Writings: Doing The Ground Work

By: Dr. Gregory S. Neal

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!” (Matthew 13:1-9)

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According to the Webster's English Dictionary, a parable is a "fictitious story that illustrates a moral attitude or a religious principle." That's a short and sweet but not entirely complete definition. More fully, and in the context of Jesus' preaching, a parable is a metaphorical analogy intended to teach us about ourselves, about God, and about our relationship with God and with others. On the one hand, Jesus' parables were not "true stories" — not in the sense that the events which are described within them had actually taken place. On the other hand, Jesus' parables were more true than true because they were stories that pierced to the heart of our being with a message that was indelibly linked to our experience of life.

Today’s story from the Gospel of Matthew — The Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13 — is a precise example of this kind of parable. It describes a circumstance that farmers, and others who lived far closer to the soil than do must of us these days, could comprehend and and experience. They intrinsically understood that different kinds of ground will receive the seed that a farmer might sow in different ways: put simply, some ground is better-prepared than others for farming. That’s why a farmer will plow the ground, to make it more receptive to receiving the seeds. And that’s what we have here in this story.
The different kinds of ground are reflective of different kinds of people ... or, more accurately, of the different states of mind and soul that all of us find ourselves in at any given moment.

Sometimes we're pathway ground: hard, compressed, incapable of receiving the word; when the word falls on us, it gets blown off and stolen away.

Sometimes we're rocky ground: we've got big boulders of distraction, making it difficult for the word to put down roots and grow strong and tall. Oh, the word will be received, but what roots it puts down are so shallow that the slightest distraction or problem will cause it to shrivel up and die.

Sometimes we're thorny ground: the seed of God's word finds receptive ground, takes root, and grows, but the competing agenda in our lives often takes over and chokes off God's word.

Then, sometimes, we're good ground: the seed of God's word takes hold, puts down deep roots, and grows strong and sure and is productive in our lives.

One of the important things to take from such a story is that we all need to do our ground work! Are we prepared to hear and receive the seed of God’s word, and for it to grow in us? Or, are we so hardened to it that it just bounces off? Are we so challenged, with so many problems like boulders that get in the way, that the word can’t put down deep roots in us? Are we so choked with distractions and other things going on that we appear to not have time for God ... for living in the Gospel and for following Jesus the Christ?

Jesus taught in parables for several reasons, but especially because they are very memorable and easy for people to relate. When we hear them we immediately understand them, and due to their vivid imagery they are very easy for us to re-tell, often in our own words. Another reason is that parables have an almost deceptive brilliance at piercing through the pathway, rocky, and weed-choked ground of our souls and taking root in the good soil of our existence. While straightforward teaching so frequently bounces off, Jesus' parables penetrate and take root in as much as they invite us to think, consider, and change in response to the challenge they present.

May Christ's words fall upon the receptive soil in our hearts. May the parables of Jesus pierce the hard, rocky, and thorny ground of our lives and truly affect a change in us all.

© 2020, Dr. Gregory S. Neal
All Rights Reserved