Whoever has, to him more shall be given - Love and truth

Matthew 12:46-13:23 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him. ⁴⁷ Someone said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You.”  ⁴⁸ But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” ⁴⁹ And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers! ⁵⁰ For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.”

13 That day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea. ² And large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach.

³ And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow; ⁴ and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. ⁵ Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. ⁶ But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. ⁷ Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. ⁸ And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. ⁹ He who has ears, let him hear.”

¹⁰ And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” ¹¹ Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. ¹² For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. ¹³ Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. ¹⁴ In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,

‘You will keep on hearing, but will not understand; You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive; ¹⁵ For the heart of this people has become dull, With their ears they scarcely hear, And they have closed their eyes, Otherwise they would see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, And understand with their heart and return, And I would heal them.’

¹⁶ But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. ¹⁷ For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

¹⁸ “Hear then the parable of the sower. ¹⁹ When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road. ²⁰ The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; ²¹ yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. ²² And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. ²³ And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.”

In today’s text it says:  “Why do You speak to them in parables?” Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘You will keep on hearing, but will not understand; You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive; For the heart of this people has become dull, With their ears they scarcely hear, And they have closed their eyes, Otherwise they would see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, And understand with their heart and return, And I would heal them.’”     It doesn’t seem right to us that those who have will receive more, but those who do not have even what they have will be taken from them. It doesn’t seem right that Jesus would intentionally speak in a way that would cause people to not understand. This same principle, from the Old Testament shared by Jesus, is also shared by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12, where it says:    The mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His  coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.    So here again it says God will send a deluding influence upon them who did not receive the love of the truth but took pleasure in wickedness.  Again we ask, why would God send a deluding influence? In today’s text Jesus says:  “But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”  The prophets and righteous men believed by faith what has been plainly revealed to us and the disciples.

A key to understanding this principle can be found in Romans 2:4-5, where it says:  Do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?  But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.    God’s kindness leads to repentance. Those who reject God’s kindness become subject to His righteous judgment. To the one who responds to God’s kindness with repentance, more kindness is given.  To the one who loves truth God reveals truth and love. The ones who reject both God’s truth and His love, even what little understanding they have of truth is taken away. It is not taken by God, but rather the by deluding influence of human wisdom, by the deluding influence of self satisfaction and by the deluding influence of lawlessness and sin, the love of truth and the truth of God’s love is taken away. The choice of wickedness is what causes the loss of all that is good and all that is God. God is patient and kind, but in the end He will turn us over to our own choices. We can have more of Him or even what we have will be lost.  

Jesus explains the parable saying:   “Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road. The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;  yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.”  In Luke 8:11 Jesus father explains:  “The seed is the word of God.”   All of the seed, regardless of where it falls, is good and true. We, each person individually, is responsible for the condition of the soil, their own heart. God is patient, loving and kind. He continues to sow the good seed into our lives regardless of how we respond or how we nurture what has been sown. Eventually though, if the good seed of God’s truth and love is rejected by the hardness of a heart that seeks only pleasure in self satisfaction and sin, those seeds will be what grow, deluding and removing all that is good and all that is God.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit thank You for Your kindness, Your patience and Your love. Thank You for continuing to sow and reveal Your truth to me, even when I have not been faithful to receive. As Romans 8:28 says:  God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. May everything that has happened in my life, both the good things and the difficult things, be used for Your purpose, to prepare my heart as good soil that I would hear and receive Your word and Your truth, and would bear fruit, thirty, sixty or even one hundred fold. Amen.