Over the last week we've been thinking about the parable of the sower from Mark 4. One of the things with parables is that if you put yourself in different places in the story you'll see something different. We've already thought a bit about how the story might apply to us when we read it from the perspective of the sower - but what about from the perspective of the soil?
There are four kinds of soil mentioned here each relating to a different response to hearing the word of God. Sometimes the word barely makes it past the ears before it is snatched away - sometimes through conscious rejection, sometimes because of distractions and interruptions.
Sometimes the word starts to grow, changes begin to occur, but because there is no root, when these life changes start to bring trouble the person reverts back to the old way of life.
Other times this new life starts to grow but it is swamped by the worries of life and the commitment to the pursuit of 'stuff'. Priorities and choices mean this new life is slowly strangled.
And then there are times when the word grows and produces and abundant harvest.
One way of thinking about this is that each type of soil represents a different person in the congregation (for example) and explains why there are different responses to the same sermon. But another way of thinking about it is to make it personal. Within me there is the potential to be any one of these four soil types. So when I open my Bible today, when I go to church on Sunday - what is the condition of my heart?
Is my attitude such that I will reject, out of hand, what I read or hear? Do I respond but never take things further, never put down roots, and therefore when things get tough my faith disappears? Or maybe the priorities in my life are all out of balance, so that when I look at how I use my time or my finances I'm not investing in the right things - to use the words of Jesus, I'm not storing up treasure in heaven. Or as I look back over the last month, six months...can I see what God has been doing in my life?
What is the condition of my heart today? Do I need to break up the soil, pick out the rocks, pull out the weeds...?
Look what arrived in the post yesterday.
There is always a nagging doubt no matter how many times you check the confirmation email that you don't really have a place in the London marathon after all.
But once this magazine arrives, with the registration form, which has your race number printed on it, it suddenly seems that bit more real. Your name and address are definitely on the database. You definitely have a place on the start line. You're not going to have to look for an alternative marathon when it turns out that there has been a mix up with your charity place and it turns out you don't have a place!
So I'm definitely running - but within minutes of finding this on my doorstep I had aches in my back, and both legs. It's amazing what tricks the mind can play.
Oh - and by the way - it's literally just started snowing again. This is supposed to be a spring marathon.
As many of you will be aware, each Thursday I am posting a short video from Christian Aid to show different aspects of their work. Over the last few weeks we've been looking at more long term projects that allow people to work their way out of poverty - hopefully for good. But there are times when Christian Aid is called on to provide emergency relief - in this example, as the response to severe drought.
On 21 April I will be running the London Marathon with the aim of raising £2000 for Christian Aid. You can help by sponsoring me at www.virginmoneygiving.com/keithtarring
Yesterday we looked at the parable of the sower from Mark 4. I said that a parable is a story with a point. But I don't necessarily mean that a parable is a story with just one point. If a parable was a story with just one point then it would have been easier and quicker just to write a list of points - Mark could have simply used a load of bullet points, one for each parable - and then his gospel would have been even shorter. It would also be the case that once you'd worked out the point you would never have to read the parable again. But the Bible is living and active - and this means that it will speak to us today.
What the parable of the sower says to us depends on the perspective or focus we take on the story.
If we look at the sower the point might be that we are to sow the seed liberally - we don't know the kinds of soil the seed is falling on. The job of the sower is to sow the seed with apparently little concern as to whether that seed will grow or not.
But we might ask, from our own experience of gardening, whether it would not be more sensible for the farmer to do all he can to improve the quality of the soil - to take out the weeds before they go to seed, to dig up the rocks, to break up the path, to add fertiliser, to put up a scarecrow to keep the birds away...
Jesus tells us that the parable is about how people receive and respond to the word.
So whilst some hearts will be hard, or stony or full of weeds - surely there are things that we can do that will prepare people to hear from God. People who have had a bad experience of church or a bad experience of Christians are less likely to respond well to the gospel than the person who has been helped through a crisis by a Christian friend who has shown genuine compassion and care.
Sometimes our behaviour might actually be stamping down the soil, spreading weeds, or adding rocks on the fields of people's lives - actions that make it less likely that they will respond positively to the gospel in the future.
