“Whoever has ears, let them hear…” – Jesus
Did you ever plant a seed in a plastic cup in Sunday School or at Vacation Bible School? Each child would get their own cup and seed. They would plant the seed in the cup and take it home to place in a windowsill. If you remembered to water it, you’d have a tiny little plant growing in your window in what felt like no time at all. It was exciting to wait with anticipation for it to sprout and watch it grow.
This past Sunday, we continued our look at the parables, these earthly illustrations we find in the Gospels that convey, primarily, one spiritual truth. We focused on The Parable of the Sower, found in Matthew 13. The background for this well-known parable draws from a typical scene in the Palestinian countryside: a field through which a well-worn path runs. You can almost picture that scene in your mind…perhaps that’s why Jesus used it as an example… The image of God’s word as a seed, a representation of God giving life, is also found in the Old Testament as well.
Isaiah 55:10-11 says, “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
God’s Word does not return void. However, as The Parable of the Sower teaches, it is our soil, our hearts, receiving the seed, the Word of God, that can be the issue. When we read the Word, hear the Word, or listen to the Word in song, it does not return void. It may be softening our hard path hearts, working through the rockiest of soil, competing with the thorns of life, or finding a place to grow in good soil, but it is always at work. We are all each type of soil. Thankfully, we have a great Sower that is never changing and constantly sowing seeds of life, seeds of the Gospel of Jesus, in our lives.
The parables were meant to help Jesus’ listeners—then and now—learn more about the Kingdom of God and the Word of God. They can form us and shape us to be more like Jesus. Psychologist and author Jordan Peterson says that “Christ is a master at using short, mysterious stories. They change the listener who takes them seriously.”
Let’s continue to listen and actually hear the parables, together. Whoever has ears, let them hear…
Prayer: Dear God, thank you for scattering seed to find us, no matter what soil we are at that moment. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Grace and peace,
Aaron
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