Week 2: Ministry

Parable of the Sower

The tip of my spade hit rock barely an inch into the soil. I was trying to plant tulip bulbs along an old fence row beside the road. The hope was to add some spring color and beauty to a barren patch of the rust-hued ditch. I expected the ground to be difficult, but I barely even broke ground on the first push. Nothing was going to grow here even if I planted it well.

One of Jesus’s favorite ways to teach is through parables. A parable is a short story that teaches a larger truth. It is a way to be both convicting and invitational simultaneously. A story invites us to hear while the greater truth of the story convicts our hearts. I’ve often wondered if we will begin incorporating more parables into our own speech as we are Gospel formed, but that’s a question for another day. Today’s reading is the parable of the sower.

The parable of the sower is one of the more convicting parables that Jesus shares. In it, he compares his audience and us today to different soil types. Some soil is hard. Some is rocky. Some is briar ridden. Some is healthy. I think about this parable often as I’m working in the garden or trying to plant bulbs. The goal of healthy soil is to produce fruit. The fruit is the reflection of the health of the soil.

It’s easy as you read through the parable to think of yourself automatically as good soil.

“I’m a Christian. I’m reading my daily devotional. I go to church pretty often.”

Remember, all the people that were listening to Jesus that day thought the same general things.

“I’m a Jew. I recite Torah and Psalms. I attend Temple or Synagogue.”

Jesus wants his followers to dig a little deeper.

What is your fruit?

What is growing from the soil of your heart, mind, and habits?

If Jesus took a spade today, how far would you allow it to dig before it hit a rock?