“A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.”
Luke 8:5-8 ESV
As I think of farming, I do so with a very Midwest, American mindset. As spring has finally set in, I expect to soon see tractors out in the field. I expect to see tractors out cultivating, spraying, and seeding.
Everything is done in a very orderly fashion. Seed is planted only in soil that has been carefully prepared to maximize production. And as the crops begin to grow, they do so in straight rows, in a very organized fashion.
In much of the world, farming is not done this way. I was reminded of this as I was recently in a small village in Uganda, and as we came across what looked to be a nice plow, hitched to a team of cows. One of our team members enthusiastically jumped behind the plow and quickly opened up a small patch of ground.
After a field like this is opened up, someone would follow behind and sow the seed. He would follow behind and scatter the seed. And he wouldn’t do so in such a way that the crops will come up in neat and orderly rows. He would scatter the seed indiscriminately.
This is the picture we see in the parable above. The sower scatters his seed indiscriminately, and it falls on a variety of ground. Some falls on the hard path. Some falls on rocky soil. Some falls among thorns. And some falls on good soil.
The seed which fell on the path, on rocky soil, and among thorns didn’t fare well. The birds ate some of it. Some of it quickly withered as it had no root. And some of it was choked off by the thorns, competing for ground.
Some, however, fell on good soil. And it was fruitful. It was fruitful, yielding a hundred fold.
Although the picture of farming is used, it illustrates evangelism. It illustrates the sharing of the Word of God. The seed, we are told, is the Word of God.
As we seek to reach out with the message of the gospel, many of us tend to use a very American mindset. We seek to prepare the soil. And we seek to waste nothing, sowing the seed only on good ground.
With farming, this is easily done. When it comes to evangelism, however, it’s not that simple. It’s not that simple as we can’t always discern the good soil from the bad.
We can’t look at someone and determine if his heart is hard, and if the seed will be snatched away before it takes root. We can’t look at him and determine if it’s thorny, if the cares of this world are likely to choke off the seed. We can’t look at him and determine if his heart is shallow, not allowing the gospel to sink its roots deeply. And we can’t determine if his heart is good, and if it will produce an abundant crop.
For this reason, we must sow the Word just like the seed was sown in the parable. We must do so indiscriminately. We must do so indiscriminately, trusting that God will do his work, and that some of the seed will find its way into good soil.
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