In Jesus’ ministry, God’s plan was not clearly laid out to the Jewish leaders by God, because they had a history of letting God down throughout the Old Testament.
The Psalmist explained why God would hide his message in a parable. “Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders which he has wrought. He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children; that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, but tell their children in the next generation, so that they should set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.”[1]
The Hebrew Scriptures again and again describes a process of the Jewish people moving away from God. God then offering terms to bring them back from their disobedience. This is often followed by repentance and restoration of the Jewish people as God’s nation.
The New Testament breaks the mould. The Jewish people have moved away again, and God offers there restoration not through prophets, but the Messiah. This person who they do not recognise as their Messiah does not make ‘the terms’ he talks in parables, and they had to work it out for themselves. This is the ultimate test which the Jewish people fail and the Gentiles pass.
The Jewish people are so entrenched in the law they cannot make the transition from being under law to being under grace. The law written in stone to being written in their hearts, burnt sacrifices being replaced with the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.
God tests the faith of his people and their faith in Jesus and the New Testament.
During Jesus’ ministry he often would communicate through a parable, by telling a story that related to their surroundings. In the story there would be a hidden message that those listening would not understand.
“Jesus said, “This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet: ‘I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.”[2]
The Messiah’s Secret was hidden in the parable of the Sower: John recorded Jesus saying, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”[3] Jesus referred to himself as being the seed that would die on the cross and in his resurrection bring forth a harvest.
The mysterious element in the kingdom of God.
The wheat seed has first to die before it can produce a harvest. The seed is kept in storage and shrivels and dies.
“Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies.”
Jesus and his disciples after the Passover meal went into the Garden of Gethsemane, There Jesus wrestled with his will. The devil was tempting him to preserve his own life. He said, “Father if you are willing remove this cup from me; nevertheless, not my will but thine be done.” Earlier in conversation with his disciples Jesus had indicated that he was going to be betrayed into the hands of those who opposed him. Jesus knew that in order to fulfil scripture he was to die as a criminal. [4]
The seed, “It remains alone.”
In the darkness of the soil, the rain releases the nutriments in the soil and the heat from the sun it begins to germinate. In the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus was arrested his disciples fled, his friends forsook him, he was on his own. On the cross, moments before his death he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus bearing the sin of the world was separated from God his Father. The seed died alone, buried into the darkness.
Jesus was taken down from the cross by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, they carried him to the tomb that belonged to Joseph where they wrapped his body with linen cloth and spices.[5]
“But if it dies it bears much fruit.”
The new shoots rise to the surface. From just one wheat seed the plant produces an abundance of seeds.
On the third day God raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus the first fruit of the resurrection. The church has been bearing the fruit of Jesus’ resurrection for more than 2,000 years.
[1] Psalm 78: 1-8.
[2] Matt 13: 34, 35.Psalm 78: 2.
[3] John 12: 24.
[4] Luke 22: 37, 42. Isaiah 53: 12.
[5] John19:38-42.