That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!” “Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on 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 such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately 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 lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23, NRSV)
How many of us hear this and go, “Yes I know I need to allow God to work in my life to allow His word to better take root in me…”
We hear this parable and think we know what it is about. Yet do we?
We think it is all about soil. And we sing on this day, “Lord let my heart be good soil.” Allow my life to be a good place for your word to take root.
But I think we miss the point of the parable by saying it is about soil. Now don’t get me wrong, soil has a lot to do with it. But the first line of a story usually has impact on the meaning of the story…
Like ATale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.” This tells us about the story.
Or the story of the prodigal son from Luke 15, the first line of this parable of Jesus is, “There was a man who had two sons…” The story is about the father, not the sons. If it were about the younger son, Jesus would have started the parable, “There was a man who had an older brother and his father…”
So how does our parable for today start, “There were different types of soil…” No that is not how it starts.
The parable starts, “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed…” There was a sower who sowed.
You see the story here is about the risk taking of the sower who extravagantly throws seed everywhere. Wasteful some would say. Yet all of the seed thrown by the sower did something. The first fed the birds, the next broke up rocks, the third fed the vines/thorns and the last produced the fruit of the seed. All of it had impact on the world. And isn’t that just like grace?
I mean God risked giving His grace to you. Shouldn’t He be as extravagant with all of creation?
So be willing to cast His seed far and wide, because that is what God would do, and He needs you to go and do likewise!
aSacredRebel 