Ground
I’m not a meaningful gardener: more a time-scarce trier. Surrounded by many who love the earth, seeing their results and hearing their stories inspires me to want to do better. It takes good soil, with good seed that is well-tended by an attentive gardener. Without these, we can't expect a happy garden or an abundant crop.
In the words of Wendell Berry, “The soil is the great connector of lives, the source and destination of all. It is the healer and restorer and resurrector, by which disease passes into health, age into youth, death into life. Without proper care for it, we can have no community, because without proper care for it we can have no life.”
Maybe this is what’s going on when Jesus Christ speaks out the longest and most important parable. Matthew 13 begins with a large crowd gathered around Him and His getting into a boat so all those who stood on the shore could hear. Among Christ’s parables about the land, this one stands out in its depth of teaching about how the seed of the gospel of the Kingdom is sown and works in the field of our lives. In the first set of parables spoken, Jesus shared an example from their everyday life that reveals crucial truths about our calling into the Kingdom of God. He talked to them about a man sowing seed in the field.
In the setting of that time, a farmer sowing a field was a well-known sight. The well-worn paths between towns and farms ran next to the fields. The passing of many feet, hooves and carts compressed the ground into hard-packed dirt unable to receive the seed. But because the farmer's field went alongside the path, he would inevitably sow some of the seed on the "wayside." The seed falling on a well-worn path won't work into the soil and take root. Birds are shrewd enough to know where to source an easy meal. They would swoop down and quickly fill their mouths with seed. This is the seed that fell by the wayside. Because of the way the seed was sown, coupled with help from the wind, some seed would inevitably fall into the stony ground.
Stony ground has soil, but it isn't good enough to germinate and put down deep roots. The stones block root growth, preventing plants from growing roots large enough to support much fruit. As Christ said, anything that begins to grow in stony soil lacks a deep rooting and quickly withers and dies from the heat. The varied ground that Christ mentions can be due to weather—too little or too much rain and temperatures that are too hot or too cool. But because there is good soil, properly fertilized and balanced with the right amount of nutrients, the seed can germinate, put down deep roots and produce optimum fruit. Good ground is possible: immense crops too!
Julie’s late Dad used to sift and prepare the soil. His garden borders were next to perfect because they were tended over many decades. And if we tend to the soil, the soil takes care of the rest. Simply put: soil conditions affect health and growth. Among Christ's parables about the land, this one about the sower and the seed stands out as the most insightful in its depth of teaching about how the seed of the gospel of the Kingdom is sown and works in the field of life. No other parable shows us how the devil, the allure of the world and the cares of this life conspire to spoil the eternal truths of the Kingdom of God in our lives. Our days are full of distractions—the rocks, thorns and birds that conspire to prevent God's Word and His calling from taking root and bearing fruit.
Elsewhere Berry says…. “to cherish what remains of the earth and to foster its renewal is our only legitimate hope of survival.” Gardening can be a therapeutic metaphor in this life. The ground is essential to our wellbeing. Even right now the Kingdom of God is being sown in your life. It may be worth exploring asking: how is the soil of your life? The seeds of the gospel of God and His eternal Kingdom are before us, so that we make good use of them!
I loved the rooted, gritty soil of the ordinary. How about you?
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