By Rev. Eric Brown
“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.”
Farmers must cringe when they hear what we normally call the Parable of the Sower. Seed is rather expensive (at least if you buy good seed), and in this parable so much seed gets seemingly wasted. The farmers I’ve known wouldn’t plant soil without meticulously preparing it. They would have weeded it, plowed it, and they certainly wouldn’t have just thrown seed all over the highway. Seed is too expensive to use that way.
Jesus tells us that the parable, the main thrust of the parable is this: The seed is the Word of God. And the Word of God is to be spoken and proclaimed to everyone—the great and good news that Christ Jesus has died for their sins.
Now sometimes, proclaiming the Word of God doesn’t seem to do much good. And at those times we can be tempted to start being scanty with the Word. For example, we might decide to not tell “that sort of person” about God’s love. But in the parable, the Word just keeps going out and out—everywhere and to every type of soil.
Because the simple fact is, we don’t know how God will use His Word upon a person. I don’t get to spiritually till and fertilize my neighbor first to figure out if he’s “good soil” or not. And that’s okay, because that’s not my job. The sower sows the seed all over; we proclaim Christ and Him crucified to all—again and again and again. And we do so, giving thanks that God’s Word of life is spoken to US again and again, even when our sin would make us seem a bit thorny or rocky or even flat-out stubborn and hard. Lord, keep us steadfast in Thy Word!
Rev. Eric Brown is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Herscher, Illinois.
