Wednesday, July 19, 2017

The Fruitful Seed



"Hear then, the parable of the sower. The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the Word of the Kingdom without understanding it, and the evil one comes and steals away what was sown in his heart. The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the Word and receives it at once with Joy. But he has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the Word, he immediately falls away. The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the Word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the Word and it bears no fruit. But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the Word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit. . ." -[Matthew 13: 1-23.]

In ancient Biblical times, society was largely agrarian. Every man and woman knew where their food came from, and knew that they were dependent upon seeds being sown in rich soil, or there would be no fruit, no harvest.

In this parable, the sower is Jesus, or God. And the seed is the Word of God.

We have all known people who had every advantage in life, but they are unhappy and they have fallen into deceit, abuse, jealousy, rage and cunning, hatred, greed, and strife.

We have to ask ourselves why?

I think of my own parents, who resembled the example of the Seed sown among thorns. My parents were intensely preoccupied with how much money and valuable possessions they had, relative to others who were neighbors, friends, co-workers. Certainly, one could spend an entire lifetime competing for more money, working, hoarding, striving, counting the pennies and dimes, stingily doling out pennies for food, for church donations, for charity.

My parents each had relatives -- mother, grandmother -- who were devoutly faithful. These women believed in the Bible, read the Bible, lived the Bible. And they taught their children about the Christian Way.

The Christian Way is simply this: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind." This seed of Christianity was planted in the Old Testament in Deuteronomy 6: 4-5.

What Jesus has given us is the Second Great Commandment, which is "Love your neighbor as yourself." --[Matthew 22 36-40].

In Deuteronomy 6, Moses hears the Lord tell him: " Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise."  

The saddest homily I have ever heard is when my pastor spoke of anguished parents who came to him, saying that they had taught their children about the Love of God and of neighbor. But that their children did not follow what they had been taught.

There is a big misconception about Christianity and that is, that we are sheep, and we "blindly follow" what we have been told about our Faith. Not so!

God is so generous, that He allows us Free Will to follow Him, and His Word, with an open heart -- Or not.

There are egregious examples of this -- such as how my own parents heard the Word from their mother or grandmother, and yet they never lived out that Love. They never hugged me or said, "I love you." Nor did they show me love. They did not feed me consistently, they left my serious medical condition untreated for years, they allowed me to endure verbal and physical abuse at the hands of a relative. They were preoccupied with their standing in society and with building up their wealth.

It is wholly wrong to blame Christianity or God for this! My family heard the Word, yet made a choice to focus on "worldly anxiety and the lure of riches." The seed of Love planted within them had no chance.

Similarly,  there are those who blame God for their "tribulation or persecution." These are folks who don't realize that God gave all of us Free Will to EITHER descend into Evil, OR to pick ourselves up and love Him and others no matter what our circumstances.

Perhaps, when a person with shallow Faith is buffeted by misfortune, he resorts to retaliation. Once, I had a pastor say to me, "Do you want to reject Jesus because your Life did not turn out as you had hoped?" [Ouch!]

In 1 Thessalonians 12: 15-22, Paul preaches: "Do not repay Evil for Evil. . . Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances;  . . . . Do not quench the Spirit. . . . abstain from every form of Evil."

If an ill wind in life blows over us, and thereby we abandon our Faith and our Lord so readily, how deeply rooted is that Faith? If the Sin that God warns us about washes over us like a tidal wave, why do we blame God? If we have such deep troubles from someone raining evil down upon us, why do we plot to do it back?

It is very disturbing to have family, who have made such wrong choices-- especially if we are the ones bearing the effects of their wrong behavior, on a daily basis. But I don't blame God for that. I do pray on a regular basis for those family members of mine who rejected God and His Love. It haunts me to think of where they are now, after their passing. But they did what they did, and that is all in God's hands now.

The sower sows his seed upon ALL of us. We ALL have the same chance to soften our hearts, to love others, to reap a more peaceful and loving life.

"For He makes His sun to rise on both the evil and the good, and He sends rain on the just and the unjust." --[Matthew 5: 45.]

[Related Posting: "The Evil Seed", 5/24/13; "The Bountiful Seed", 7/14/14.]

(c) Spiritual Devotional 2017. All Rights Reserved.



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