In my not-so-humble opinion, Mark 4:13 gives us a starting point when praying for, and seeking, God’s will.
According to that verse, Jesus said that we must understand the parable of the sower to understand the other parables. Without the teachings of Jesus, how can we comprehend the prophecies of Revelation or even the letters of Paul?
Jesus shared a few brief sentences, less than 100 words of vivid vignettes. “Listen! Look! He said. Did the audience listen and look through their minds’ eyes? Can we imagine the scenes today?
A sower seeded a field. We read no more of the sower. However, birds devoured wayside seeds. A few lively rockbound sprouts appeared, only to be scorched in the sun because they lacked root. Thorns grew to choke tender plants so tightly that they could not bear fruit.
Can any listener avoid sadness at the loss of seed and labor?
Suddenly, our moods must change as we “see” the bigger picture. The fruit-laden field flourished. The sower lost comparatively few seed. The small labor resulted in 30, 60 and 100 times growth!
Oh, we could simply learn to labor without fear of failure and we would have learned a great deal.
However, the word tells us so much more. Hopefully we will gain enough to do more than simply pray …thy will be done on Earth…
Mark wrote that the seed is simply the word. Without the other Gospels, we might wonder, “What word?” We hear many words today. Mindless media drivel shapes our lives and fuels our fears in common directions. Personal faith and growth allow us to blossom. However, personal fears and resentments often limit our growth.
Matthew reported that the seed is “the word of the kingdom” and Luke, “the word of God.” The word kingdom alienates some and confuses others, including me. Perhaps you are simply comforted to believe Jesus to be ruler of the kingdom. However, like Luke, I choose to see the seed as the word of God.
And what is the word of God? At this moment, I choose to continue with the teachings of Jesus unless those teachings lead me elsewhere.
4 comments:
I'm not sure why you think I will provide special insight on this reflection. I think the way "kingdom" functions for Matthew's audience - first century Jews, is a lot different for how it is used in American political life, and I have a lot more openness to language when it is contextualized this way. I think in both cases we could say the seed is the word of God's kingdom, or the logical method of God. I'm not sure that's here nor there. What troubles ME about this story is, what are the rocks and the path? Are we meant to aspire to sow seeds, or to be fertile ground?
well, Bethany, i think we may have to be both. if we interpt the seed as the Gospel and our hearts to be the soil, then for the Gospel to grow our hearts will need to be tilled. just as rocks or weeds hinder the growth of the plant, we may have to take unhealthy activities and addictions out of our lives for our understanding and transformation to God's will to take place.
and after we mature and bear fruit we eventually will sow more seeds....just throwing it out there.
Thank you stopping by Bethany and Steve! Yes, Steve, i believe that we need to be both. Today's entry covers rocks, path and thorns.
To me, the greatest beauty of the Gospels is they do not try to say, "The elephant is like..." Rather, they provide their personal insights without pretention.
In that way, they give us the opportunity to growth dynamically.
Central authorities, like Paul and Driscoll,
help maintain tradition. However, Jesus and his cousin John before him encouraged us change, thereby, welcoming a nontraditional God-centered planet.
One minor thing, Steve. We might forget that we are already bearing fruit. The question becomes, What kind?
Thank you again for visitng! jim
well, Jim, i'd like to think that the fruit we bear looks alot like that stuff Paul discussed w/ the Galatians....but, whatever.
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