A farmer went out to sow his seed… Matthew 13:3 (NIV)

He Sows Relentlessly – Truth and Seeds Series – Part 6

Go to PART 1  |  PART 2  |  PART 3  |  PART 4  |  PART 5  |  PART 6

When Jesus told this parable, as recorded in Matthew 13, to his audience by the lake, I can imagine that there was much conjecture among them about who was who: who were like the well-worn path? Or who were full of rocks and stones? Or whose lives were riddled with weeds and thorns?

I’m sure the disciples, and perhaps myself when I read this parable, thought they were those whose hearts were ready for the seed. (We are all prone to believe the best of ourselves, and assume the worst of others.) They were the good soil. A place where the word could grow strong, tall, and beautiful.

But this isn’t a “who’s who” story. Soil isn’t really the point.
And even if it was, I have the potential to be all the conditions listed in this parable all at the same time. I can be stoic and concrete, rocky and hardened, full of thorns and weeds; all the while, my heart has at least a tiny patch of good rich soil waiting for new life to be planted in it.

All
at
the
same
time.

In every instance, in every place Jesus described, there was soil underneath it all. Sure, some (all) of us, have various things within us that threaten the growth of the Kingdom of love and light in our hearts and lives.

But to become obsessed with pointing out these obstacles in ourselves, and in others, is part of the blindness that keeps us from seeing the one who sows: the constant and relentless farmer.

Our hearts are like untended ground waiting for us to see it's potential, to still our striving and worries, and open our eyes to see, and ears to hear, the one who sows… and keeps on sowing.

In and out of season, he scatters his seed. He sows relentlessly, generously, regardless of whether or not we are ready to receive. He sows while we’re caught up in old habits and reactions to what's going on around us. He sows while we lack the discipline, and sometimes the energy, to do much with the seed. He sows in the midst of our pain. Even pain so deep we’re sure nothing can grow.

Until one day, despite the odds, a little shoot of green breaks through a crack in the pavement, a vine appears wrapping itself around the rocks, and the thorns make way for the most beautiful green you’ve ever seen.

This Parable is not about seed or soil. It’s about The Sower.

You may think this makes him a careless farmer. One who wastes his seed and energy on ground that he knows will not yet yield a harvest. But God “sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matt 5:45).

He is in the business of calling what is not yet into being. He has faith and hope that what is not currently showing any signs of receptivity, will one day burst forth with more green growth than you can imagine. (Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1).

He believes in the possibility of growth even in the most impossible places.

God himself, in his great love, is always and ever sowing seed: redemption, forgiveness, grace, purpose, healing, strength, good news. Jesus.

He never gives up sowing.

Have you noticed The Sower continues sowing, even when your heart is rocky and barren? We'd love to hear from you in the comments below

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