YES, HE is Talking to YOU! (continued)

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

This is post number 100 on this topic of In The Words Of Jesus and I see no end in sight. There is so much to learn from His words.

We started yesterday’s post with two versions of commentary on the Parable of the Tares. This was intended to show you how these parables are perceived by the churches as these commentaries are among the resources used by Christian pastors and priests. We will begin today the same way with a selection of commentary on the last parable, The Parable of the Growing Seed. This first one is from John Darby’s Synopsis of the New Testament which includes just a short paragraph on this parable:

• The Lord then shews them how it should be with regard to Himself. He had sown, and, even as the seed springs up and grows without any act on the sower’s part, so would Christ allow the gospel to spread in the world without interposing in any apparent way, it being the peculiar character of the kingdom that the King was not there. But, when harvest time comes, the sower has again to-do with it. So should it be with Jesus: He would return to look after the harvest. He was personally engaged in the sowing and in the harvest. In the interval, all went on apparently as if left to itself, really without the interference of the Lord in Person.

There is hardly and idea here that would cause the Master to tell this parable to the multitudes and there is little relevance to the Kingdom of God. The next one is from Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise):

• Verses 21-34 These declarations were intended to call the attention of the disciples to the word of Christ. By his thus instructing them, they were made able to instruct others; as candles are lighted, not to be covered, but to be placed on a candlestick, that they may give light to a room. This parable of the good seed, shows the manner in which the kingdom of God makes progress in the world. Let but the word of Christ have the place it ought to have in a soul, and it will show itself in a good conversation. It grows gradually: first the blade; then the ear; after that the full corn in the ear. When it is sprung up, it will go forward. The work of grace in the soul is, at first, but the day of small things; yet it has mighty products even now, while it is in its growth; but what will there be when it is perfected in heaven!

Here Mr. Henry talks of the gradual growth as the work of grace in the soul. This too does not address the ideas of the Kingdom and its nature which appears to be the Master’s intent. This last one is from John Wesley’s Explanatory notes:

• 4:26 So is the kingdom of God – The inward kingdom is like seed which a man casts into the ground – This a preacher of the Gospel casts into the heart. And he sleeps and rises night and day – That is, he has it continually in his thoughts. Meantime it springs and grows up he knows not how – Even he that sowed it cannot explain how it grows. For as the earth by a curious kind of mechanism, which the greatest philosophers cannot comprehend, does as it were spontaneously bring forth first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear: so the soul, in an inexplicable manner, brings forth, first weak graces, then stronger, then full holiness: and all this of itself, as a machine, whose spring of motion is within itself. Yet observe the amazing exactness of the comparison. The earth brings forth no corn (as the soul no holiness) without both the care and toil of man, and the benign influence of heaven. 4:29 He putteth in the sickle – God cutteth down and gathereth the corn into his garner.

While still lacking understanding in explaining the ideas of the Master in telling this parable, this is somewhat closer to what we would hope to find.

The intent here in showing some of these commentaries is to reveal that there is so little understanding of the true nature, at least of our truth, regarding some of these parables and what they should mean to the wayfaring Soul or his conscious personality. Jesus is telling us about the Kingdom of God in many of these and He is telling us in words that one alive in that day would understand from the story line perspective. He is leaving it to those that have ears to hear to reveal the ideas behind the stories and to help all to find their objective; that union of the Soul life with the personality life which brings the Love and the Peace of God into and through our everyday consciousness. It is thus that we are born again of the Spirit and that we discover the Kingdom of God and His Presence which are within us all. One more note on this Parable of the tares. We said that the tares were darnel and somewhere this was also said to be a rye which which is related to wheat but is a different grain. Looking further we find that darnel is actually called ‘false wheat’ and is common in the same regions where wheat is grown. Wikipedia says this of darnel: Darnel usually grows in the same production zones as wheat and is considered a weed. The similarity between these two plants is so extensive that in some regions, cockle is referred to as “false wheat”. It bears a close resemblance to wheat until the ear appears. The ears on the real wheat are so heavy it makes the entire plant droop downward, but L. temulentum, whose ears are light, stands up straight. The wheat will also appear brown when ripe, whereas the darnel is black. This makes clearer the decision of the householder in the original parable that the servant not pull up the tares but wait until the Harvest. As we can now see, the ideas from the good seed and those from the bad can be indistinguishable until they are ready for harvest and are bearing fruit. As they grow they can give us the impression of something being of God but it is really not, or vice versa, and the truth of it is not known until the idea bears its fruit.

Continuing our journey through the Parables of Jesus we will look now at the Parable of the Sower. This parable appears in all three of the synoptic gospels as well as in the non-cannon Gospel of Thomas and it is one of the parables that the Master speaks and then interprets for His disciples. As in the last parable the the Master explains to His disciples, we will look at the idea that the explanation is itself still parabolic. This parable is one of the more used from the standpoint of church teaching as there is a bit of clarity throughout the initial telling as well as the explanation; this should lead us to question whether there is more yet that we do not see. The three versions from the three gospels are more or less the same; we will use the version from the Gospel of Mark. Following are the text of the parable, some words on parables from the Master and then His interpretation to His disciples:

The Parable: “And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine, Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow: And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred. And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Mark 4:3-9).

Jesus Words About Parables: “And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable. And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them. And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?” (Mark 4:10:13)

Jesus Explanation of the Parable: “The sower soweth the word. And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts. And these are they like wise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receiveit with gladness; And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended. And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful. And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred” (Mark 4:14-20)

This parable is one of the more famous of the Parables of Jesus and the upfront story is rather straightforward. We are told that in that day, without the aid of machinery, seed was sown through casting it by hand or letting it fall from a bag; it was not a very scientific method of seeding. As the sower walks the seed is cast and it lands where it will along the path of the sower with some falling here and some falling there. Its germination and growth depend on where it lands and this is the story that the Master tells. While Jesus does not begin this particular parable with any idea of the nature of the story as He does in other instances, it is likely that the people and His disciples knew that His stories all have a spiritual idea behind them. This is based on the other parables He told and the saying in this scripture that “he taught them many things by parables” before He started speaking it. With this in mind, that there is always a spiritual idea, the three gospels all go to length to let us know that neither the disciples nor the people understood what it was the the Master was trying to convey. One should wonder what would be the world’s reception of this parable were it not for the detailed explanation given by the Master. While Jesus explains to His disciples why this teaching and others are in parable form, He does express, by the nature of His question and comment, concern that they do not get the point either saying to them “Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?“. Nonetheless the Master does go on to explain it to them and thankfully so as we now can understand it as well.

In this parable we have no understanding of who the sower is but we know that the Word is the seed. As we said of the last parable, our understanding of what is meant by the Word is important. Today we hear it taught that the word of God is the Bible that we have and on the surface this may be true but in that day they did not have what we have. They also did not have the Law and the Prophets and the Wisdom in book form for all to read. So what is the Word? Remembering that this is the explanation of a parable which in itself may be parabolic we need to look deeper than just the surface, as we did in the last parable discussed, to see that the Word the Jesus refers to is the Word from God as heard from our own Souls, our own Christ Within. Here in this parable this concept works as well as any other idea and better than most; it also works here better than in the Parable of the Tares because of the explanation that the Master gives to us. In His explanation He likens the ground type to different types of personality consciousness as seen from a spiritual perspective and to different stages of understanding found through that consciousness. He uses terms like “no root in themselves” and “the cares of this world” to show that it is the conscious thinking of people that determines how the seed is received.

• the way side: The Master tells us in His explanation that this is not plantable ground at all; that the word from the Soul working through this type of consciousness is not hearing the word because of a carnal life. From the Master’s use of Satan here we could get the impression that these are rather vile persons, immersed in the life of the flesh without reservation but this may not be what Jesus is saying. Satan should be understood here to be the lure of the flesh life with its lust, its anger and its greed; a selfish and self serving life. The Apostle Paul tells us that we struggle against principalities and powers and such are these calls of life in the world.
• stony ground: Stony ground is, according to the Master, not so bad as the wayside. These persons may be not so different than those considered the wayside because when they hear the word they listen. Perhaps in some activity the conscience calls out telling a person that what they are doing is not right and so they listen to this word and acknowledge it and recognize their error. While it is fresh with them they abide in this more spiritual understanding. Then come again the ideas of the self and thoughts of what this activity was meant to provide, they see that not having what they wanted as too great a price to pay for doing the right thing and this selfish thought is then causing them to turn away from the word and continue on in their activities.

Who can say that they have never been in these two places? The one so involved in the carnal ways of life that they don’t hear the word at all and the other, also involved in the carnal ways of life, hears the call but chooses the carnal way over the way of the conscience, the Inner Man.

• among thorns: These too are not much different than those who are considered stony ground. These are living their lives as rather decent people but living in the flesh and, hearing the word they accept it but they do not let it change them. Their concerns are with the things of this personality consciousness and, as the Master says, with the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things. The thought of the new car, the Friday date, the designer bag or jacket and all of the other lures of the world overwhelm and choke the word. Or, on the other side, their concerns over family and friends and getting ahead or worry about the bills and the mortgage and the kid who need braces, take their attention to such a great degree that there is no place left for the word from the Inner Man. In many ways, this person is like the wayside person; the word has not the chance to take root among the thorns. These may be regular church going people who are so wound up in this worldly life that they do not see the reality of the spiritual life and the nature of the church is not enough to change them.

Here we find a good majority of humanity; all hearing but few really listening. How many years have we spent in just this cycle? Even to the point of knowing what we need to do and either not willing to pay the price as the people on stony ground or not considering the change like those among thorns. There can be seen a great overlapping of these types in each of our lives if we look at ourselves sincerely. We may even go from stage to stage and then back again. The Master knew of what He spoke in telling us of the perils and elsewhere of the difficulty of listening and hearing and doing and attaining to the Kingdom of God. Lastly we have:

• good ground: What we all should want to be. We hear the word and we accept it and we know it to be True. We have overcome our existence as the lesser types of ground and have made ourselves to hear and to listen to do. We are doers of the Word. While those in the other groups can say that they Love the Lord and that they Love Jesus the Christ, we show it by doing His word. He says to us “If ye love me, keep my commandments” and then “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him“. And, in case we still did not understand He says on “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him….” (John 14:15, 21, 23).

The Apostle James makes this clear for all who see themselves in any of these groups but still believe that they are the good ground of which the Master speaks. James tells us: “Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed” (James 1:21-25). For clarity in reading this we should understand souls as in common usage and not ours; it is from the Greek word psuche which is alternately defined as life and even mind** and is the source of much confusion which we will take up in some future post. Vincent says of engrafted that we should consider this implanted; divinely given in contrast to something acquired by study**** which goes together well with the our idea of the word coming from the Inner Man, the Christ Within. Vincent also tells us that the law of liberty is literally the perfect law**** and in this we should see but one word; Truth. This was a long way around so as not to say that people deceive themselves, thinking that they are right with God and at the same time not being a doer of the word.

Note on the Quote of the Day

This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.

Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness (1 Corinthians 3:18-19).

Today’s Quote of the Day goes well with our closing comments above. In the flesh we think we are wise and that we know. What is the reality however? Are we being crafty, as was the unjust steward, in dealing with our daily lives apart from the word of God.

• **     New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
• **** Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888