Words from the Rock
Some [seed] fell on good earth, and produced a harvest beyond [the farmer’s] wildest dreams. Are you listening to this? Really listening?
Matthew 13:8–9 Message
At the end of Jesus’s parable about the challenges of planting seeds, we finally get to hear about the seeds that not only survived but flourished and thrived. Jesus simply says, “Some fell on good earth.” But what does that mean? What makes earth good?
Jesus begins this parable by saying that a farmer went out to sow some seed. Now if you ask an experienced farmer about the best way to plant a successful crop, he’ll immediately give you the lowdown on field preparation. He’ll suggest nutrients and explain the importance of plowing and turning the soil. And he’ll definitely point out that timing is everything.
So what do our hearts have in common with dirt? For starters, we need to be plowed (another word for plowing is breaking the soil), and that can be painful. Sometimes it’s when life knocks us around and beats us up that we become ready to hear and receive God’s Good News. It’s like the hard times have plowed through and softened our hearts.
There’s also the matter of timing. Only a foolish farmer would try to plant seeds in hard, frozen earth, but a freezing-cold winter also helps to break up and prepare the soil for planting. Kind of like when we go through a season that feels like winter—it could be preparing our hearts. Then spring comes, and like soil that’s warm and soft, our hearts are ready to receive a seed. The timing is right, seeds are planted, the soil is fertile, plants appear, and in due time—a harvest!
Jesus describes this harvest as beyond a farmer’s wildest dreams. What Jesus means is that this is just the beginning, because when his seeds of faith grow strong and healthy in us, we can’t help but produce more seeds that we share with others, and the crop of faith gets bigger and bigger.
At the end of this parable, Jesus urgently asks, “Are you listening? Can you hear what I’m telling you?” This message is vital, so he wants us to really get it.
My Prayer
Dear God,
I want my heart to be plowed and ready to receive your seed of faith. Help me to be patient if it feels painful or it feels like I’m stuck in winter. I trust your timing.
Amen.
Final Word
But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.
Matthew 13:23 NIV
Stone for the Journey
I submit my heart to God’s plow so I will be ready to receive his faith seeds.