DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- THE PARABLE OF THE SOIL

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – PARABLE OF THE SOIL

"Then He taught them many things by parables, and said to them in His teaching: 'Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow." (Mark 1:2-3)

Perhaps one of the best-loved parables that Jesus told is the Parable of the Sower. Although the Sower and the Seed are important parts of the story, I think it should be called the Parable of the Soil, because the real issue is the place where the seed is planted.

Just as a reminder, the parable is about a Sower who went out to sow the seed. He scattered the seed on various types of soil – some by the wayside, some on rocky soil, some on land filled with weeds and briers, and some on good soil.

Jesus explained the meaning of the parable. The sower is the one who plants the seed. The seed is the Word -- the word of the Kingdom, the Gospel, or the Word of God. The soil along the wayside was not prepared to receive the Word and Satan immediately pecked at the seed like a bird. The seed that was sown on rocky soil did not have enough dirt to sustain the roots of the plants, and although they sprung up, they withered because they had no roots. Some seed landed on okay soil, but the plants  were choked out by weeds and brambles. Finally, some seed on good soil that was tilled and ready to receive the seed and produced a great harvest.

Perhaps the most poignant of the soils was the weed and bramble-covered soil. The soil was not bad soil and the plant grew, but because the weeds – that is, the cares of this life and the desire for things – were not tended to, they crowded out the good plants.

So often my life is like that. I have received the Word of the Gospel and it has taken root and grown in my life. But because of my carelessness to keep the weeds hoed, they crowd out my spiritual life. The cares of this world and the desire for material things can choke my spiritual life if I am not careful to keep them under control.

As a teenager, I worked for a farmer who grew strawberries. One of my jobs was to hoe the weeds out of the strawberry fields. It was back-breaking work in the rain and in the hot sun, but very necessary. I also picked strawberries in fields where the farmer did not keep the weeds out. The weeds kept the plants from producing large fruit, and it was difficult to find the strawberries among the weeds.

My job is to pay attention to the weeds in my life that would choke my spiritual life and hoe them out when necessary.

Love, Dad