Jonathan on 15 March 2005

Scripture

Luke 8:8-10

“Are you listening to this? Really listening?”
His disciples asked, “Why did you tell this story?”
He said, “You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom – you know how it works. There are othes who need stories. But even with stories some of them aren’t going to get it:
Their eyes are open but don’t see a thing.
Their ears are open but don’t hear a thing.

Luke 8:16-21
No one lights a lamp and then covers it with a washtub or shoves it under the bed. No, you set it up on a lamp stand so those who enter the room can see their way. We’re not keeping secrets; we’re telling them. We’re not hiding things; we’re bringing everything out into the open. So be careful that you don’t become misers of what you hear. Generosity begets generosity. Stinginess impoversihes.
His mother and brothers showed up but couldn’t get through to him because of the crowd. He was given the message, “You mother and brothers are standing outside wanting to see you.”
He replied, “My mother and brothers are the ones who hear and do God’s Word. Obedience is thicker than blood.”

Observation And Application

Usually when I read this passage about the different types of soil, I put myself in the place of the hearer of the Word. I desire, and make it a point to be as fertile a soil as possible. I try my hardest to catch the Word of God and plant it in the fields of my heart.

I have never noticed the other side of the parable, which emphasises not the condition of the heart, eyes, or ears of a person, but God’s sovereignity in the acceptance of his message. We have no control over how our closest friends respond. There is a very limited amount of what we can to to prepare a loved one’s heart for God’s Word. We can do little to know or control the soil conditions of the heart of people, even for the people who God calls us specifically to witness to.

We spend so much time and effort trying to prepare a person to hear and receive the Word of God, continually delaying the message of Christ as the way, the truth and the light. In the work of farming, we don’t realise that the farmer cannot wait for the perfect season. When the time comes, we have to be bold and faithful to plant the seeds and wait and see how God grows his people.

This message is made clear in Jesus’ analogy of the lit lamp. We shield the people from the light, afraid that it will be too bright, too strange, too hot or too spooky. Otherwise we worry about our own condition; that we’re not bright or clear enough. When we fail to realise God as the divinely powerful God of the harvest, we keep Christ a secret until we become god over the situation.


Prayer

Dear God, I realise that I cannot do everything. I cannot create the ideal environments nor find the perfect words. Most of all I cannot prepare another person’s heart to be receptive to your Message. All I can do is to be faithful in planting and harvesting. As according to the season in our community, help me to be a hard-working harvester, tending your fields with dilligence and excellence. May I be more like Christ, boldly proclaiming your kingdom not worried about where the seeds fall, but sharing it generouslyto any within earshot. In His name I pray. Amen.