The Box
Notes
Transcript
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!”
Jesus spoke of farmer and sowing a number of times throughout the Gospels. Why is this? Well the community he was speaking to knew and understood farming well. These communities all had farmland or gardens to provide food for each other and to earn funds. By using an idea like farming it was easy for everyone to understand.
Many of us understand the what it takes to farm or have a garden but there are a number of people that have never been exposed to farming or gardening in this way. For those who do not know what it takes to farm a crop or garden, I am going to give a quick description of what it takes. First you have to prepare the soil in which you are going to plant your crop. This is where you fertilize the soil if needed. Then till the soil to turn it up and loosen up the soil to receive the seed.
If you are a farmer or serious gardener, you will check the seed you want to use. You will choice a high quality to seed to ensure it will produce a good crop. Then you have to decide a fertilizing strategy for your soil and crop. Once you have all this together you plant the seed. Once the seed is planted where you want the crop then you have to water, fertilize, and weed. This step is repeated until the crop is ready to harvest.
For famers and gardeners, they are picky about where their crop will be placed. They want good soil in a place that receives the needed amount of sun for their crop. There is care and diligence to farming and gardening. There is love and passion within their work. There is a desire to have the greater harvest each year.
When thinking about the care taken farmers and gardeners when it comes to spreading their seed, Jesus’ parable here seems odd. Jesus describes a sower or farmer putting seeds out to prepare to grow. But, this sower is not particular about where their seed falls. They do not care about the money that is wasted nor the lack of growth from the seeds falling on unprepared soil.
Jesus knew that people would recognize the carelessness of spreading seeds so haphazardly. They would have questioned why the farmer was not paying closer attention to where they were putting the seeds. But, maybe there was more to this than we typically think about. When discussing this text we tend to talk about faith and how the soils represent our heart and the seeds sown in us. The stronger our faith is the deeper the soil and the roots grow. But, I don’t want to talk about that today. I want to focus on something a little different. The idea of the sower being outside The Box with what they are doing.
Why do I say the farmer was out of The Box? Well, let’s look at what they did. The farmer spread seed in many different areas. He did not limit his crop to just one section. This did increase his chances to have a larger crop than normal. While he knew some of the seeds would not produce maybe he thought some would produce that he normally did not get produce from.
But what more does this parable have to do with other than faith. Well, let’s look at this as a story of evangelism instead of a story on faith. The farmer is the evangelist and the seed is the Gospel message. The farmer is offering the message of the Gospel to all that he meets. The evangelist is spreading the opportunity throughout the whole community and not limiting who hears the message.
This is a story of how we are to spread the message of the Gospel. We must be willing to spread the message in all different directions. We should not limit our message to people based on our knowledge of them. Just because they have done things we do not agree with does not mean we should not spread the seed to them. We are called to deliver the message of the Gospel to all human beings without limit. This is what Christ has called us to do in order to make disciples of him.
If the soil are humans then why does Jesus describe the soils so differently. We know that human beings are different. We are all individuals and have different opinions and understandings of what is happening around us. Our experiences also affect our individuality. Based on that information there should be a lot more than four soils. So, why only four?
I believe a person changes over time. A person can start off as the path. The place where it is almost impossible for the seed to grow and an easy place for animals to find the seed and eat them. The ground on the path is packed tightly because of the people constantly traveling across the ground. For a person it is opposite of a well traveled path. This person is one of the people who are first hearing about Christ. They are new to the Good News of the Gospel and have doubts. Their heart is hard, like Pharaoh’s was when Moses was freeing the Israelites.
As the person with the hears the good news more times their heart changes. They become like the second soil. This is the rocky area just off the path, where there is very little soil for the seed to grow roots in. A person in this area has heard the good news of the Gospel a number of time and their heart has begun to soften. They don’t understand exactly what is happening and their past is pulling them back while they try to seek a better understanding. Their worldly desires are still stronger than their desire for God, making it hard for the seed’s root to take hold.
But, if we continue to tell this person the good news then their heart softens more and becomes like the soil where the thorns are. This area allows the seed to grow and take root but the weeds around the seed did not allow the seed to grow to full size. In fact, as the seed grows the weeds surround it and quickly take it over and kills it. The person in this area is hearing the Good News but is still influenced by their past. They are growing and learning but there is something, typically only one or two things pulling them back into the world. Their crutch could be a loved one, a friend, an addiction, money, anything they loved in the past.
They continue to hear the Good News and they change some more. They become like the prepared soil. Their heart is softer and they want to know more about the Good News. They are ready to make a complete transformation and leave the past behind them. They are not allowing that one thing to pull them back into the world. Their desire is for God and nothing else. This type of person allows the seed’s roots to grow deep into their softened heart and to grow strong and produce a crop. This person is fruitful in their love and work for Christ.
Friends, we are the sower spreading the seed. We must spread the seed everywhere so that all may hear the Good News of the Gospel. We must stop limiting where we spread the seed so that all can hear this message. I’ve heard that it take 100 contacts before someone comes to know Christ. That means we have to spread the seed on the hard path for a while, then among the rocks, followed by the weeds, before someone is ready to accept the message and allow their heart to be soft enough to receive the message.
I ask you though, which ground are you? As Wesleyans we believe we can backslide in our journey toward salvation. That means we can go from prepared soil with deep roots all the way back to the path. Have you allowed the world to harden your heart so the seed cannot even grow? Have you allowed the world to harden your heart to where the soil is shallow and the seed grows quick but dies? Has that one weed pulled you back into the world killing of the crop? Or is you heart soft and prepared for great growth to be fruitful for God’s Kingdom?
We are the sower and the ground in this story. In order for us to produce a great crop we must have a soft heart that has fully accepted the message so we can tell it. We cannot allow this message to be stopped by the way people react to our spreading it. We will meet people whose hearts will be so hard that they will speak ill against us but we must continue to prepare the heart through the use of the Good News of the Gospel. Friends, I ask are you ready to sow the field? The harvest is bountiful but there are few workers. Are you prepared to work the harvest?
