[Jesus said,] “Other seed fell on good soil and bore fruit, in one case a yield of one hundred to one, in another case a yield of sixty to one, and in another case a yield of thirty to one. Everyone who has ears should pay attention.” [Matt. 13:8-9 CEB]
In this parable, Jesus uses common seed to share a story of how the same seed can produce different results depending on what soil it is planted in. In this parable, the seed represents a message, the message of God’s incredible and amazing love in our lives. What determines whether the seed will grow and mature, whether the message of God is accepted, to take root in a person’s life, is dependent on the type of soil that the seed falls upon.
When we hear this parable, we often interpret this as a one-time acceptance or rejection of the truth of God that separates those who are believers and those who are not. But this parable speaks to us in our everyday Christian life. Our hearts, our moods, our states of mind on any certain day are not always the same condition. They even change drastically in the span of a day. There are times that we need a jackhammer to break up the hardness of our soul. There are times that we need straining to separate the rocks in our lives that won’t let roots to hold, to be sifted away from the good soil. There are times when we are so cluttered with stuff that our lives need a good weeding. Good soil usually doesn’t come naturally. We must prepare our hearts, our own soils, to do some tilling of our souls, to replenish with nourishment, to aerate the soil, and to have a good watering by soaking ourselves with Scripture reading, prayer, and worship to get ourselves back to the good soil.
Just envision what God sees when people hear His word, understand, and let it grow so that the kingdom of God can increase in our world. Just envision what God envisions, a kingdom where forgiving each other is of greater significance than getting revenge and the mark of a righteous person is what all strive to be; to be those filled with the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. All it takes on our part is to prepare a place for the seed – the word of God to be planted, for God in His extravagant love is always scattering the seed to us.