Above: Landscape with the Parable of the Sower, by Pieter Brueghel the Elder
Image in the Public Domain
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The Collect:
All-powerful God, in Jesus Christ you turned death into life and defeat into victory.
Increase our faith and trust in him,
that we may triumph over all evil in the strength
of the same Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
–Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 39
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The Assigned Readings:
Genesis 2:4b-14
Psalm 130
Luke 8:4-15
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O Israel, wait for the LORD,
for with the LORD there is mercy;
there is plenteous redemption with the LORD,
who shall redeem Israel from all their sins.
–Psalm 130:7-8, Book of Common Worship (1993)
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If one focuses on the sower in the Parable of the Sower, one misses the point. Yes, God is a better gardener in Genesis 2:4b-14 than a sower in Luke 8:4-5, but broadcast sowing, which the parable describes, was commonplace, therefore useful for our Lord and Savior’s parable. After all, parables did use details from daily life. And, as Bishop N. T. Wright wrote,
…what Jesus was doing was not commenting on farming problems but explaining the strange way in which the kingdom of God was arriving.
–Luke for Everyone (2004), page 93
The emphasis on the parable is on the soils, not the sower. Donald G. Miller, author of the volume on Luke (1959) in The Layman’s Bible Commentary, was correct to refer to the story as the Parable of the Four Soils. The parable challenges us to ask ourselves what kind of soil we are, not to question the agricultural method the story mentions.
Yes, I know that the explanation of the parable (verses 11-15) postdates the material preceding and succeeding it and represents a subsequent level of interpretation, but it is a useful level of interpretation. It tells us that we, to pursue deep spiritual lives in Christ, must not only welcome him but have an excellent attention span for him in a range of circumstances.
What kind of soil are you, O reader?
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 17, 2015 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT PATRICK, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF ARMAGH
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This is post #1300 of BLOGA THEOLOGICA.
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BLOGA THEOLOGICA 
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