Category: New Testament

The Parable Of The Sower

~ Sowmya Gali

INTRODUCTION

The Parable of the Sower had been on my heart for quite some time. I was trying hard to find time to sit down and pen down the thoughts that the Holy Spirit kept flooding into my mind. With the influx of ideas, I was struggling to come up with an organized approach to this powerful parable. Having devised a plan to write an article for each seed and how it was sown, I was gearing up to get started, when out of the blue, the Holy Spirit nudged me to the instance where Jesus calms the storm.

There I was scouring the Gospels for the exact chapter where Jesus calms the storm. Sure enough, I landed in Luke 8, where Jesus takes His disciples out into the lake after a day of preaching and healing. I read the portion of Luke 8: 22 – 25. Trying to put that section in perspective, I started reading a few verses before. They didn’t make sense so started from the beginning of chapter 8. Guess what! It is the Parable of the Sower. Amazed, how the Holy Spirit leads us to His truth, I surrendered and asked Him to teach me what He wants me to learn further more from this familiar passage.

Walk alongside me as we glean amazing truth from this all familiar passage. This Parable has been recorded by Matthew, Mark and Luke. I will be referring portions of this Parable across the three Gospels so we can extract as much ‘juice’ as we can. An interesting observation I made as I read all three accounts of this particular Parable is that all three Gospels record how Jesus explained this particular Parable. A key phrase we should be on the lookout is: he who has eyes, let him see. He who has ears, let him hear. Jesus knew that whoever is keen on learning the truth about God’s Kingdom, with their widened eyes, peeled to what God wants to show, they will see. With their perked-up ears, eager to hear His Word and His truth, they will hear and understand. Only such people are rewarded with the golden nuggets of His truth.

It amazes me that Jesus took time to explain this Parable in detail when His disciples asked Him. Matthew records that Jesus explains them further about the Kingdom of God in various little Parables and at the end ensures that they understood. He asks them, “Have you understood all these things?” and they replied, “yes”.

John’s Gospel doesn’t record this Parable. However, John talks about the True Vine and the branches in John 15. The analogy of the branches being part of the vine to bear fruit and to being subjected to pruning addresses a believer’s growth in faith. Jesus using the analogy of seeds, soil, garden, vine, branches, etc., to explain God’s Gospel reaching people’s hearts, flourishing in their hearts, and they thriving in His Kingdom could have made sense to the people in His day, and definitely, is relevant to us in these our current times. His Word is timeless and true!

God, the Gardener

~ Sowmya Gali

John 15: 1, 2

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. (NIV)

A grapevine symbolizes God’s work on this earth. In this famous passage, Jesus Christ is the vine and God the Father is the gardener. We, the believers are the branches. We are fruitful branches if we are true Christians living out our faith. Through our Christian living, if we are able to accomplish God’s purposes, then we are pruned furthermore so we would bear much fruit. Fruitful living is not just restricted to adding souls to God’s Kingdom. It also means living in communion with the Lord, filled with joy of Heaven and overflowing with love for others.

On the flipside, God, the Gardener cuts off every branch that does not bear fruit. Sounds harsh, but if we have experienced God’s goodness but still choose to live in the world, we might not be fruitful. We are not burdened for God’s hurting children. We are not completely entwined with our true vine Jesus, but are seeking out other branches to latch onto. We not only are unproductive but if we are by accident producing some fruit, we might be yielding sour grapes. Therefore, God cuts off such branches so that they do not obstruct the growth of the healthy vine.

Our lives may be filled with areas that don’t bear fruit. There may be people in our lives who might have been stumbling blocks, thereby, stunting our healthy growth. God, our Gardener, trims such areas in our lives. He takes away people from our lives or we move out of the picture which we’ve felt were part of a perfect picture for a long time. God knows when, where, how and why such kind of trimming is necessary. Let us not be disheartened but trust His judgement. All it matters is if we are fruitful. Are we being nourished or our lives being choked up?  What are our priorities? Pleasing God or pleasing people? If we bear fruit, then God is glorified. Shouldn’t that be reason enough for us to be subjective to God’s pruning and trimming?