pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: sower


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Sow Seeds

Reading: Matthew 13:18-23

Verse 23b: “This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

Today we read Jesus’ explanation of the parable of the sower. Unpacking it for his disciples, Jesus covers the gamut of belief. He begins with those who hear the word of God but do not understand it. It does not even begin to take root, so it falls away quickly and easily. Then Jesus moves on to the three “soils” who hear and understand the word of God. Some, after receiving it, fall away because of the trouble or hardship caused by their faith. And others fall away because the cares and concerns of the world are stronger than their faith. Lastly, Jesus tells us that some will hear and understand and apply the word to their lives. These go out and do what Jesus says to do, leading others to faith by their witness. This is the crop yielded from their faith: new believers.

These various soils were the reality of Jesus’ day. People heard and accepted his teachings to various degrees. Some were all-in for the long haul. Many others were not. This has remained true throughout the ages. Even so, the task laid out in the parable remains the task of the disciple: sow seeds and trust that God will be at work, sprouting seeds into faith that lasts.

There is also a personal application to this parable. Our receptivity and obedience rises and falls. Some days, for example, we hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and we respond in faith. Other days we are deaf or lazy or… and the word is not responded to. And God the sower continues to scatter seeds of faith into our soil, looking for us to be good soil that produces a crop. May we do all we can to be good soil.

Prayer: Lord God, today I ask that you would use me to sow seeds of faith in other people’s lives as you sow seeds in my soil. Use me as you see fit. Amen.


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Whoever Has Ears…

Reading: Matthew 13:1-9

Verse 9: “Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

For our last two days this week we turn to our gospel lesson from Matthew 13. This is a familiar parable to us and is a very familiar subject to his audience – at least on the surface level. Jesus often taught in parables. These were stories often framed in common settings, told like a story. This parable is about farming. It is told in such a way that some hearers would be drawn to delve deeper to understand what Jesus was really talking about. No farmer in his or her right mind would ever waste good seed on rocky or thorny soil, nevermind upon the path! Jesus’ upsidedown, inside out teaching style led some in the crowds to wonder what in the world Jesus was really talking about.

Each parable that Jesus taught usually had a main theme or point. But some of the time there are multiple ways to read or interpret just what that main point is. Most parables raised lots of questions and prompted lots of thinking if one was willing to go past the surface level. This can be one of those parables. In addition to the “no farmer in…” statement above, we can ask, is this more about the soil or is it about the sower? Which one are we? Are we both? Could the seed sown in the illogical places still produce a crop or a harvest? Is Jesus saying that it is good or that we are to sow in these hard, rocky, and thorny places? When…? How…?

These and more are the questions that can come up as we read and ponder and wrestle with the parable of the sower. As we do, may we do so with Jesus’ blessing: “Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

Prayer: Lord God, as we wrestle with and ponder over your word, open not only our ears but our hearts and minds as well. Reveal your truths to us and guide us to apply them to our lives. Amen.


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Rooted in Love

Reading: Ephesians 3: 14-21

Verses 17-18: “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love… grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ”.

Photo credit: Emma Gossett

Chapter 3 of Ephesians opens with Paul declaring himself a “prisoner” of Jesus Christ for the sake of the Gentiles. Those he once saw as so far outside of God’s love have been brought near. Paul is now the primary missionary to the Gentiles. What an amazing turnaround! Our passage today is a prayer for the Ephesians. It begins with Paul on his knees.

Ephesus was a city much like the cities and towns that we live in. The culture of Paul’s day valued wealth and status and power. Life was centered around getting more and more. The world in which these early believers lived and the audience with whom they were sharing the good news was not much different from our own contexts. Paul first prays for the Holy Spirit’s power to fill them and to strengthen their inner being. Paul asks God to make them sure of who they are in Christ Jesus.

Paul then prays, “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love… grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ”. Perhaps thinking of the parable of the sower found in Matthew 13, Mark 4, and Luke 8, Paul prays for deep roots of faith. When trouble or persecution or the cares of the world rise up, Paul prays that they will remain rooted in the love of Jesus Christ. He prays for them to understand the vastness and limitless nature of God’s love. Knowing this, they will be filled with the “measure of the all the fullness of God”. They will be filled with his love. Being filled, they will then overflow into the world. May it be so for you and for me.

Prayer: God of love, fill me, fill me, fill me. Pour out your love upon me. Fill me so full that your love washes away all that keeps me from being fully yours. Amen.


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The Path

Reading: Matthew 13: 1-9 and 18-23

Verses 3 and 4: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed…”

Today’s parable is one of my favorites. The parable of the sower is one of my favorites because of the underlying message and directive. On a surface, practical level, it is the story of a farmer who probably wasn’t very successful – at least be farming standards. No farmer worth his weight in seeds would plant seeds in shallow soil or amongst rocks, nevermind on the path. But this is not really a story about how to be a good farmer.

On the figurative level the parable is about the types of souls who hear the message of faith. On this level we all know people with hard hearts, people who “try out” faith but soon return to life as normal, and people who really want to be faithful followers but struggle with the cares and lures of the world. We also know people who live and share a solid faith, leading others to become believers. Some of us have even been the farmer at times, trying to share our faith with others. When doing so we have encountered all of these types of soil. In this sense, the parable is a good summary of the challenges of evangelism and of the reality of the difficulty of a faithful walk with Jesus Christ. For these reasons it is a good parable – lots of application and understanding.

I love the parable, though, for what is implied, especially in the opening lines: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed…” For me, the key word is “scatter”. To me there is a willy-nilly wildness to this method of planting seeds of faith that God prefers. To me, this speaks of the vastness and inclusiveness of God’s love. The parable’s underlying message and directive are to share God’s love and the good news of Jesus Christ with everyone. Hardest of hard hearts all the way to the most eager recipient you’ve ever met. And everyone in between.

This is how Jesus operated. He ministered to the adulterer and to the Pharisee, to the tax collector and to the leper, to the demon-possessed and to the children, to the widow and to the masses… You name the type of soul, Jesus met them where they were at, entered into relationship with them, walked with them, ministered to them. This too is our mission. No, it is not easy. The road is hard and will often place us in uncomfortable situations and places. Such is the path of following Jesus, working to make disciples of all people and nations. May we walk the path well.

Prayer: Lord God, I do love this story but it is also very challenging. It pushes me, it calls me to new people and to new places. Go with me as I seek to follow your Son. Amen.


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Soil, Seed, or Sower?

Reading: Matthew 13: 18-23

Verse 23: Good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it.

In our passage, Jesus explains the parable of the sower.  He is providing ‘ears’ so we can ‘hear the word and understand it’.  It is not really just an agricultural lesson!  Application comes in seeing how or where we fit in the story.  So… soil, seed, or sower?

We most easily see ourselves as the soil and hopefully as the good soil.  As followers of Jesus Christ we all want to be receptive to and to understand His Word.  Most of the time we are good soil.  But not always.  Don’t tell me your mind hasn’t wandered during the message or during your quiet time!  The concerns of life and the distractions of the world make us all thorny soil sometimes.  At other times we can be rocky soil – where we receive the Word but allow something else to quickly crowd it out.  Sometimes we are hard as the path – allowing our anger or heartache to be a wall between us and God.

Next we see ourselves, at times, as the sower.  I think we all want to be seen as Christians in our day to day lives.  We want to be the light and love of Jesus out there in the world.  We want to be “the only Bible some people will ever read”.  At times our actions also require words.  We stop and share a prayer and some words of encouragement with a co-worker or friend we know is struggling or hurting.  We offer words of hope and trust with the meal w bring to our neighbor in a time of crisis.  We are prepared to tell of the good news of Jesus Christ when someone asks about the peace and joy that we have in our life.

We are seeds in this sense too – our witness is what plants the seeds of faith in others.  Living as a Christian, we should constantly be dropping off seeds in people’s lives, seeds that the Holy Spirit can bring to life.  By action, word, and deed our faith is seeds being planted in other people’s hearts and minds.

Soil, seed, or sower?  All three!  May we ever be willing servants of our Lord and Savior – hearing, sharing, and planting each day.


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Ears to Hear

Reading: Matthew 13: 1-9

Verses 3 and 9: A farmer went out to sow his seed… He who has ears, let him hear.

The parable of the sower is very familiar.  Most folks who have been Christians very long have read it as they’ve read their Bibles or have heard it discussed in a sermon or small group study.  But what about those who heard it sitting by the lake, directly from Jesus?  For many of them there, the answer is the same as it would be for someone encountering the parable for the first time today.  It is about what Jesus began with: “A farmer went out to sow his seed”.  On this level it kinda makes sense.  Poor soil yields a poor crop and good soil yields a good crop.  But the middle soils and the widely varying yields?

Jesus concludes with, “He who has ears, let him hear”.  The people who are really listening and searching for meaning in the words of Jesus will be able to hear what He is trying to tell them.  Others will only hear His words and walk away shrugging their shoulders.  I think this is one reason Jesus spoke in parables.  It applies today as well.  For those seeking meaning for their faith and application for their lives, there is much to learn from the parables.  But we too must have ears to hear.  A second reason I think Jesus spoke in parables is because they connect earthly things that all people can understand and relate to with heavenly things that require a little more time and effort on our part to fully grasp and then live into.

Sometimes when we read or hear a parable, we too may scratch our heads a bit.  But let us not leave it there.  Go to a commentary or some other resource.  Discuss it with a friend or your pastor or with your small group.  Pray for discernment and guidance.  Every word that Jesus spoke has relevance and meaning for our walk of faith.  Let the one who has ears hear Jesus’ message today.


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Ears to Hear

Jesus ends the parable of the sower with these words: “He who has ears, let him hear.”  On the surface I thought, ‘all of us have ears so everyone is included’.  But going a bit deeper I realized that although we all have ears, we do not always really hear.  Often people are talking but are not being heard.  Often God or the Holy Spirit seeks to speak into our lives, but we don’t always hear them all of the time.

Jesus sowed good seed into the disciples and those He interacted with all the time.  But many people walked away scratching their heads or dismissing what Jesus had to offer.  We continue to be sown into through the reading and study of the Word, through hearing the Word proclaimed, through Christian fellowship, and so on.  But Satan also sows seeds – seeds of evil and of temptation.  As we grow in our faith, we need to develop attentive and in-tune ears to hear God’s voice while tuning out the voices of evil.  There is both a lot to hear from God and a lot to tune out from Satan!

May we learn to listen long and hard, with compassion and patience, to Him who reigns both now and forevermore!

Scripture reference: Matthew 13: 36-43