Yesterday we saw in Luke 8 that Jesus had given this plain, simple parable about the sower, the seed and the soil. Luke tells us today how his followers responded:
9 And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, 10 he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’ 11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. 14 And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. 15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.
Jesus had concluded the parable with this exhortation: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Do you get what I'm saying? Do you understand me? "Well", they said, "we're not sure we do, but we want to." Exactly. They were receptive soil. Their hearts had been moved to repentance. They wanted to hear what He had to say and allow it to penetrate their lives and produce the fruit of righteousness. They were not looking for a quick fix easy believism . They wanted to follow Him. What kind of soil are you?
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