Soils

Jesus taught in the parable of the sower that when his word is sown among people it will produce different results depending on the condition of the people's hearts amongst whom it is sown. While this teaching of Jesus is called the parable of the sower it is more about the soil into which the seed is sown than it is about the sower of the seed.

Jesus relates in the parable that some seed will be...
The seed sown along the path is like anyone who hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.

The seed that falls along the rocky places is the person who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.

The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.

But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

In the church, we experience each kind of person. We are blessed when we are able to see the seed fall on good soil, take root, and produce fruit. Most pastors though struggle with the other soil types. In today's words these are the folks who are in church every Sunday but you can't tell the rest of the week. These are the ones who become connected to a worshipping community and then fall away because of busyness or life circumstances. These are the ones who you work with one on one who mysteriously vanish from your life or the life of the community. These are the ones every pastor yearns for, worries for, and searches for, and still loves.

Yet, Jesus told us there would be seed that fell amongst such soil. Our job is to plant the seed recognizing that just because we plant doesn't always mean we plant in good soil at the time and we do not always get the privilege of seeing the fruit.