Walking With Christ

Matthew 13:3-9 (3)And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. (4)And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. (5)Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, (6)but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. (7)Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. (8)Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. (9)He who has ears, let him hear.”(ESV)

This may be one of the best known parables that Jesus told. We are called to plant seeds for the kingdom. That part is obvious because the next few verses explain on one level the meaning behind this story.

I would say that there are other levels where this could also be applied. Jesus rarely sold a simple story that was not dripping with wisdom and meaning that could be wrestled from every word.

In this case, I would say that this parable works on an individual level but also on a collective level. Jesus said that the soil is the heart of the believer. It could also be used to describe the heart of a church or community regardless of size. We then become the seeds. We are planted but it isn’t until we come up out of the soil that we can bear fruit. It is not until the harvest that most seeds hold any value that is measurable. God meets us where we are no matter how low or buried in the dirt we get. He gets right down in the dirt with us. He just doesn’t get dirty. Rather, He calls us up out of the dirt to His purpose. His spirit waters us and encourages us to grow where we are planted. The work done by the spirit in the seedling stage changes the soil around where that seed was planted.

The parable of the weeds that comes next in Matthew confirms this by saying that the enemy plants weeds when the master of the field planted good seed. Let both grow and they will be sorted out during the harvest. The Son of Man (Jesus) planted His seeds (us) in the world and the enemy planted his seeds as well in the hopes of starving out the good seeds.

Every word, thought, or action plants seeds. Be careful that we are not planting weeds.