April 16, 2023

Reading: Matthew 13:1-9

Title: The parable of the sower. 

Focus: The Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) all begin the parables of Jesus with “The parable of the sower.” In many ways, this parable is the prime example of Jesus’ teaching of His Upside-down Kingdom. In His Kingdom, His grace is extravagant, and could even appear to be wasteful. This is one of very few parables that Jesus interprets (Matthew 13:18-23). Join us this Sunday as we begin to discover the Upside-down Kingdom Jesus has inaugurated.

The Parable of the Sower

Matthew 13:1-9 

600 Acres

There was a farmer who got a good deal on 600 acres of ground adjacent to his family farm. His farm ground was fertile and productive, whereas this 600 acres had historically been unproductive, thus the good deal. There was some good ground, but most of it was dry and rocky with several sections running along a dusty county road.

He decided to call in his local Extension Service Agent for advice. The agent arrived with a clever plan to mix various strains of seeds that might take to the variety of soils and terrains.  The farmer was disappointed in the results from the first crop. It wasn’t the dry and rocky ground that disappointed him, it was the good ground. You see, the seed mix wasn’t ideal for the good ground but rather was designed to produce a crop in any kind of soil. The farmer stayed the course for several years until in the third season he realized that there were hybrid volunteers sprouting up from the past season. As these volunteers matured, the farmer realized they were more weed than crop. His only choice now was to leave the crop in the field and burn it out in the fall after he had harvested his good crop. His mind was even more made up when during the harvest of his good crop he found the same hybrid volunteers along the edges of his good fields.

In the spring he decided to use the same seed on the new 600 acres as he had always used on his family farm. On the good ground he had a bumper crop. The results on the rest were as expected.  Just before harvest, he loved to drive his pick-up around his property to admire and appreciate how God had blessed him and he noticed something very interesting. It seemed to him that some of the strongest and healthiest plants were on the dry and rocky ground.

It was then that he realized that God hadn’t just taught him a farming lesson but also a life lesson.