Someone said to a friend, "Let's go listen to Jesus, the sower of words," and Jesus tells the crowd His parable of the sower. As Jesus says, "A sower went out to sow his seed..." He sweeps his hand outward like a sower and the first the invisible seeds are eaten up by the birds of the air! The friend whispers to the someone, "At times I have given you good advice and you've listened intently and then have not done what I suggested."
With another sweep of Jesus' hand to throw a handful of imaginary seed He says, "Some of the seed fell on rock; and as it grew up, it withered for lack of moisture." The friend turns to the someone again and whispers in his ear, "This is like our friend Micah whose mother calls him in to study, he studies lightly, and then is out in the street to play again with nothing in his brain." Yes, the seed has fallen on shallow ground and the moisture of using what Micah has learned does not take hold.
Then dramatically, Jesus sweeps his hand through the air and sows the invisible seed while saying, "Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it!" The friend softly elbows the someone friend in the side and whispers to them, "This is just like me when I thought I wanted riches and worked from sunup to sundown, disregarding my family and friends, only to find that my riches were patiently waiting for me at home as I had to discover that chasing after money is worthless when I already have those who love and admire me right at home to appreciate. God gave me that new understanding."
And then on last time Jesus uses the sweeping motion with His hand to spread the invisible seed and says, "Some seed fell into good soil, and when it grew, it produced a hundredfold." A hundredfold! The two friends look at each other with eyes wide. One says, "Let's go listen as Jesus interprets this last sowing to His disciples."
And to His disciples He says, "But as for that in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the Word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance." v.15
And the friend says to his friend, "We understand this with our hearts as we obey and serve Jesus our Lord. We are to have patient endurance to do what He says to do, and to believe in Him with our whole hearts, and to cherish the words He gives to us. Let us repeat His words often together and then use His words. Let us put into action all that He is teaching us and have patient endurance!." They nodded their heads then headed back to their homes.
When a great crowd gathered and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable: “A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell on the path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered for lack of moisture. Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. Some fell into good soil, and when it grew, it produced a hundredfold.” As he said this, he called out, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!” Luke 8:4-8
To God be the Glory!
Rev. Patricia E. Walker, AlphaChurch.org