…in the outer…

At church today, our pastor shared on the Parable of the Sower as part of the series on Church Without Walls (cWoW), the concept that church is not only about doing the traditional "spectator-sport" of going to church, sitting in pews, listening to good music, perhaps even singing along, and then listening to a good sermon.

Church is about being actively involved in living out your faith among a community of active participants who share the life of the Spirit and meeting the needs - physical, spiritual, social, emotional - of the wider community and drawing people to the loving Heavenly Father God.

One of the first steps of actively living out your faith is to first of all receive the Word and let it flourish in your life.

So, Pastor Dave shared some thoughts on the Parable of the Sower and then asked the congregation to interactively respond by offering their insights, reflections and sharing about what God is doing in their lives, and how the passage impacted them.

As I was reflecting on the passage, I was quite puzzled with the description of the types of soil. Jesus talked about the Kingdom of Heaven being like a farmer who went out to sow his seed. He says that the seed fell on different types of ground. Typically people talk about the four types of soil.

Some seed fell on the path where the ground was hard and there was no soil and the birds came and ate up the seed. The seed that fell among rocky ground, sprang up quickly but because the soil was shallow, when the sun came up the plants shrivelled up. Other seed fell among thorns which grew and choked up the plants so that they did not bear grain. And the seed that fell on good soil sprang up, grew and produced an abundant crop.

Jesus explained that the seed that fell on the path represent those who hear the word but because they cannot receive it, the Enemy comes and takes the seed away. Those seed that fell on rocky ground are like those who may receive the word but because of a lack of depth, when trouble comes, their faith is shaken. The seed that fell among thorns are those who may receive the word, and the word is implanted in them, but then the word is choked "by worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things … making it unfruitful.

It has always disturbed me that the pattern in the passage was broken with the description of the seed that fell on good soil.

In the first three types of soil, we have a pattern: the type of soil or ground, the problem or situation that it produce, and the result. Yet, for the last type of soil, Jesus simply says, "Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times."

Often, I have wondered why the pattern was broken. Why was it that when describing the seed that fell on good soil, there was no other reason that went along with the producing of good crop, such as nurturing of the farmer, or watering, or some others just as in each of the first three scenarios, specific reasons were given to describe why the seed did not bear a crop.

As I listened and pondered on the passage, it dawned on me that the Parable of the Sower was always highlighting three types of soil.

We can be one or more of those three types of soil. However, if the Seed of the Good News is to grow in us, and flourish to produce multiples of fruitful crop, then we need to be transformed to be good soil. What finally brought home to me that this passage was describing only three types of soil, or better yet, describing three types of problems that get in the way of people being good soil, was when Pastor Dave read on in the passage through to verse 25.

After Jesus had clarified to his disciples what the different situations for the seed that fell among the different types of soil, he went on to say:

"Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."

 "Consider carefully what you hear," he continued. "With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him."

Pastor Dave used three word pictures to connect the dots: "Smells," "Secrets," and "Sounds."

Hard ground (the seed that fell on the path) has no place for the seed to grow. In order for hard ground to transformed to good soil, it must be tilled, prepared and fertilizers must be added. This is the smelly, messy stuff that happens when we let God break us. We are naturally hard hearted, ego-centric people. Only when we allow God to break us can we be moulded to receive the Seed of His Word, and can His Word flourish in us.

Rocky ground (the seed that fell among rocks) may have some soil, but the soil is shallow. The tilling of the ground here involved the shining of the Truth of God’s word in our lives to expose the dark secrets that we hide - from ourselves, from others and from God. Only when we let the Truth of God shine in our lives can we begin to see ourselves in the light of the Word.

Thorny ground (the seed that fell among thorns) let the cares of this world and the pursuit of the glitter shut out the voice of God in our lives. Breaking up thorny ground has to do with giving room for the Spirit of God to speak to us. It has to do with quieting down our hearts and souls and tuning into the rhythm of the Spirit.

So, the lesson for us from the Parable of the Sower is not: "Are we like the Good Soil?" 

For this parable highlights that there are three types of dangers that stand in the way of us being like the good soil. Or, put another way, there are three road blocks from the Word of God taking root in our lives and flourishing in us so that we can enjoy the abundant life as He promised us in John 10:10.

We can be like the path that does not even have any depth for the seed to grow and mature in our lives because we are so hard that we cannot let God work in our hearts. Or, we can be like the rocky ground, where the rocks of self-deception has robbed us of our integrity before God, others and self, and God’s Word cannot take hold in our lives. Or we can be like the ground full of thorns where we have allowed the cares and the pursuit of comfort, glory and fulfillment block out the quiet voice of the Spirit. Or perhaps two or more of these types of soil is true of our lives.

So the question is, how can we be good soil?

Good soil is broken. It is fertilized by the interaction with the Holy Spirit in the context of an authentic community that lives by the light of the Word in authenticity, shared brokenness, carrying one another’s burdens and confessing of sins one to another. It is also an open  transparent community that gives space and time in solitude to listen and tune in to the voice of God.

So, next time you read or listen to the Parable of the Sower, stop asking yourself which type of soil you are, but ask how you can be  continually transformed from one or more of the three types of bad soil to the good soil that allows the Seed of the Word of God to flourish.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, February 24th, 2008 at 11:41 pm and is filed under Meditations, Spirituality. Subscribe to RSS: RSS feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Email This Article Or Print This Article