Sammy’s Story Part III
(Read Part I & II first)
Luke 8:4-15
While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable:
A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and chocked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.
When he said this, he called out, He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
His disciples asked him what this parable meant. He said, The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that “through seeing, they may not see; through hearing, they may not understand.”
This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rock are the ones who received the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are chocked by life’s worries, riches, and pleasures, and they do not mature. But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.
Thought: Is this process uncontrollable, beyond our reach as a Church, and should we just accept that we will loose a lot of grain, and only a few become productive and multiply by the hundreds? Or is it just possible that the Church is the soil, and we, the church, are responsible for removing the rocks so the good soil is exposed and weeding out the thorns before they are huge, prickly, and blossoming with seed to pollute even more ground, so the good soil nurtures the seed,
I would like to contend that the evangelist can spread the seed, but we need the shepherd to clear the rocks and help root the new believer. We need the prophet to separate the wheat from the tares, weeding out those thorns of temptations by life’s worries, riches, and pleasures, by having the new believer focus on his intimate relationship with God, the Father, and the furthering of the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. We need the apostle as an overseer to help others prepare the soil no matter what condition it may be in so newly sown seed, new believers, may grow productive and multiply. We need the five fold to equip the saints for the work of preparation for the (harvest). This may be a new way to look at the five fold, but the outcome is soil preparation for a good harvest. Jesus said, “the harvest is ready, but the workers are few”, and encourages us to go “harvest what we have not sown.” The Church needs the five fold to sow the seed, prepare the ground, water the new born plants, and harvest.