What I Learned About Sowing Seeds
I do not pretend to have a green thumb. I have proven that I can’t grow anything. The only plants I have had success with are plastic. I do have a handful of plants that grow every spring from some bulbs that a neighbor gave me. I knew I would kill them, so I just left them in the bag by my garage. But to my surprise, each year those plants bloom into beautiful flowers. I am happy that I don’t have to be good with plants to be a good seed sower.
Seeds or Soil
The first parable we discover in the Gospels is about the four types of soil. We see Jesus tell the crowd this story about a person who goes out to broadcast some seed. He pays no attention to the soil he is seeding. He is just about sowing the seed.
Jesus identifies four types of soil in the story. There is hard, dry, soil and the seeds don’t have a chance to take root. The birds come along and gobble up the seeds from the hard ground. Jesus describes this soil as one whose heart is not receptive to the word of God.
The second soil is rocky ground. There’s enough soil and silt for the seed to germinate, but the roots can’t get down to the water and rich earth it needs. When the sun is high in the sky, the seed can’t handle the heat. It shrinks and withers away.
The third soil contains thorns and weeds. The seed finds what it needs to grow, but so do the thorns. Eventually the cares of this world overtake the seed and it can’t survive the thorns. It too fails.
The fourth soil is good soil. This soil is rich with minerals and water. It has ample sun for growth. It does not have the thorns to deal with, so this seed grows. Because of the crop, we know the soil is good. This one seed generates hundreds of new seeds.
The Meaning of the Story
You’ve heard the story of the soil and how we need to be like the good soil and not the other three. But have you noticed the actor in the story? Who is responsible for the action or activity?
The sower has no concern for the soil. His only focus is spreading the seed. We are told in the story that the seed is the word of God. The story is about broadcasting the word of God on as many plots as we can. Being a seed sower.
I find it interesting that we spend our time trying to understand the soil. Trying to figure out if the rocky, thorny soil are believers or not. We discuss deep theological concepts around this parable in terms of the soil. But I think that is the wrong focus.
Be a Seed Sower
In the parable, did the sower have any concern for the soil? No. He simply went about spreading the seed wherever he could.
The soil simply is what it is. We don’t see it changing, we don’t see the seed sower cultivating it, tending it, changing it, tending the weeds, etc. The person in the story is not doing anything about the soil. The sower is about sowing seeds and the soil is not his responsibility.
You and I are going to come in contact with people everyday who are somewhere on this spectrum. They are either hard and have no interest in the Gospel, they are joyfully receptive, or somewhere in between.
As a seed sower, as a person who is called to make disciples, our responsibility is to make sure people hear the word of God – the Gospel, the Good News. Who is responsible to make sure the soil is ready for the seed? That belongs to God. The role of the Holy Spirit is to prepare the heart.
Our challenge: As a seed sower, don’t worry about the soil, sow the seed!
