Blog # 162 The Sower -- One

Blog # 162 - One (Matthew 13:1-23) Behold the sower went out to sow...Wayside, birds, rocky ground, not much earth, no depth, scorching sun, thorns, good ground. The parable is familiar to us all. When Jesus had finished presenting the parable the Apostles asked Him to explain it more fully. Master, tell us more of this sower, and the seed. How does it fit in with our faith in you? How can we use this story to come to a more perfect love of God? What do you mean by the thorns,the wayside, and the rocky ground? So Jesus went on to explain what He had said. God is the sower. The seed is God's word, whether it comes to us in the Bible, our individual conscience, our headache, our neighbor, or any of the many circumstances of our everyday life. Many a seed never bears fruit. So it is with the presence and the word of God. In the hearts of some of us much of the time and in the hearts of all of us some of the time God's word finds a wayside. The seed is good but when hearts are not ready to receive it they are hard, and it cannot sink in and grow. The 'birds', whom Jesus says are Satan, come and eat it. How often the word of God, calling for reform, sown in the sinner's heart, has been repelled as soon as it was sown is know only to sinners and to God. A proud man might see an example of humility in his neighbor and be called by God to do the same, but Satan comes and steals away the inspiration and the thought is rejected. That heart is a wayside. Some of God's words fall on rocky ground. The word is received with joy. Good resolutions are made. I'm going to be a saint and love God with my whole heart and soul. But there is no root. The word of God lasts only until it is challenged. We have what has well been called a 'sunshine Christian', someone who will follow Jesus with a broad smile when He is curing the blind and the deaf and feedilng thousands, but who is unwilling to follow Him to the court of Pilate, to the scorn of Annas and Caiphas, to the humiliation of being called a devil and the the pain suffering and test of faith which is the Cross. Yet such experiences can prove very valuable in helping produce within us the beautiful likeness to Christ to which we are called. Sometimes the word of God grows best in times of trouble and persecution. Anyone who is willing to follow Jesus only when it is easy and not when it demands sacrifice and suffering is rocky ground. Perhaps at this point the Apostles began to realize more clearly why their band was few in number!