A LETTER FROM STEPHANIE QUICK
Ten generations from David, a sixteen-year-old boy named Uzziah took the throne of Judea. He would reign for fifty-two years, tarnishing a righteous legacy with errant pride with which he recklessly defied the LORD and died a leper.[1] His death swung the nation from the peace and prosperity into which he had led it, and thrust the Kingdom of Judah into vulnerable destabilization. The wealth that had grown under his leadership became toxic for the national culture, and no few prophets were sent to confront it.[2] But the year he died, one of the several prophets ministering during his tenure experienced a now-famous encounter with the King of Glory. In fact, the apostle John would later point out that this event marked one of the first times human eyes were ever laid upon the Word who was, is, and will ever be the Most High God.[3] Upon seeing Him, terror struck Isaiah. He was viscerally aware of his own sinful insufficiency, and immediately began lamenting his own condition.[4] Then an angel touched his lips with coals from the altar’s fire, and assured the prophet that his iniquity was “taken away” and his “sin purged.”[5]
[Then Isaiah] heard the voice of the LORD, saying:
“Whom shall I send, and who shall go for us?”[6]
Famously, Isaiah wastes neither time nor breath offering: “Hineni! Send me!”[7] Yet here is where the familiar parts of the story end. I remember this verse being the theme of a summer youth group conference; we had it all over t-shirts and such. But perhaps the most critical elements follow: Isaiah is then commissioned to “Go, and tell these people:
‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’”[8]
Seems like a futile mission at the outset, does it not? He is instructed to “make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy,” and to “shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return and be healed.”[9] Remarkably, Isaiah submits to this order without appeal. He simply asks how long this will last, or how long this will take, and is told “until the cities are laid waste without an inhabitant,”[10] further describing the effective siege of Jerusalem at the end of this age, when all that will remain is the “holy seed” of a remaining stump of a chopped-down tree.[11]
It is not encouraging.
Many years later, the Pharisee arrested by Jesus while traveling to Damascus would reflect on the partial hardening brought against Israel and note it is for the good of the nations, that a window could open to extend mercy to the Gentiles as well.[12] As John would put it, the Word would Himself take on the form of His image-bearers, move into the neighborhood to “dwell amongst” us, and even His own would not receive Him.[13] The mysterious relationship between Israel and the nations has always been a paramount component of the eternal purposes of God,[14] but it is explained without filter in Isaiah’s encounter the year King Uzziah died. In many ways, it has been brought to bear on us—both Israel and the nations—ever since. Isaiah would go on to call this phenomenon “the controversy of Zion.”[15]
Nearly 770 years after Uzziah died, an itinerant rabbi traversing Roman-occupied Israel told yet another confounding parable. Finally, His disciples asked Him outright: “Why do You speak to whole swathes of people in parables?”[16] And of all the possibilities, He tethered His response back to the conversation He had with Isaiah: His hand-selected disciples traveled with Him everywhere and had unprecedented and unique access to Him. To them, He spoke plainly. But the crowds were not granted this access, nor this insight. Yet “whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled,*” and then He quoted Isaiah 6’s hardening, “lest they should understand” and be healed.[17]
Do not perceive this to be a dismissal of the Israelis standing before Him and all Israelis on the whole. Indeed, even when Paul did mature beyond the Damascus road and take the Gospel of Jesus’ Kingdom to Italy, he did so “for the hope of Israel.”[18] Isaiah’s own writings conclude with the climactic day of Israel’s healing, the day her controversy is forever settled: the Day of the LORD.[19]
So what prompted this callback? This question so nagging the disciples? Why the parables? Why the riddles? On this particular day, the catalyst was one simple but dynamic parable, bearing a redundant thesis: A sower went out to sow. But of course a sower went out to sow—that is what sowers do. That said, what we call “the parable of the sower” is perhaps more faithfully a parable about seed, and the environments it is sown in:
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; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of 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![20]
Jesus’ parables are like all of His Word wrought in the Spirit: piercing, dynamic, convicting, clean, layered, and yet—profoundly simple. We can and should meditate on this parable all our lives, but He also did give us the luxury of a cheat sheet after the disciples asked for clarity:
Therefore hear the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. [21]
The growth patterns described here are never the fault of the seed. One could suggest that the fault is the sower’s, who sows so indiscriminately. Maybe that could be true in real life, but in this parable, I am reminded: There is no lack in the Kingdom.[22] This sower (ostensibly Jesus) is an equal-opportunity-sower. He does not discriminate. He is throwing seed around to everyone everywhere—and if you have ears to hear, you will hear His Word. The seed will take root and survive. There is much to be said about cultivating and nurturing the seed—good seeds themselves need good soil, as this story makes clear—but consider the bombast of the sower: He has seed. Seed is to be sown. So He sows it.
This is faithful stewardship. Of course, the seed thrived in good soil. But the sower also went out to sow in stony places. He threw seed along the way, even in thorny areas. All these seeds faced profound challenges to take root and grow, but every environment was given a shot. Jesus is this kind of indiscriminate sower. Isaiah was commissioned to be this kind of indiscriminate sower. We are called to be this kind of indiscriminate sower—the kind who sows and scatters the Gospel of the Kingdom to everyone everywhere simply because it is the right thing to do, faithful to our own “Great Commission.”[23] Borrowing from another parable, this is to “occupy until [He] come[s].”[24]
Here at THE EMMAUS TABLE, we endeavor daily to be the “sower who goes out to sow.” We want to leverage every point of access and distribution the internet affords us, and get the Gospel of the Kingdom to everyone everywhere in every language possible. Much like Isaiah, we say: “Here we are! Send us!” Our resources are and will always be free—films, Bible studies, music, podcasts, documentaries, geopolitical news, and much more to come as we enter the coming New Year. And because of the internet, these resources serve a stay-at-home mom in Iowa and a Jesus-curious Muslim in Islamabad just the same. A sower went out to sow.
If you’ve made it to the end of this article, you likely also want to be a faithful steward and faithful sower. We hope and pray THE EMMAUS TABLE resources are helpful for you to grow in the Word and grow as a steward of the Word. In a phrase, we want to help you be a faithful sower. If this sounds like you, please let us know. We’d love to hear from you, and hear what’s helping you. We’re available at contact@theemmaustable.world. And if you’d like to help sow the seed in even more places, join our funding team. You can do so monthly, or make a one-time donation (which, at this time of year, helps us reach our annual end-of-year goal). Head to theemmaustable.world/donate to jump in. We are all in this together, and really appreciate your solidarity.
To many fields sown in good seed—
Maranatha.
Stephanie Quick
[1] See 2 Chronicles 26 and 2 Kings 15:1-7
[2] Prophets during Uzziah’s reign included Zechariah, Isaiah, Amos, Hosea, and Jonah. Isaiah and Amos in particular attacked the prideful stupor the nation’s prosperity had so intoxicated them with.
[3] See John 12:41
[4] See Isaiah 6:5
[5] See Isaiah 6:7
[6] See Isaiah 6:8
[7] Ibid.
[8] See Isaiah 6:9
[9] See Isaiah 6:10
[10] See Isaiah 6:11
[11] See Isaiah 6:12-13
[12] See Romans 11:25
[13] See John 1:14
[14] See Ephesians 3:8-13
[15] See Isaiah 34:8
[16] See Matthew 13:10
[17] See Matthew 13:14-15
[18] See Acts 28:20
[19] See Isaiah 66
[20] Matthew 13:3b-9, NKJV
[21] Matthew 13:18-23, NKJV
[22] See Psalm 23:1
[23] See Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:6-8
[24] See Luke 19:13
Stephanie Quick (@quicklikesand) is the founder and creative director of The Emmaus Table. She lives in the Golan Heights and hosts the TABLE TALKS podcast. Browse her free music, films, and books in THE EMMAUS TABLE App and at stephaniequick.org.