The Parable of the Sower

Halloween photos will be coming over the weekend, but for now I just wanted to share a little bit of what God has been teaching me in my time in Matthew.


Matthew 12:1-23. The Parable of the Sower. One of the most famous, most taught on parables Jesus told. And yet by the power of the Holy Spirit there is always something new to take away from it. This time through I read it with a distinctly Japanese lens and the result was pretty cool.

Basically there is a man sowing seeds in his field so he can later have a plentiful harvest. Some fall on the path next to the field, others fall in the field but are surrounded by rocks and weeds that weren't cleared out, and some seeds land in the freshly tilled, nutrient rich soil. As a result, not all the seeds grow and produce fruit. Jesus draws the parallel that the same is true of the soil of people's hearts when the seed of the Gospel is planted.

Reading this story with Japan in mind was intriguing. Verse 15 of the passage when Jesus quotes Isaiah about the people whose heart is "calloused," who "hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes" made me think immediately of Japan. This is a nation that has been closed off to the gospel for literally hundreds of years. Everything about the structure of their society to how they measure success has been rebuilt in such a way that the soil of people's hearts is extremely hard, dry, and rocky. Their ears and eyes have been shut to truth. Because of this it is near impossible for the Gospel to saturate and be understood.

In reading that I was also struck by the great mercy of the Lord, that he would soften MY heart in such a way that I heard the truth at a young age and was soft enough to receive it. His grace in my life is incredible!

Moving on from that, a second verse that really struck me was 17 when Jesus says, "for I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it." The prophets of old heard about this coming Messiah and the deliverance he would bring, but they never saw it. I feel like I'm one of those prophets of old here in Japan. I long to see the Lord show up here in a big way, to see this nation transformed by the Gospel.

It's probably not going to happen in my one year here, or even in my lifetime. But I hope and pray other Christ-followers will see and hear the Lord do amazing things in Japan that I now can only dream of. I'm trusting my God to deliver on that hope as well as praying for him to give me the faith to do so.