Yes! There is Good News! 6.17.17

We here in Elk Horn Iowa are surrounded by agriculture. The corn and soybeans have been planted. The cattle are grazing in the fields. And those with back yard gardens are beginning to see the “fruit of their labor!” If you are even a little bit familiar with the Word of God, you know that there are a multitude of references to the planting and growing of food. People from the time of Adam to the days of Jesus Christ, lived in an agrarian society. So it should be of no surprise that when Jesus wanted to use a metaphor in His teaching, He drew upon the concept of farming.

In the 13th chapter of the book of Matthew we find seven parables; one about fishing, one about baking, two about treasures and three about farming. Let’s take a look at the first of these parables which happens to be about farming.

Starting in verse 3 we read, “Then He told them many things in parables, saying: ‘A farmer went out to sow his seed….’” As the farmer scattered his seed we find that there were four specific areas upon which the seed fell and four differing results for harvest. The seed fell upon the walking path, upon the rocky soil, upon soil with thorny weeds, and finally upon good soil. The results of this scattering were as follows: the birds ate up the seed on the path (no harvest here), the rocky soil produced plants but only for a short time because they could not develop a root system (no harvest here), the thorny soil produced plants but they could not compete with the weeds and they were choked out (no harvest here either), and finally the good soil produced a crop in abundance – some a hundred, some sixty and some thirty times what was sown.

The lesson here in agricultural terms is easy: make sure you plant in the good soil. But Jesus wasn’t really trying to teach a farming lesson. He had a larger picture in mind. This was the first of the “kingdom parables” (“The kingdom of heaven is like …”) and the lesson is about producing fruit for the kingdom of God. As I see it, there are two lessons here: first, if you are striving to help others come to see the good news of Jesus Christ, you must take some time to prepare the soil. Are you being a good example to those around you? Are you gentle and kind when presenting a biblical thought? Are you a humble servant of your Savior? These attitudes, and others, are important when considering a good harvest.

But secondly, there is another aspect to this parable. When you hear a message about Jesus Christ or when you open your bible to do your own reading or studying, how do you accept what you hear or read? It really doesn’t matter how long you have been involved with the word of God, because seeds may be planted every day within your heart. And these every day seeds planted within you may find your heart as hard as a walking path or as shallow as rocky soil. Today’s lesson might be entangled in the thorns and briars of a busy life. But if you have prepared your own heart to receive the word of God, perhaps a harvest of joy, peace, righteousness or holiness will reap one hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

Good news indeed!!