Read Luke 8:1-15
"While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: 'A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up’"
Luke 8:4-5
This parable is all about the need to persevere till the end. By comparing the Word of God to seed sown into four different types of soil, Jesus shows us that people respond in different ways when it comes to hearing the Gospel. This is one of the few parables that the Lord actually interprets for us.
The first soil type is an unworked hardened surface which was used as a pathway to reach a field. The seeds that fell there never really penetrated the surface and they became easy lunch for the birds. With the tendency in today’s society to live superficially, it comes as no surprise that people who actually hear the Good News can fail to respond to it in faith and therefore not receive it as the transforming word of life. The devil quickly snatches it away and they never come to the point of genuine conversion.
The parables were stories that teach the heart. They both conceal and reveal, depending on the listeners disposition of the heart. They tended to be situational, so in a place of hills, fertile valleys and farms it is no wonder that Jesus’ teachings and parables used imagery typical of this landscape and the type of people who lived here as a background and illustration: fields, farmers, wine and wine skins, fruit trees, different types of soil, house lamps, ploughing, garden herbs, sparrows, large barns, lilies, mustard seeds, shepherds, sheep and goats, hens and chickens, fishermen and fishing nets.
Lord when my heart hardens and begins to resemble the first soil type, I ask you to soften it again so that the seed of your Word will germinate and always produce fruit. As I go through Galilee in a few weeks time, let the landscape be a 'parable' to me again, inviting me to love you more deeply, as the Lord of my life and my heart.