MoveTheStones

Thoughts on the Spiritual Garden

Carolyn Burnette

February 22, 2021

 

Intro to The Parable of the Sower and the Planting Ground

Part I

 

How does a gardener grow a garden?  First by picking a choice piece of land.  But what if, say, the land was something inherited and it was the gardeners only choice to use that land?  What if that land was rocky, maybe even hard rocky paths that were trodden over for years and years?  Or maybe the land was filled with weeds and trees?  What if you are the gardener and this was your inherited land but it was in your heart to grow a vineyard, or a garden?

 

Now what would you do?  You would have to first prepare the ground.  That would not be an easy task.  If it were rocky hard ground, you’d have to use a pic axe and sharp shovels.  You’d have to dig, who knows how far down to remove rocks and stones.  You’d have to move those rocks and stones too.  It might take you months or years to work certain patches.  And then what if no matter how far down you seemed to go, you kept running into more rocks and stones?  But if the vision for your garden or vineyard was still for that spot, you’d probably keep it up for a while.  You would know that at some point you could bring in good soil and make it a more suitable planting area.

 

What if the ground you wanted was full of trees?  Early settlers in many parts of the world found their new homes among the trees, and they cut many down, built their houses, dug up the roots, worked the ground and planted their gardens.  

Or fields full of weeds, what would a good gardener do about that?  You would cut them down, burn them.  You’d turn the soil over and you’d keep doing it for as long as needed until the seeds and plant matter had composted.  Cutting down all those weeds and thorns and wild vines, even plants that made your skin itch.  Even plants full of stinging nettles and insects would not stop you, if it were your vision to see it through.  No matter what challenge the ground would bring, the end result would be worth it, but it would be a lot of very hard work.  It takes someone with a lot of perseverance, patience, care and even love to go through all of that.

A gardener with any sense would never try to plant a garden in a forest and expect to have a good harvest.  Nor would any good farmer throw precious seed onto a rocky path, for it would either be scorched by the sun, snatched up by the birds, or trampled underfoot.  No farmer with any sense at all would cast life-giving seed in the middle of a weed patch, because the weeds would choke any good plant to death and prevent a healthy harvest.  Instead, growing in a weed patch would most likely bring on pests and diseased fruits, if any.

So, when I think of the Parable of the Sower that Jesus talked about, it makes me wonder about all of these things.  

 

Here’s the parable from Matthew 13:3-8

“³And he spoke many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;

⁴ And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:

⁵ Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and quickly they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:

⁶ And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.

⁷ And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:

⁸ But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.

 

After the disciples questioned Jesus he told them this:  Mark 13:18-23

^“18 Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.

¹⁹ When any one hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes, and snatches away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.

²⁰ But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that hears the word, and receives it with joy;

²¹ Yet he does not root in himself, and endures for a while: but when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, by and by he is offended.

²² He also that received seed among the thorns is he that hears the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

²³ But he that received seed into the good ground is he that hears the word, and understands it; which also bears fruit, and brings forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

The Book of Mark is only one place where the Parable of the Sower shows up in scripture.  I will be coming back to this later and probably quote from those other gospels.  For now though, I want to go back to talking about the condition of the ground.  

I’ve thought a lot about this over the years.  The idea of working the ground of the heart of a person came to me at least 15 years ago with a friend who really wanted to follow the Lord but was overburdened and had trouble breaking through to a consistent life without fear and shame.  She wanted to walk in faith and love but stumbled so much.  I remember praying for the thorns to be removed, the rocks to be removed.  I remember working hard in prayer to help her move those rocks.

Speaking right now of the stony ground I am reminded of the scripture in Ecclesiastes 3:5a where it says there is “A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together…”

Then again when I’ve thought about the stones in the field I’m reminded of the time when Jehoram was king of Israel, Jehoshaphat was king of Judah and they were accompanied by the king of Edom.  These three kinds went up against the king of Moab because of his rebellion.  It is written in 2 Kings chapter 3 of the story and verse 25a says “And they beat down the cities, and on every good piece of land cast every man his stone…” they did that do ruin the fields.

So, these things say to me there is scriptural relevance to gathering or casting stones on the land.  Does it not make sense that you could spiritually remove the stones, work the soil and then plant your seed?  Just as we do here naturally in the earth?

These are just some thoughts that I’m putting here to ponder.  I have many more to come on the subject and believe there is much more to the Parable of the Sower. I will try to post these regularly and hope you will study the scriptures with me to see what deeper things we can find out together in God's Holy Word.