Shhh...its a secret
- Gary Fritsch
- Sep 19
- 3 min read
Today’s Gospel is part of what scripture scholars call the ‘triple tradition’. It is a Gospel story that appears in all three ‘synoptic’ Gospels – Matthew, Mark, and Luke. These are sometimes viewed as more ‘central’ to Jesus’ message because all three of these writers felt it was important to include. Sometimes they are just more common to Jesus’ preaching. Keep in mind that it would only take about 10 hours to read all four of the Gospels, and these cover about three years of ministry. Jesus was a travelling preacher. He would have shared similar messages in many towns.
This is one of the reasons why differences in stories among the Gospels should not alarm us. At some point, we need to come to believe what they represent, who they represent. As Jesus tries to teach the apostles today, believing is the secret to understanding.
As people in a post-modern (a very weird term) world, we are told that understanding comes first, and then belief. Once you understand it, and know how it works, then it has credibility and then you can believe in it. In the parable of the sower, Jesus demonstrates that without belief, one cannot understand parables.
In the various circumstances describing the landing place of the seed, there are elements that keep the seed from germinating, or from growing, or from maturing. All of these represent doubts. Doubts about the seed; doubts about the sower. Look at how Jesus uses the theme of belief in His explanation:
Those on the path are the ones who have heard,
but the Devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts
that they may not believe and be saved.
Those on rocky ground are the ones who, when they hear,
receive the word with joy, but they have no root;
they believe only for a time and fall away in time of temptation.
The post-modern viewpoint would say that ‘belief’ then is the source of ‘your own truth’. If you can dream it, you can do it. Self-fulfillment, etc. But that is where things go awry. What Jesus is asking His hearers to believe is not the words themselves, but the one who speaks them, the one who sows. Listen to the prayer of Jesus as He prepares to raise Lazarus from the dead:
“Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. “I know that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.”
and also from John chapter 17:
“I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.”
What we have to believe then, is the SOURCE of the Word, the SOURCE of the truth. It is not us. It is God. The apostles had this belief. It had been confirmed in a thousand ways, but first it had been given to them – the secret of the Kingdom. Jesus didn’t make a job offer or business proposal to these men, that they might mull over the pros and cons and decide what was best for them and their families, or perhaps make a counter-offer. Jesus said this: ‘Come and follow me.’
To understand this, we must remember that Jesus is the Word of God in human form. This is the same ‘word’ that said “Let their be light” and there was. Come and follow me was more of a directive than an offer. It was a supernatural sharing of truth about who Jesus was, not in words, but in their hearts. Its why they could just drop EVERYTHING and follow Him. It is why He says: “Knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God has been granted to you.” This could have been refused, and Jesus was resisted in His offer to Nicodemus and to the rich young man, but both went away sad. He is reminding the apostles that they are receiving this parable from a place of belief, and that others are not (yet).
If we believe that the Creator of the Universe is good and loving and that Jesus is the Word that comes from God to be sown into the world, then everything else is easy to believe. That is the secret to understanding every parable, and every word of scripture. Now it might require some time to take root, and to mature and to bear fruit, but it will come. Once you know the secret.
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