The scattered people

“Therefore, those who had been scattered went through places preaching the word.” Persecution is undesirable, but there is a pattern throughout the church history that evangelism spreads through persecution. From God’s perspective, what is happening in this passage is not a defeat of the church but a dispersion. Those who were scattered expanded their target audience from Jews to Samaritans and Gentiles. Indeed, the “time of sowing” that the Lord Jesus had foretold had arrived.

The relation of the persecution and the parable of the Sower

The church age is the time of the kingdom as a mystery. Its characteristic is the widespread proclamation of the gospel (ref. Mark 4:3-23, Matt. 13:3-23, Luke 8:5-18). In Judaism, there are no missionaries. In Judaism, Gentiles come to the Jews to seek teaching, not the other way around. In contrast, Christianity has been evangelistic from the very beginning. Through the “Parable of the Sower,” the Lord Jesus taught in advance that in the church age, the seeds of the gospel would be sown, resulting in four types of responses. Let’s consider the meaning of the “Parable of the Sower.” (1) The seed represents the Word of God. While the sower’s identity is not explicitly explained, it can be easily inferred to be: (a) Jesus Himself, (b) the disciples as His agents, and (c) all believers living in the kingdom as a mystery. (2) The four types of soil symbolize four kinds of responses: (a) The road represents those who hear the gospel but choose not to believe, considering it irrelevant to their lives. (b) The rocky soil represents those who believe but do not develop a faith rooted in the Word. They are people who do not progress from the milk of the Word to solid food and who easily stumble when difficulties or persecution arise. (3) The thorny soil represents those who believe but cannot achieve spiritual victory; their faith life and worldly life are separate compartments. (4) The good soil represents those who have faith rooted in the Word. Their presence positively influences others, leading many souls to salvation. Now is the time to be diligent in sowing seeds. The seeds of the gospel that are sown may or may not sprout. However, there is no need to be elated or dejected based on the outcomes. We can entrust all results to God. Our responsibility is to continue sowing the seeds of the gospel.