After being cramped into a house, so full of people that no one could eat the food the host had prepared, Jesus needed fresh air (Mark 3:20; 4:1; Mathew 13:1). He went for a walk by the sea. The seagulls calling to one another through the air, the sound of water lapping the shore, the sand sift beneath his feet would have refreshed his spirit. But there was no place to stand, no less sit because the multitude who had surrounded the house had followed him pressing each other in an effort to get close to the teacher (Mathew 13:1-3).
Jesus finally got into a boat and sat down. The multitude stood facing him waiting for the next miracle, the next teaching. He began with this story, “Behold a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched and because they had no root they withered away. And some fell among thorns and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop; some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Mathew 13:8-8).
It was a nice story, but what did it mean? His disciples who were with him in the boat asked him; “Why do you speak to them in parables?” They could not understand why he didn’t just tell the people plainly what he wanted them to know. Jesus told them God’s truth is only given to those who respond to his calling (1 Corinthians 2:14).
