The Sower

Matthew 13: 1-23

3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

Each spring and fall I would spread grass seed over my lawn. There were areas of my yard in which the grass seed sprouted readily.  In another area seed sprouted but was thin.  And in yet another area, grass would never grow. Despite my mixed success, I seeded each spring and fall, without fail.

We can look at the parable above in two ways.  The first is to see the sower as Jesus Christ, who spreads the seed of the good news to the world where most of the people reject it.  Despite this rejection, Christ keeps sowing and some people come to faith and produce much fruit.

The second is to see ourselves (people of faith) as the sower of the good news. We sow the good news with our words, through our service, and with our example. We may succeed with some and fail with others, but we are to keep sowing. We are  not to be preoccupied with success or failure but with our relationship with Christ.

In either case, the message is to keep sowing.

In our spiritual lives this means that  we are to keep praying, keep studying, keep worshiping, keep serving, and living the faith...with our eyes always on Christ.

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)