The Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13:3-9 has always been a difficult passage for me to grasp. I know my Bible pretty well, but this passage …
On the surface it seems to be cautioning me to not to waste my time sowing seed in bad soil.
Indeed.
Why bother?
Every time I read across it, I am bothered by that explanation. It simply isn’t correct. Or, if it is on the right track, it is not complete. Jesus goes on to explain what happens to the seed as a metaphor to the way people receive his word. However, I don’t see an instruction to ignore the bad soil.
So my question is always; Why is the farmer in the parable so wasteful as to be scattering seed into the rocks and the thorns and sandy soil? Every farmer knows better than this! You plant where the return is going to be sixty or a hundred fold.
What if that farmer intends to be a productive presence in the area that seed was spread?
A loving and giving presence even …
After all, roots break up hard soil. They can shatter stone. Grass in a crack of your sidewalk will take over and remove it given enough time.
What if the farmer’s attendance…
And attention…
And love…
And devotion to the seed is the lesson to be learned here?
What if that is the warning Jesus was giving to his seed spreaders?
Some people don’t want to hear the truth…
Right now.
Some people will get bored…
For now.
Some people will be lured away…
For now.
But we’re going to be put in front of people that need to know the truth, and we almost always think they have already rejected it…
Every. Single. Day.
What if our loving presence is all that is needed to break up that hard ground?