Several years ago, I had a conversation about Christianity with a friend who grew up in church, but now refers to himself a “hopeful skeptic”. He challenged me with what he believed were the narrow and exclusive claims of Evangelical Christianity. He said, “you can’t just divide up all humanity into two camps, Christian and non-Christian. That is terribly arrogant. Who are you to say that there is only one religion that can possibly be right. There are endless gradations of good and evil, religion and irreligion, philosophies and world-views, etc. Even among Christians there is a huge variety with many differences in faith and expression of belief.” (or at least he said something along those lines)
My friend went on to quote the Parable of the Sower and the four different kinds of soils as proof for his argument. He said, “even Jesus recognized that there is more than one way to respond to God.”
I have thought a lot about this question, it is a good question, and many people today wrestle with this issue. I started thinking about how Jesus would respond to my friends question and to his interpretation of the Parable of the Sower. At one level, I think Jesus would have agreed with him. Every person does have a unique experience of God. There is not a “one size fits all” approach to how a person comes to know, trust and follow God.
In fact, even while Jesus walked the earth, people did not always appear to fit neatly into two simple categories. There were those who opposed Jesus (the Pharisees), there were those who followed Him closely (the 12 disciples), but there were also those who followed Him, and later betrayed Him (Judas), or denied Him (Peter). There were those who questioned Him honestly (Nicodemus) and those who questioned Him with false motives (Simon the Pharisee). There were those who trusted in Him but did not follow Him around (the Centurion & The bleeding woman). There were those who were confused by Him (the Rich Young Ruler) and those who were not sure what to make of Him at all (Pilate). Finally there those in the crowds & multitudes who heard Him preach or saw Him perform a miracle, but only from a distance.
So...does the Parable of the Sower mean that Jesus is saying there are many different paths to God? Let’s look at Jesus’ own explanation of His parable to understand what He was really teaching. (by the way, out of the 40 parables of Jesus, He only directly interpreted two of them; this one and the parable of the weeds in Matthew 13:24)
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 what was sown along the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” - Matthew 13:19-23
Clearly Jesus is showing us that the first kind of soil represents someone who rejects the truth, and just as clearly the last type of soil represents someone who receives the truth. But what about the middle two types of soil? What do they really represent? They both tell of soil that allows for growth (unlike the hard soil), but they also tell us that this growth is short lived; in the fist case the growth is burned away by suffering and trials, and in the other instance, the growth is choked out by the cares of the world. Ultimately it is only the soil that bears fruit and yields a harvest which represents those who are in the Kingdom of God!
So, what would Jesus say to the challenge of my friend? I think He would say it is true that there are many different kinds of people in the world and each one has his/her own unique path to travel. However, when it comes to entering into God’s kingdom, while there are many different ways to reject the truth, there is ultimately only one way to receive it!
May God grant us His grace to become Good Soil!
Jeff Frazier
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