StorytellerSample

Let’s not forget, Jesus walked the earth in a time before grocery stores. That may seem like a random fact, but if you read through the Gospels (the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John…the four biographical accounts of Jesus’ life in the Bible) you will find Jesus using A TON of farming analogies. Remember, Jesus used parables to help put huge spiritual truths into terms that his audience could understand. His audience at the time had a thorough understanding of farming because, well, it was a part of everyday life simply to survive. 

The only problem with that is that very few of us today have much experience with agriculture. I’ve tried to start a garden in my backyard at least four different times, and to date I think I’ve eaten three tomatoes and one cucumber from all of that gardening…I am essentially a plant serial killer (the Netflix documentary should be out next year). And my guess is that a majority of us are in a similar boat…we just don’t spend a lot of time planting, growing, or caring for plants. 

That could make today’s parable a little harder for us to understand, but fortunately this is one of the parables where the Gospel writers also included Jesus’ explanation to his disciples…so I think we have a chance. The basic premise is that a farmer is walking around his fields and he is just throwing handfuls of seeds everywhere. This was how they planted stuff…they prepared the ground, and instead of painstakingly burying each single seed in the dirt they would walk along and throw seeds all over the ground, trusting that gravity, rainfall, and the soil would work together to let a majority of the seeds sprout.

Now, the story describes four different types of soil the seeds landed on while this farmer was flinging them everywhere, and apparently only one of them was able to grow and sustain a healthy plant. Which brings us to the first side of the application for this story: which type of soil are you? Are you hard-hearted, resisting God and what he’s trying to do in your life? Or maybe you're the type of person who gets all fired up at camp and is ready to go all-in for Jesus, and by the second month of school you can’t remember the last time you even talked to God? Do you sincerely want to follow Jesus with everything you’ve got, but all the pressures of school and busyness of your schedule - the fears about your reputation and maintaining your status with your friends – all that stuff seems to take over and drown out your ability to really focus on God? Or, are you simply walking faithfully with Jesus, and you’re seeing him use you in amazing ways to impact the world around you? And before you jump to an answer, recognize that we probably move in and out of these categories through different seasons of our lives. I’m not here to pile guilt on – I’ve probably been each of these soils at different points just this month – but it’s a great thing to ask yourself regularly to make some corrections and get back to where you want to be.

The second lesson buried in this story is from the perspective of the farmer. Not only do these soils represent us, but every follower of Jesus is called to play the role of the farmer as well. Who are you sharing Jesus with? Are you throwing any seeds out? I’m sure you can think of someone in your life right now that is far from God – when is the last time you prayed for them, took an opportunity to discuss faith, or even just invited them to come to church with you? Remember, everyone in your life is in one of those four soil categories too, so they won’t always be receptive to what you have to say. But, the farmer’s job isn’t to transform the other three types of soil…his job is simply to plant seeds. Are you planting? Who do you need to talk to this week?