Farming Woes!

My friend Angus’s oldest son farms large fields in Australia. He sits on a tractor, turns the engine, and reads a book. The GPS-guided tractor plows, sows, or harvests on straight lines with the help of a satellite! A friend in NW Texas grows corn in circular patches, guided by modern technology that monitors sowing, watering, growth, and harvest. Should the machine have a problem, he gets a text on his smartphone. Then, he goes to the field, fixes the machine, and returns home. I admit this is an observer’s perspective; farming is harder than my description.

In ancient days (like in rural Asia), farming was much more basic. Farmers carried bags full of seeds, sowed them in their fields, and waited for the harvest. Fields were much smaller, too, perhaps as small as the size of our living room, houses, condos, or apartments. As they scattered their seed, most of them fell on the plowed field, and a few fell on the edges, which were thorny rocky, and people walked on the makeshift paths near them.

Within this ancient context, Jesus said a parable (a story with a moral lesson).

“A farmer went to show his seeds. Some fell on the path and were trampled. Birds, too, ate some of them. Others fell among the rocks and grew, but then they dried up by the lack of moisture. Some seeds fell among the thorns and grew with the thorns. But then, the thorns choked them. Other seeds, however, fell on the fertile land, grew, and gave a hundredfold yield.” (Luke 8:5–8a).

Most who heard this parable would have immediately understood the naturalness of these events. They themselves might have sown seeds and seen these. But the Lord said this parable with a spiritual lesson. He indicated that by saying, “Whoever has ears, hear what I have said” (8:8b), a cultural statement that meant a hidden or spiritual meaning hid behind the parable. Understanding this, the disciples asked him why he was speaking in parables. He said his purpose was to close the eyes and minds of those who weren’t keen to understand the mysteries of God’s rule (8:9–10). God’s rule was for those who eagerly sought it.

Then, he explained the parable to the disciples, who sought God’s rule. The seed was God’s word. It fell on all people characterized by paths, rocks, thorns, and fertile. Whereas all others failed to grow, remain grown, or give yield, only the seed that fell in the fertile land gave a hundredfold yield (8:11–15).

This parable and explanation were set in the context of women who received miracles and supported Jesus’s ministry with their wealth (8:1–3). That was the fruit Jesus talked about. Many in Jesus’s time received miracles, perhaps thanked him, and went away and lived their thankless lives. But those ladies – Mary of Magdalene, Johanna (Mrs. Chuza), Susanna, and others – received deliverance (the sown seed) and repaid them with thanksgiving (i.e., produced a hundredfold fruit).

We tend to spiritualize this parable because of the word “believe” in it. Yes, true belief does produce results. Faith and work go hand in hand. This was Jesus’s and the apostles’ message in the NT. If we believe, we’ll show it by our actions. Those ladies did this by supporting Jesus’s ministry. We, likewise, do by supporting God’s ministries wherever they are happening.