The Parable of the Sower

While on vacation recently, I came across an in depth study of the parables of Jesus called “Live Deeply”. Growing up as a preacher’s kid, I was surrounded by preaching and teaching of God’ Word. Yet sometimes, I find myself struggling to find the “newness” of a familiar passage of Scripture. I don’t want God’s Word to ever become just a good read or a study source. I do believe the Bible is a love letter to us TODAY and is just as current as any book on the best seller’s list. So the title spoke to me and I am so glad I made the purchase.

The first parable, the Sower, has come alive to me. Although I have been around farm and gardening all my life, this parable never “clicked” like it did this time (maybe all the “farming” I’ve been doing on Facebook has had an added influence! – cultivating a good crop is hard work!)

I don’t consider myself a Bible scholar nor have I ever been privileged to visit Israel. Could it be that I missed a geology lesson in Sunday School? Did you know that there were volcanoes around the Sea of Galilee covering the limestone rock of the area with volcanic dust? There were also areas that had been covered with a good layer of volcanic dirt but other spots only have shallow soil and rocky protrusions.

The multitudes sitting on the shore listening to Jesus relate the parable of the sower. As the sower sowed the seed, some of the seed fell on the wayside, some on the stony ground, some on the thorny ground and some on the good ground. These eager listeners totally got the illustration. They worked the ground and knew how hard it was to reap a bountiful harvest – in fact, to them a harvest of thirty or sixty-fold was amazingly blessed but a hundredfold harvest was miraculous.



As I reflected on this thought, I was reminded of my trip a few years ago to “Hell” a tourist attraction in the Grand Cayman Islands. (Gotcha – did you think I had a vision of the fiery eternal destination?) This area of the island was formed by volcanic eruptions leaving a large field of rocky protrusions. Yet in the midst of all the cool formations, nothing can really take root, grow or produce. So I got it…a different perspective on the parable of the sower.


So I leave you with these final thoughts from the lesson:

* The root of the tree determines the fruit of a tree. The branches have little or nothing to do with the process. The key is for the branch to stay connected to the root so they can hold the fruit.

* A Christian should resemble a fruit tree not a Christmas tree! For the gaudy decorations of a Christmas tree are only tied on whereas fruit grows on a fruit tree. – John R. W. Stott

May you grow in the Lord "C"