Jesus left the house (which one we are not sure). He went to the Sea of Galilee and great crowds gathered around him. He began to teach in parables. What followed was the famed parable of the sower.
Most of us think we know the point of the parable. After all, Jesus himself explained its meaning (Matthew 13:18-23). But did he? In its present form, the parable is about our response to the seed (the word of God) which has been sown among us. But was this really Jesus' point? The consensus among most New Testament scholars is that this was not Jesus' point, that the explanation of the parable in verses 18-23 was not part of the original parable!
The general consensus among these scholars is that if you study the parable, it is not about us, not about what kind of soil we are, but about Jesus, about God, about why his kingdom is not fully realized and does not bear fruit, but that when the kingdom is realized it will happen suddenly and without warning, just as much of the work of the sower seems useless, the interpretation of the parable with which most of us grew up was a later addition of the church in order to determine what has happening in its daily life, the different levels of membership commitment.1 Do you get the point? We have been missing the boat with this parable for centuries. It's all about God, not about you and me! There is an important lesson for life in that insight.
Let's look at the parable in this new (it's actually the original) way. It is all about this sower, God, who went out to sow seed, but only some of it takes root. Many of the seeds took no root, failed to yield fruit. Much that God does seems not to fruit. Yet, the Bible reports that there was a rich harvest, despite the false starts, that God the sower brings about a rich harvest, in some cases a hundredfold yield! (Matthew 13:8). And it is all God's work, for you and I are nothing but passive soil.
Can we agree that soil is passive? Since when does soil actively receive seed and take actions to ensure that the seed flourishes? I mean, I have never observed a single piece of agonized soil, in despair over whether it will provide a good home for seed. Of course, that is absurd. It is nature (God) that grows the seed, along with the sower (who is represented as God in the parable). In other words, the parable is all about what God does, not what we do or must do. It's not about you and me; it's about God!
It's all about God; it's not about you and me. That's a valuable lesson for living. The problem is that we don't quite believe it, or don't practice it. Too often in my life it's about me, and God comes in somewhere around second place or lower.
How about you? Are you not inclined to look to yourself, your friends, or some human endeavor like science, politics, or education for answers to life's tough questions? There is nothing wrong with looking to these resources for help in life, if they are understood as gifts of God, as tools used by God to give us all good. Unfortunately, though, too often it does not work that way, and you and I engage in the most heinous forms of idolatry. Hear that again. You and I bow down to idols we have built no less than any of the most ancient idolaters. The first Reformer, Martin Luther, helps us to see that.
The issue, Luther claims in his Large Catechism, is who we make God to be — whether we let God be God or try to become god ourselves. As he put it, "A ‘god' is the term for that to which we are to look for all good and in which we are to find refuge in all need. Therefore, to have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe in that one with your whole heart."2
All of us have a god. But far too often, what we look to for refuge in need, what we trust, are the things of this world — wealth, status, job, self-esteem, friends, even family. Those things are too often our gods. Too often you and I illicitly shift the focus, get our priorities messed up. We make it all about ourselves, and not God.
It's true. Too often we are not God-centered enough. I really like what Rick Warren said in his best-seller when he contended that "it's not about you" and then proceeded to remind readers that "we must begin with God."3 He's also on target in my book when he tries to give comfort to his parishioners at his California mega-church. He is correct in lifting the burden from them regarding the feeling that no one is good enough to do God's work. But he does this with an attitude that it does not have to be perfect, just "good enough" for God to use and bless it.4 I would say that this gets the focus off God and Christ's work on the cross, shifting the attention instead on to our good intentions and efforts. God does demand perfection, but accepts us anyhow, not because we are "good enough."
What happens to you when you don't get so hung up on yourself, when life is more about God than about yourself? We can get some helpful ideas from the giants of the faith — both with regard to how it feels for Christians and how to think about God permeating every aspect of our lives. Here is how the famous American Puritan pastor, Jonathan Edwards, put it in one of his famous sermons.
There is an absolute and universal dependence of the redeemed on God. The nature and contrivance of our redemption is such, that the redeemed are in every thing directly, immediately, and entirely dependent on God: They are dependent on him for all, and are dependent on him every way.5
Feel dependent on God, and you'll make your life be more about him.
The sixteenth-century Heidelberg Catechism makes a strong, moving affirmation of our total dependence on God. In response to the question of "What is your only comfort, in life and in death?" the catechism reads:
That I belong — body and soul, in life and in death — not to myself but to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ ... [to] expect all good from him alone ... and honor him with my whole heart.6
Expect all good from God.
Martin Luther said something very similar in his Large Catechism. He claimed that "creatures are only the hands, channels, and means through which God bestows all blessings."7 As I said before: Use the things of the world, but be sure that God is getting the credit for using the knowledge, the technology, and the friends who help you. It really is all about God.
Back to our parable. The soil may help the seeds to grow. But it is just a channel (like the rain). God makes the growth happen.
The ancient North African bishop who greatly influenced Luther and John Calvin, a man named Augustine, has a compelling image for explaining how God can be the source of all good while using earthly channels. He compared God to a vast, infinite ocean, one larger than the seven seas combined. Think of the whole cosmos as a tiny sponge thrown into the immense sea.8
What becomes of the sponge? It is totally saturated by the ocean's water. That is the way your and my life, the way the whole cosmos, is! We are in that sponge thrown in the infinite ocean. It is not that God is in us. You and I are in God, totally permeated by him!
Filled with God, with his love, you might think about God along with Martin Luther as an eternal, inexhaustible fountain who overflows with pure goodness.9 Think of it: you and I are being saturated by the goodness of God, and that soaking will never end. It really is all about that wonderful fountain called God.
Saturated by God. What is it like to experience that reality? In his famous 1520 book, The Freedom of a Christian, Luther speaks of our being so saturated by God that it is like we were drunk with God, and when that happens we have peace and freedom.10
Drunk with God — out of your mind with peace and freedom. It happens when your life is all about God. Gee, what a fun way to live! Who needs a purpose? It will happen spontaneously. Christians, let's get high on God. His love is saturating you and me. He has authority. The things of the world don't stand a chance. Amen.
1. Joachim Jeremias, The Parables of Jesus, trans. S. H. Hooke (2nd rev. ed.; New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1972), pp. 149-151; Rudolf Bultmann, History of the Synoptic Tradition, trans. John Marsh (New York and Evanston, Illinois: Harper & Row, 1963), p. 187; Eduard Schweizer, The Good News According To Mark, trans. Donald H. Madvig (Richmond, Virginia: John Knox Press, 1970), p. 96; Eduard Schweizer, The Good News According to Matthew, trans. David E. Green (2nd printing; Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1977), p. 297.
2. Martin Luther, The Large Catechism (1529), I.1, in The Book of Concord, ed. Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000), p. 386.
3. Rick Warren, The Purpose-Driven Life: What On Earth Am I Here For? (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2002), p. 17.
4. Ibid, p. 260.
5. Jonathan Edwards, God Glorified in Man's Dependence (1731), in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 2 (Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson, 1998), p. 3.
6. The Heidelberg Catechism (1563), Q.1, in The Book of Confessions (Louisville, Kentucky: The Office of the General Assembly, Presbyterian Church [U.S.A.], 1996), 4.001, 4.094.
7. Martin Luther, The Large Catechism (1529), I.26, in The Book of Concord, ed. Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000), p. 389.
8. Augustine, The Confessions (399), VII.V.7, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 1, ed. Philip Schaff (2nd printing; Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson, 1995), pp. 104-105.
9. Luther, The Large Catechism, III.55-56, p. 447.
10. Martin Luther, The Freedom of a Christian (1520), in Luther's Works, Vol. 31, ed. Harold J. Grimm (Philadelphia: Muhlenberg Press, 1957), p. 349.