hardness of heart. Some hearts were so hardened that they went beyond the point of response.
Further light on what Jesus means in Luke is provided by the parallel account of the sower in , , which also references :
Porque a cualquiera que tiene, se le dará, y tendrá más; pero al que no tiene, aun lo que tiene le será quitado. Por eso les hablo por parábolas: porque viendo no ven, y oyendo no oyen, ni entienden.
In essence Jesus was saying that the condition of one’s heart determines whether there is any receptivity to the truth. Many people, especially the religious leaders, had heard straightforward teaching from Jesus that they rejected, and thus ultimately the truth would be taken away from them. Those who receive truth and act upon it will receive more. But those who reject truth will ultimately lose the little they have. The parables were full of truth, but for truth-rejecting people, they became increasingly inscrutable inescrutable (que no se puede saber ni averiguar).
“Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. This is why I speak to them in parables: Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.” In essence Jesus was saying that the condition of one’s heart determines whether there is any receptivity to the truth. Many people, especially the religious leaders, had heard straightforward teaching from Jesus that they rejected, and thus ultimately the truth would be taken away from them. Those who receive truth and act upon it will receive more. But those who reject truth will ultimately lose the little they have. The parables were full of truth, but for truth-rejecting people, they became increasingly inscrutable.
This principle has parallels in other areas of life. Physically, if we fail to exercise a muscle, we will one day lose its use. If we fail to use our intellectual powers, the time will come when we will not be able to summon their full powers. The principle in hearing God’s Word, then, is “Use it or lose it,” or more exactly, “Do it or lose it!” Usalo o pierdelo....Haslo o pierdelo
This is by no means an easy task. The first step of listening is hard enough. I have great sympathy for Eutychus Eutico, the young man described in who fell asleep while Paul was preaching and unfortunately was sitting on the sill of a third-floor window, from which he fell to his death. Though he was then healed by Paul, I feel sorry for Eutychus on several counts. First, he fell asleep listening to the Apostle Paul! Second, because of the unhappy results. And third, because Luke was there to write down the whole embarrassing account!
There is one thing I am sure of after thirty years in the ministry: on any given Sabbath some are in danger of falling asleep in church. You would be amazed at what the pastors can see. I have seen people fall asleep and bump their heads on the pew in front of them. I have been sitting on the platform when one of my associates dozed off and dropped his hymnal. I have heard people awaken with a snort. In one congregation a young man slept in the front row every Sunday. Before I could get through the introduction, his eyes closed, his head tilted, and he was gone. The most memorable instance, however, was the Sunday both he and his wife fell asleep with their heads propped against one another. I have heard a preacher tell of an elder who fell asleep, and when his wife nudged him during the service, he stood and pronounced the benediction!
I have great sympathy for those who have trouble staying awake in church. Some work such trying schedules that when they sit down, it is the first time they have relaxed all week. Others are sometimes the victims of medication.
Falling asleep in church really does not concern me. It can happen for any number of reasons, both good and bad. What does concern me are the thousands who warm a pew every Lord’s Day with their bodies awake but their souls asleep. Some churchgoers pay more attention to television commercials than to the Word of God.
But God’s Word demands more than listening—it demands doing. If we consider ourselves believers, we must determine to always respond to God’s truth as we read it or hear it from another believer or from the pulpit. An excellent spiritual discipline is to respond to God’s truth with action, be it ever so small. Use it or lose it!”—our response brings certain vengeance or certain blessing.
Alone with his followers (cf. ), after his sobering pronouncements, Jesus graciously explained the parable. Essentially there were, and are, four kinds of hearts that hear God’s Word: a hard heart, a shallow heart, an infested heart, and a good heart un corazón duro, poco prufundo(superficial), infestado, y bueno. All four hearts were present in the large crowd that listened to Jesus that day, and they are present in every large assembly of the church today. Jesus wanted his hearers to truly listen. This is a divine cri de coeur, a cry of the heart, to us today.
The Parable Explained (vv. 11–15)
Hard Hearts
The Lord began by explaining about the seed cast along the path:
Esta es, pues, la parábola: La semilla es la palabra de Dios. Y los de junto al camino son los que oyen, y luego viene el diablo y quita de su corazón la palabra, para que no crean y se salven.
The farmers’ fields in ancient Palestine were long, narrow largo y estrecho, often serpentine strips divided by paths that became beaten as hard as pavement by the feet, hooves, and wheels of those who used them. The seeds merely bounced on these paths and were swept back and forth by the winds of nature and commerce.
“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they cannot believe and be saved” (vv. 11, 12). The farmers’ fields in ancient Palestine were long, narrow, often serpentine strips divided by paths that became beaten as hard as pavement by the feet, hooves, and wheels of those who used them. The seeds merely bounced on these paths and were swept back and forth by the winds of nature and commerce.
These hard, beaten paths are emblematic of some people who hear God’s Word. The footfalls of their own busy comings and goings and the incessant traffic of life have so hardened them that nothing in God’s truth stirs them. If the thought regarding where they came from or where they are going even occurs to them, they dismiss it as “too hard.” The same method is applied to Scripture’s declarations about death and eternity—“Headache stuff!” Sin? “Everybody does it. So why should I be concerned?”
Life for many is no more than a sports page and a beer, or a fishing pole, or a movie magazine and an hour at the beauty shop, or a spin in the car. There may be no obvious major sin, but there is no interest in God or his Word either. Life is crowded with other things.
Into this world to eat and to sleep, And to know no reason why he was born. Save to consume the corn, Devour the cattle, flock and fish, And leave behind an empty dish.
And to know no reason why he was born.
Save to consume the corn,
Devour the cattle, flock and fish,
And leave behind an empty dish.
Some of the hard-hearted may be more sophisticated. They have drunk freely from a loose set of attitudes and ideas known as modernity. They are not interested in God’s Word because they don’t believe objective truth can be known. They worship technology brilliance and substitute it for God. They rarely ever pursue the logical end of their presuppositions. They may be hostile, but very often they are simply uninterested. Their hearts are as hard as nails and dulled of all feeling by the busyness of life. As the truth bounces on the hardened surface of their lives, Satan comes with a fluttering, chirping interest—some busy excitement perhaps, maybe some gossip chisme—and flies away with the life-giving seed.
This ground needs to be broken up la tierra necesita ser arad. Most often, the plowing that is needed is some pain or stress or trial to soften the hardness of men’s lives to the seed of God’s truth. This is how grace came to many of us. Difficulties made us quit our spirit-dulling busyness, and then the Word of God fell powerfully into the broken ground of our lives. Hard hearts need to be plowed by sorrow and disappointment so God’s Word can take root.
Shallow Hearts Superficial
Next our Lord explained about the seed sown on rock:
Los de sobre la piedra son los que habiendo oído, reciben la palabra con gozo; pero éstos no tienen raíces; creen por algún tiempo, y en el tiempo de la prueba se apartan.
In Palestine much of the land is a thin two- or three-inch veneer of soil over limestone bedrock piedra caliza. When seed fell there, the warm sun quickly heated the seed in the shallow soil, so that the seed sprouted with feverish growth. But then the sun continued to beat down, the seed’s roots hit bedrock piedra, and it withered and died marchita y muere. The same phenomenon occurs in the quick death of grass on the shallow shoulders of expressways.
“Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away” (v. 13). In Palestine much of the land is a thin two- or three-inch veneer of soil over limestone bedrock. When seed fell there, the warm sun quickly heated the seed in the shallow soil, so that the seed sprouted with feverish growth. But then the sun continued to beat down, the seed’s roots hit bedrock, and it withered and died. The same phenomenon occurs in the quick death of grass on the shallow shoulders of expressways.
I have seen this withering effect take its tragic toll in a number of lives over the years. On one occasion I saw a young man make a dazzling profession of Christ. In a few weeks he was speaking boldly everywhere, dominating testimony meetings, reproving older Christians for their coldness. But then he broke his leg, cursed God and his people for his condition, attempted vindictive litigation on an innocent property owner, and abruptly fell away from following Christ.
In retrospect, the problem was apparently that he had had a shallow superficial emotional response to Christ that never truly penetrated his heart. When affliction came, there was immediate rejection, and the greening ceased. I am convinced that this is what makes so many enemies of the faith what they are. Too many have emotionally tasted something of God’s power, but not true conversion—“half-Christians,” we might say. Falling away, they become bitter and jaundiced se vuelven amargos—and remain terribly lost.
Affliction, like the sun, brings growth to roots in good soil but withers all shallow profession of faith. Helmut Thielicke, one of the great minds and personalities of evangelical Christianity, aptly comments:
There is nothing more cheering than transformed Christian people and there is nothing more disintegrating than people who have been merely “brushed” by Christianity, people who have been sown with a thousand seeds but in whose lives there is no depth and no rootage. Therefore, they fall when the first whirlwind comes along. It is the half-Christians who always flop in the face of the first catastrophe that happens, because their dry intellectuality and their superficial emotionalism do not stand the test. So even that which they think they have is taken away from them. This is the wood from which the anti-Christians too are cut. They are almost always former half-Christians. A person who lets Jesus only halfway into his heart is far poorer than a one hundred percent worldling. No hay nada más animador que el pueblo cristiano transformado y no hay nada más desanimador que las personas que han sido simplemente "tocadas" por el cristianismo, personas que han sido sembradas con mil semillas pero en cuyas vidas no hay profundidad y la raiz no cree. Por lo tanto, caen cuando llega el primer torbellino. Son los medios cristianos quienes siempre fracasan frente a la primera catástrofe que sucede, porque su intelectualidad seca y su emocionalidad superficial no resistirán la prueba. Así que incluso lo que piensan que tienen se les quita. Este es el palo de donde salen las astillas de los anticristianos. Son casi siempre antiguos medio-cristianos. Una persona que deja que Jesús entre solo a medias en su corazón es mucho más pobre que una persona que es cien por ciento mundano.
Certainly authentic faith involves great emotion. An emotionless faith is crippled and may be bogus. But true faith puts down deep sustaining roots in the mind and the will.
Half-Christians have had an emotional response to God’s Word, a temporary greening of the soul. Perhaps some well-meaning but ill-advised person told them, “Now you’re a Christian. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.” But their faith shriveled when hard times came. There was no real life, and their soul still needs to come to Christ.
Infested Hearts
Next Jesus explained the image of the sower casting his seed among the thorns:
La que cayó entre espinos, éstos son los que oyen, pero yéndose, son ahogados por los afanes y las riquezas y los placeres de la vida, y no llevan fruto.
When the seed is sown sembrada on this soil, then watered regada and germinated y germina, the entrenched thorns also sprout and grow with a virulent violence, choking out the seed ahogan la semilla before it can produce fruit.
“The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature” (v. 14). When the seed is sown on this soil, then watered and germinated, the entrenched thorns also sprout and grow with a virulent violence, choking out the seed before it can produce fruit.
The thorns, Jesus explained, represented “life’s worries, riches and pleasures.” afanes y las riquezas y los placeres de la vida This is a divided heart, infested by irreconcilable loyalties. This heart makes gestures toward Christ, but “life’s worries” draw it back, leaving no room for authentic spiritual concern. Life’s “riches and pleasures” lure the soul away from life in Christ. “Keeping up with the Joneses” tratando de tener lo mismo que los vecinos—buying things we do not need to impress people we do not like with money we do not have compras cosas que no necesitamos para impresionar a gente que no queremos con dinero que no tenemos—endangers our soul.
This is a lost heart. A heart that is overcome with a love for “riches and pleasure” is not a believing heart. As Jesus explained in the Sermon on the Mount,
Ninguno puede servir a dos señores; porque o aborrecerá al uno y amará al otro, o estimará al uno y menospreciará al otro. No podéis servir a Dios y a las riquezas.
Many begin well, and it looks like they are believers, but love for the world and worries over the things and pleasures of this life strangle all vestiges of life from their souls. Those with such a heart need to be honest with themselves for their soul’s sake.
“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money” (). Many begin well, and it looks like they are believers, but love for the world and worries over the things and pleasures of this life strangle all vestiges of life from their souls. Those with such a heart need to be honest with themselves for their soul’s sake.
Good Hearts
Finally there is the good soil in which the seed brings forth fruit. Jesus said,
Mas la que cayó en buena tierra, éstos son los que con corazón bueno y recto retienen la palabra oída, y dan fruto con perseverancia.
Lucas
The seed of God’s Word does not bounce off the hard surface of this heart. Neither does it temporarily flourish in the shallow soil el terreno poco profundo of emotion, only to shrivel under adversity. Nor is it divided by its competing desires and thus strangled. Rather, it is a heart that allows God’s Word to take deep root within it. It then produces a harvest of good character:
Mas el fruto del Espíritu es amor, gozo, paz, paciencia, benignidad, bondad, fe,mansedumbre, templanza; contra tales cosas no hay ley.
“But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop” (v. 15). The seed of God’s Word does not bounce off the hard surface of this heart. Neither does it temporarily flourish in the shallow soil of emotion, only to shrivel under adversity. Nor is it divided by its competing desires and thus strangled. Rather, it is a heart that allows God’s Word to take deep root within it. It then produces a harvest of good character: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (, ). This is followed by a bounty of good works as the heart is remade by Jesus Christ (cf. ).
This is followed by a bounty of good works as the heart is remade by Jesus Christ (cf. ).
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (, ). This is followed by a bounty of good works as the heart is remade by Jesus Christ (cf. ).
This great parable gives us insight into what goes on with those who sit under the Word. There is no doubt as to what true hearing is—it is a heart that hears and does God’s Word. To further share Christ’s passion that we understand this, Luke links two brief supporting paragraphs to the parable.
The Lamp (vv. 16–18)
The first is the mini-parable of the lamp:
Nadie que enciende una luz la cubre con una vasija, ni la pone debajo de la cama, sino que la pone en un candelero para que los que entran vean la luz. Porque nada hay oculto, que no haya de ser manifestado; ni escondido, que no haya de ser conocido, y de salir a luz.
Jesus depicts his followers, who hear and receive the Word, as lamps. His point is that they must let the light that is in them shine forth to illumine others. They must shine the light in such a way that people will receive it and thus be prepared for Judgment Day when all will be revealed. This makes their present listening to the Word crucial. Jesus climaxes the parable by saying:
“No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light. For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.” (vv. 16, 17)
Mirad, pues, cómo oís; porque a todo el que tiene, se le dará; y a todo el que no tiene, aun lo que piensa tener se le quitará.
Lucas 8:18
This is the same teaching as in , which Jesus referenced earlier. Do it or lose it! Haslo o pierdelo Hearing the Word always involves doing. Humanly speaking, the spread of the light of the gospel in this world is dependent upon Jesus’ hearers doing his Word. Happily, the more they do it, the more light they will receive.
Jesus depicts his followers, who hear and receive the Word, as lamps. His point is that they must let the light that is in them shine forth to illumine others. They must shine the light in such a way that people will receive it and thus be prepared for Judgment Day when all will be revealed. This makes their present listening to the Word crucial. Jesus climaxes the parable by saying: “Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him” (v. 18). This is the same teaching as in , which Jesus referenced earlier. Do it or lose it! Hearing the Word always involves doing. Humanly speaking, the spread of the light of the gospel in this world is dependent upon Jesus’ hearers doing his Word. Happily, the more they do it, the more light they will receive.
“Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him” (v. 18). This is the same teaching as in , which Jesus referenced earlier. Do it or lose it! Hearing the Word always involves doing. Humanly speaking, the spread of the light of the gospel in this world is dependent upon Jesus’ hearers doing his Word. Happily, the more they do it, the more light they will receive.
Jesus’ “Family” (vv. 19–21)
Entonces su madre y sus hermanos vinieron a él; pero no podían llegar hasta él por causa de la multitud. Y se le avisó, diciendo: Tu madre y tus hermanos están fuera y quieren verte. Él entonces respondiendo, les dijo: Mi madre y mis hermanos son los que oyen la palabra de Dios, y la hacen.
Lucas 8:
You and I are Jesus’ family if we hear and do his Word. This is the key to intimacy with God. We have the most intimate relationship with him if we hear and do his Word.
Now Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not able to get near him because of the crowd. Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.” He replied, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice [literally, “who hear the Word of God and do it”].” (vv. 19–21)
You and I are Jesus’ family if we hear and do his Word. This is the key to intimacy with God. We have the most intimate relationship with him if we hear and do his Word.
Hearing the Word Oir
Whatever the condition of our heart, whether it be hard, shallow, superficial infested infestado, or good, we must listen with all we have to God’s Word when it is read privately and proclaimed publicly.
Concerning listening to preaching, the example of the martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer has helped me personally. Bonhoeffer ran an underground seminary for theological students during the oppressive years of Nazi Germany. He was a very intelligent man who possessed immense critical capabilities. But in his homiletics classes as he listened to his students preaching, he always set aside his pencil and listened intently with his Bible open before him—no matter how poor the sermon was. He believed that the preaching of God’s Word ought to be attended as if he were listening to the very voice of God. That is how I try to listen too—always looking to the text, always engaged, always thinking, always praying. Jesus has called us to be sure we really hear the Word of God.
Doing the Word Hacer
But hearing is worthless if it does not result in doing. Attention to God’s Word must be coupled with a willingness to do it, or the truth of it will fade.
Has God’s Word impressed on you that you must forgive? Then do it!
Has God’s Word impressed on you that you must confess a wrongdoing? Do it!
Has God’s Word impressed on you that you must apologize? So do it!
Has God’s Word impressed on you that you must speak the truth regardless of the consequences? Then do it!
Has God’s Word impressed on you that you must discontinue a certain practice? Do it!
Has God’s Word impressed on you that you must make a gift? Do it!
Has God’s Word impressed on you that you must bear witness to an acquaintance? Do it today if you can!
Has God’s Word impressed on you that you must leave all to serve him? Do it!
Or if you realize that you are a soil other than the good soil, repent and believe without delay! Ask God to put eternal life in your soul today and to produce the fruit of the Spirit abundantly in your life.