February 2012 Newsletter

Soil does not prepare itself!

The parable of the sower in Matthew 13 is one of the most familiar passages in the Bible. We all know how it begins: 'A sower went out to sow….' and in the story Jesus tells of four types of soil and the different ways in which they react to the seed that is sown. Having read this recently I would like to share with you a couple of things I saw for the first time.

The story is about the Sower, the seed and the soil.

The sower in the parable is Jesus, although it could have been any member of the Trinity as Jesus tells us in John 15 that his Father is the gardener. In Romans 5:5 where we read about the Holy Spirit pouring the Father's love into our hearts, the words used are similar to the picture of sowing seed.


Luke tells us that the seed is the word of God or, as Jesus puts it in Matthew 11, it is the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven. It is the treasure that the Father carries in his heart which he wants to reveal to his children. In bible times when seed was being sown the sower did not place one seed every few centimetres in carefully prepared holes. He broadcast it extravagantly all over the place. He carried a big basketful of seed and flung handfuls out as he walked across his field.

One of the things which struck me recently was that all of the seed had the same potential. It was mere chance whether it landed on soil, in thorns, on the path or amongst the rocks. The seed which fell on the path had the opportunity to produce fruit taken from it, but if that same seed had fallen a metre or so to one side it would have gone on to produce fruit. All of the God's secrets, all of his treasure, has the same potential to produce fruit in our lives.

When Jesus is talking about the soil he is talking about the state of our heart. The pathway depicts the hard hearted, those that lack understanding or who are not fully prepared. The rocky areas are those which are not as hard as the path but the soil is not deep enough to let the roots take a permanent hold. The seed sprouts up quickly then withers as there are no deep roots. The thorny areas are those where the seed faces competition which eventually overwhelms it. And then there is the good soil which enables the seed to produce fruit, albeit in different measures.

So often we look at others and describe them as one of the four soil types. But, I think, that within our own heart there is a bit of each. There are parts of our hearts that are hard, stony, prickly or good and able to produce fruit.

Now, I'm not a gardener but one thing I have observed is that the soil does not make itself ready for the planting of the seed. Before it can be planted the soil must be weeded, dug out, have the stones removed and be fed with manure and compost. Only when it is ready will the gardener plant the seed. Maybe when we have read this story in the past we have felt that we are the ones who have to make our lives ready for the seed. But soil does not prepare itself. As I have said there are parts of our hearts that are hard, stony or thorny. Why not let the gardener come alongside and lovingly prepare the field of your life? Let him break up the hard-hearted areas in order to turn them into good soil. Let him soften the rocky places so that the roots of the seed can go deep and let him pull out the competing thorns so you are free from the pressures of the world. Let the gardener do his job!

This makes it sound as if it is all up to the gardener. We, however, have the choice - are we going to give him permission to come and work in the garden of our lives? We can choose to harden our heart or we can decide to pursue him eagerly, submitting our lives to him. As much as he wants to, he will only come once we make that decision and invite him.

Finally, can I ask you to remember two things? Firstly, within any field there is much more good soil than there are pathways, rocks or thorns. Choose to let the gardener gently prepare you to receive that treasure which has so much potential for fruit. Secondly, don't be discouraged when the fruit seems minimal - it is, after all, fruit!