You see the soil is so important to their future harvest later on in the
year. The farmer does many things typically to fields after harvest to
get them ready for the next planting season. They cultivate, fertilize, loosen
or plow; study for imbalance, sometimes put field tiles for drainage, rotate
crops, and sometimes even give field’s time off. [ii]
"Now [he is] not a farmer, and
they could give you a much longer list than [he] just did of things that are
important to good soil…The point is that they need good soil for their crops to
grow and prosper.[iii]
A farmer is helpless to grow grain. All he can do is provide the right
conditions for the growing of grain. He cultivates the ground. He plants the
seed. He waters the plants, and then the natural forces of the earth take over,
and up comes the grain...
When you assess your own life, consider it with the eye of a [farmer].
Underneath the surface lies rich, fertile soil waiting to nurture the seeds you
sow even more than you can imagine will grow there if given a chance."[iv]
This is the way it is with the…”[v] Kingdom of Heaven. Helping
people to know Jesus better should be an important goal in our lives. This
point is perfectly illustrated in the “Parable of the Farmer and the Seeds.”[vi]
The Kingdom of Heaven
is developed by spreading our actions with our godly witness:
ü “…As
he scattered the seed in the field…” Luke 8:5 (GNT)
ü “Tomorrow's harvest
depends upon today's ploughing and sowing.” (Chinmayananda Saraswati)
The Kingdom of Heaven
is matured according to divine top soil:
ü His
disciples asked Jesus what this parable meant, and he answered,
“The knowledge of the secrets of the Kingdom of God has been given to you, but
to the rest it comes by means of parables, so that they may look but not see,
and listen but not understand.
“This is what the parable means: the seed is
the word of God. The seeds that fell along the path stand for those who hear;
but the Devil comes and takes the message away from their hearts in order to
keep them from believing and being saved.
The seeds that fell among thorn bushes stand
for those who hear; but the worries and riches and pleasures of this life crowd
in and choke them, and their fruit never ripens.
The seeds that fell in good soil stand for
those who hear the message and retain it in a good and obedient heart, and they
persist until they bear fruit. Luke
8:9-15 (GNT)
ü "The parables
make a direct appeal to the imagination and involve the hearers in the
situation. It entices the hearers to judge the situation depicted, and then
challenges them, directly or indirectly, to apply that judgment to themselves…” (William
Lane)
In “Parable of the
Farmer and the Seeds,” there are four types of divine top soil that cover the
gamut of humanity:
1.
The Blinded - “The god of this world has blinded the minds
of those who do not believe, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine on them.” 2
Corinthians 4:4 (MEV)
“…
[Jesus] teaches that if the Word of God
fails of accomplishing its work in our hearts and lives, the reason is to be
found in ourselves. But the result is not beyond our control. True, we cannot
change ourselves; but the power of choice is ours, and it rests with us to
determine what we will become …” (Ellen G. White)
2. The Fickle – “The seeds that fell on rocky ground stand for
those who receive the message gladly as soon as they hear it. But
it does not sink deep into them, and they don't last long. So when trouble or
persecution comes because of the message, they give up at once.” Matthew
13:20-21(GNT)
"So often
we miss the opportunities that are ours today because we are busy looking back
in sadness and sorrow at events that can’t be changed. We look forward with
such anxiety that we are unable to take advantage of the moment that is
ours." (The Christopher’s)
3. The Occupied – “The seeds that fell among thorn bushes stand for those who hear; but
the worries and riches and pleasures of this life crowd in and choke them, and
their fruit never ripens.” Luke 8:14(GNT)
“You can't sow an
apple seed and expect to get an avocado tree. The consequences of your life are
sown in what you do and how you behave.” (Tom Shadyac)
4. The Multipliers - “But
the seed planted in the good earth represents those who hear the Word, embrace
it, and produce a harvest beyond their wildest dreams.” Mark
4:20 (MSG)
“We live, search, [and] constantly strive to become
something more, something new, or simply just something better than what we may
be at the time. Its [just] human nature to wish for change (let alone to justly
understand that change is an inevitable thing) that comes to all human beings…”
(William Curtis)
The Kingdom of Heaven is evident by the godly deeds produced during our life here on Earth.
ü “Yes, just as you can
identify a tree by its fruit; so you can identify people by their actions.” Matthew 7:20 (NLT)
ü “You must realize
now, more clearly than ever, that God is calling you to serve Him in and from
the ordinary, secular and civil activities of human life. He waits for us every
day, in the laboratory, in the operating theatre, in the army barracks, in the
university chair, in the factory, in the workshop, in the fields, in the home,
and in all the immense panorama of work.” (Josemaria Escriva)
The Kingdom of Heaven is seen through the eyes of faith.
ü Jesus' disciples
asked him what the story meant. So he answered: I have explained the secrets
about God’s kingdom to you, but for others I can only use stories. These people
look, but they don’t see, and they hear, but they don’t understand. Luke 8:9-10(GNT)
ü “Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole
staircase.” (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
ü “Faith is the assurance of things you have
hoped for, the absolute conviction that there are realities you’ve never seen.”
Hebrews 11:1
(VOICE)
The ultimate lesson learned from the “Parable
of the Farmer and the Seeds” is given by Baptist minister, Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892):
“Trials teach us what we are. They dig up the soil, and
let us see what we are made of.”
[i] The cliché, “as clear as mud’ means the information is difficult
to understand, confusing, or lacking fluency.
[ii] This post was inspired by the sermon, It’s Like This: A Farmer Sowing (installment
one) Pastor Dave Jansen Sunday, January 29, 2017 CenterPoint Church Gahanna Gahanna OH
[iii] Adapted from the article, “What is the Meaning of the
Parable of the Sower? A Bible Study” by Daryl Evans
[v] Quote by Richard J. Foster
[vi] Let me combine the location
information from the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke that our main story is
told in before Jesus discusses this parable. (Each gospel has important
variations.) He and His twelve disciples had been traveling from town to town
teaching their message. (A parable is a short symbolic lesson designed to teach a religious principal or
moral truth.)
In a town (not named in
scripture), Jesus leaves a house, and notices the large crowd of people on the
shore. He decides to launch out in a boat on the Lake Tiberias (the
Sea of Galilee) to have room to teach this
valuable spiritual-agricultural lesson (of the day).
Women traveled with Jesus and His
disciples. Among them were Mary from the town of Magdala (who Jesus exorcised
out seven demons), Joanna (whose husband, Chuza, was an officer in
Herod Antipater’s court), and Susanna. The women used their own funds to assist
with this missions endeavor.
The Old Testament passage alluded
to in all three accounts (from Matthew,
Mark, and Luke) is from Isaiah 6:9-10 (GNT): So he told me
to go and give the people this message: “No matter how much you listen, you will
not understand. No matter how much you look, you will not know what is
happening.” Then he said to me, “Make the minds of these people dull, their
ears deaf, and their eyes blind, so that they cannot see or hear or understand.
If they did, they might turn to me and be healed.”
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