The Sower and the dirt
Mark 4:1-20
Last time, I talked about the sower and the seed, Jesus’ first parable in the book of Mark. I got an interesting and profound reply from Lori Sievert, a dear friend of mine, on that parable. Here’s her take on this parable. . .
I often think the common names associated with parables are really ways we have devised to NOT see what Jesus was really implying. Take the name of this parable: “The Sower.” God through His Spirit sows the word — it does not go out and return without results (see Isaiah 55:10, 11). Even the same metaphor is applied. What I often think of this parable is “Dirt.” We are “dust to dust,” formed from clay (at least our first parents were). We are soil. We go through phases in life, starting as rolled, packed, walked upon soul-soil. What’s the spiritual jackhammer that breaks us up? That water of the Spirit — it’s what we need to break up and prepare the soil. Move to the rocky stuff along the way. We’ve been broken up enough to accept the seeds planted, but not enough to let the word produce its results. Is this where and why we see so many shallow Christians? We are once again softened and tilled and broken and weeds are introduced to our lives. Fear, not faith lives here. Weeds to a farmer are merely unwanted plants that rob the soil of the nutrients necessary for the desired plants to grow. Weeds are easy to grow, and once they establish themselves, they are next to impossible to remove entirely. I was told by my grandfather that certain seeds could lay dormant for up to 50 years! I am astounded by the weeds in my life that continue to crop up. No wonder the fruit has such a hard time coming through the weed patch. When soil is finely broken up and the right “amendments” have been added, it becomes the tool to produce what is desired by the Sower. Who made the amendments? The Sower — not the soil. We can’t add our own fertilizer, or remove our own weeds, or break up the clods. We are just the dirt. We have to let the Sower do his work. Only then will our lives be fruitful — produced in our dirt, but planted by the Spirit by the Word.
That’s the scoop on the dirt.
LS
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.