I heard an interesting comment on the radio recently, but unfortunately cannot give credit to the speaker as I don't know who was relating the story. He mentioned that in Mark's account of the parable of the sower, the disciples asked Jesus about the parable. Jesus' reply was, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?"
Now the speaker was puzzled about this comment. What is it about this parable that seems to be the key to all of the other parables? Why is it that we will not understand any parable if we don't understand this one?
And then it dawned on him: This parable is about opening our hearts to the word of God. The good soil receives and nurtures the Word of God, and it grows, producing a crop. If we do not receive the Word with an open heart, we cannot understand anything in the spiritual realm.
One of the psalms says, "In your light, we see light." Jesus gave light to the blind and opened the ears of the deaf, but those were not isolated miracles. What He did in the physical realm, He also does in the spiritual realm. If we cannot see God at work in our lives or understand Scripture, we probably need to call out with the blind man, "Lord, I want to see!"
Jesus is the Sower of the Word; the Spirit waters the soul and prepares us to see, hear, and grow the Word of God in our hearts.
In a later post you ask if we should take the Holy Spirit as fructifying our soul to bring forth the Christ, that is to try to be God Bearers. To be "good soil" is a difficult challenge for normal people. They suffer blinkered lives for so many reasons. The God bearers, then, are tasked to be like Jesus the Gardener. See the potential rich moist ground in everybody. Water and fertilize all about you.
ReplyDeleteI draw water for my soul from your thoughts!
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