Where Do You Fall?

These next few days, we’re going to look at the parable of the sower.  Maybe you’ve read it a hundred times.  Well here goes 101…

A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.  But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.  Whoever has ears, let them hear.

Jesus told stories to his listeners, and he expected them to hear and understand.

This is a quite picturesque story, one easy to imagine, that of a farmer sowing seed.

I can see the seed that fell and the birds ate it up.  I’ve been mowing before, and as soon as I cross the yard to the other side, birds land where I just mowed and look for seed. 

I can see the rocky ground, where the seed falls and just sits there, having no soft dirt in which to bury itself.  And can’t you imagine with me the hot sun beating down on a little seed that’s barely planted in a shallow area? It must be torture!.

I can visualize thorns that grow up around seed, because I too have had weeds in my own garden grow and try to choke out the beauty I’ve planted nearby.

I can also smile as I envision the good soil, where there is fruit ripening, flowers blooming, and crops growing in abundance.

Really hearing and listening to God’s word includes tasting it with our senses of imagining it, seeing it, experiencing the truth of it, and then getting it.

Are you listening? Are you hearing?