A Surprising Harvest
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
God is not like earthly farmers, nor is He like earthly landowners
or merchants or kings. Parables, simple words and simple stories, conceal God
from men too proud to believe that He is not like them. Parables are easy to
misunderstand. The point of the parable of the Sower is that God does not farm
the way we do. Being a farmer who works with seed and soil and fertilizer gives
very little insight into God and His ways. Farmers work the soil and make it
productive. They work the soil for profit, applying all their wisdom to it. But
God does not seek profit. He does not gain from sowing. He sows seed in foolish
places. He does not work the soil. The seed itself is good, and men are in
need. The seed does its work, but all at God’s expense.
His ways baffle us. He sows His seed in foolish, weak, and
impossible places, without thought to gain or loss. He sows on the trodden
path, the rocky patch, the thorny ground—into the deaf ear, the blind eye, and
the hard heart of those who hate Him, who seized the Son and killed Him. He
sends His message out in ways and to markets that make advertising executives
cringe. He sows where His seed absolutely should not grow. He wastes His love
on fickle men with hearts full of lust and greed.
And most is lost. Most is trampled, snatched, withered, and
choked. Most is wasted, spent in vain, tossed away for nothing,
indistinguishable from chaff in the wind. This Sower does not show a profit. He
gives and men waste. He never counts the cost. He does not sow for gain or
profit. He does not sow for fame, honor, or prestige. He sows for men. He sows because
they are in need. He sows because He would love them again. He sows because He
is love. He is lavish in His gifts of grace.
And somehow, miracle of miracles, the seed finds earth.
Miserable, scorched, dry, rocky ground though it be—even on the darkest
pavement of our hearts—the seed finds the earth, and it grows! That good seed
transforms some of those trodden, rocky, thorny patches into soil rich enough
to bear a crop a hundredfold! It takes root in ears that could not hear. It
grows to life in blind and unlikely corners where men had given up and moved
on. It bears a crop that demographics studies and the best laid plans of men could
not predict or expect, while well-farmed lands in fertile plains are ripe with
weeds. The Word of God bestows wisdom in the midst of foolishness. It harvests
life from death. It bears a crop where and when the Spirit pleases, and that
pleases our Father.
The Good News of Our Lord’s death and resurrection is the seed;
it is the power of God for salvation. And though it seems a foolish waste to
human wisdom, it changes lives. It heals disease. It puts an end to war. It
brings husbands and wives back together. It turns the hearts of the fathers to
their children. The Word always works the way God wants it to work, because it
is the creative force of God Himself, and He is not like us.
It
is for you that the true Vine, our Lord Jesus Christ, suffered the weeds that
choke, the birds that snatch, the rocks that wither roots, the feet that trample
the seed of His Word. He died for you and rose again. He was cut down, but He came
up like a shoot from the stump. By His Word He declares you innocent. He opens
heaven. There is nothing for you to add or prove or do. He has done it all for
you. Foolish and ridiculous though it seems, impossible and wonderful, He has
died for you. He does not hold it against you. He has sowed His Seed within you
so that you would live and be loved by Him. He has sowed His seed so that you
would know your Father. He will make you bloom in the resurrection. Eden and
all of creation will be restored. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+)
and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The
peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus always. Amen.
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