I am telling here a story Jesus did not tell. But just for fun, I am imagining that this is the one he intended to tell and it didn't come out right or it was garbled in transmission and translation and became what we now call "the parable of the soils."
We all know that Jesus did not tell the story that I am, here, attributing to him. I think it might be worth asking why he did not.
A sower went out to sow. He threw the seed wherever he wanted to, knowing it wouldn’t matter where it landed. Some fell on the path where they were vulnerable to various herbivores. But God had thoughtfully made the seed distasteful to herbivores and, after poking around, they abandoned them and the seeds grew bountifully.
Some fell on stony ground where the soil layer was superficial. The seeds sprouted quickly, but the shallow roots were vulnerable to the heat of the sun. But God had thoughtfully adapted those plants so that the energy from the sun drove the roots deep into the soil, through the rock, even. And the seeds grew bountifully.
Some fell among thorn seeds. The sower’s plant and the weeds grew at the same time and there was a competition for water and nutrients. But God had made the farmer’s plants toxic to weeds and as they all grew, the farmer’s plant thrived and the weeds shrank away and got sickly and died. And the seeds grew bountifully.
And, somewhat anticlimactically, some seeds fell on really good ground and they grew bountifully.
So they all produced one hundred-fold and the farmer had more wheat than he knew what to do with and he thanked God, the gracious and provident God, for protecting his seed in whatsoever condition they were.
I think God could give Master Gardeners a few lessons on horticulture.
ReplyDeleteLove the story but not one I ever heard in Sunday school.
This comment is going to end negatively, but that’s just where my musings on this "new" parable led me. I’m not criticizing God’s process; I’m just saying.
ReplyDeleteThe story you propose changes the original theme to the idea that, no matter where the seed falls, God will see that it flourishes. It’s about trusting God that He will nourish our growth in whatever environment we find ourselves, yes?
So why didn’t Jesus tell this story? Without looking them up, I believe He did tell others of the same ilk—the seek-and-ye-shall-find, ask-and-it-shall-be-given stories, and the stories of God’s providence, especially in situations of need.
I was thinking that yours is missing an ingredient the others had: doesn’t the seed have to choose God’s intervention and accept the changes God made in them that allowed them to survive? Did you notice that in each case you said, in so many words, that “God made it so that….” God actively changed the seeds. But I didn’t think He did that on His own accord.
It seems odd to think that a seed wouldn’t naturally want life, that there’d have to be a conscious choosing of it. We are born to life, don’t you think? We are at least made for it. Why doesn’t a good life just fall into our laps? Isn’t that what is implied by God’s taking care of the seeds despite the carelessness of the sower? (And who is he in this little fable, anyhow?)
Our decisions are important; they determine how “well” we live, especially the conscious, yet somehow blind, choice to trust God to fashion us into the kinds of creatures He created us to be.
Still….If that’s the case, and we want to go back to your story, should we look at the changes God made in the seeds? The first He made “distasteful”; in the second, He changed, what?, its photosynthetic “metabolism,” giving it heretofore unknown energy-power and the roots of a jackhammer; the third He made toxic to the surrounding weeds. I suppose those changes were “good” for the plants; they allowed them to prosper.
But translate from seeds to humans. He would make us toxic and (I looked up some synonyms for) distasteful: repugnant, disgusting, offensive, repulsive in order that we may flourish? In the other, He actually changed its physical capabilities; it became a mutant. So we’re the seeds, and this is how God is going to “make it” so that we can flourish? Is this what we choose? Hmm. Interesting little story!
Thanks for such a thoughtful examination, Bonnie. In my mind the story was used by Jesus or, later adapted by Matthew, to encourage sowers. They had been out every day sowing the damn seed and what did they have to show for it? That would refer to Jesus' Galillean ministry or to the early church in the time of Matthew. Not much.
ReplyDeleteSo Matthew 13, the chapter I am playing with at the moment has a bunch of stories, the point of which is not to worry about growth, just keep flinging the seed. The tares in the field aren't your fault. The bad soils are not your fault.
For me, the interesting thing is to understood what use Matthew was (following the editor's purposes, not the teacher's) putting these to. And then hoping that I can manage, too, not to be discouraged and to keep slinging the seed. Apologies to my birth children. I didn't mean you.
I think you are absolutely right about the crucial difference between seeds and people. The growth is built in to the seeds; they don't need to consent. The son who said he would go to the vineyard, but didn't is acting seedy, but he isn't going to grow anywhere.
A note to Gramma Bette. I didn't hear that story in Sunday School either. The other people in my classes lived on farms where the stony ground was plowed first and the weeds taken out and no one drove the grain drill on the roads. So what good could it have done.
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