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A farmer went out to sow his seed like he did every year. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Every planting season, the farmer did this with the hope that the path would soften, the rocks would erode, and the thorns would retreat so that the seed could fulfill its purpose in those places as well.

Secrets of the Story

Those who are familiar with the New Testament will recognize this story as being similar to the teachings attributed to Jesus in Mark 4:1-20, Matthew 13: 1-23, and Luke 8:4-15. Those who are familiar with the Biblical versions of this story will also notice that I have added an interpretation that is different from the one that is common to all three of the gospel versions of this story.

When I read this story, I see the character of the farmer as God, and I see the different kinds of soil representing different soul conditions that people may have. 

While the Biblical interpretations suggest that the story is primarily about the character of people, I will start my interpretation of this story as it relates to the character of God.

I did some of my growing up on a farm, and I had the opportunity to watch my father cast seed in the fields. I saw how he did not cast the seed on the hard dry paths of habit that the cattle had trampled where nothing grew. I watched him avoid casting his seed among the thorns that grew in large clumps with all kinds of tall grass growing between the sharp shoots. I also remember that he did not bother casting his seed into the piles of rocks that the people who owned the farm before us had made to free up more ground for pasture and cultivation.

I call this story the “Foolish Farmer” because no earthly farmer in his right mind would sow seeds in places where there is no hope of reaping a harvest. Since casting seeds in these kinds of places would be a waste of time and resources for an earthly farmer, why would God cast seed in hopeless places? This also begs the question, what is God’s “seed” anyway?

In the Bible we are told that the seed is the “Word of God” that people hear. While this is a useful interpretation, it also makes sense to me to interpret the seed as the actual essence of God, Divine Love. I like to interpret the seed as the very power of Abundant Life itself – the Life that can be lived right here and now beyond life as most of us currently know it.

If I interpret the seed of story in this way it leads me to the possibility that God actually chooses to shower the free and abundant gift of Divine Love upon every soul. Unlike the wise earthly farmer, God “foolishly” does not withhold Love just because any given soul at any given moment is not receptive to it. Why would God do this? I believe it is because God knows better than any of us what is possible. God knows that at any moment any  soul could be open and receptive to the seed of God’s Love. The rocky places of a heart that has been hardened as a defense against a hostile world could crack and the seed of God’s Love could take root. The hard, dry, and trampled paths of habit could be softened by changing weather and precipitation patterns and by the flow of feelings that have been pent up behind dams of fear, vanity, and shame. The thorns that guard our fragile, temporary self images from harm can whither when they are no longer fed and watered by our pride and all of the negativity that flows from that toxic wellspring.

While I believe this story says a lot about God’s character, I also see it as a story of hope for the potential of the Creator’s children (Us!) to change, to be changed, and to become the change that our Creator calls us to be in this world and in this life. It is also a call to those who seek to embody God’s Love in the world to remember that those with the hardest hearts, the most rigid patterns of habit, and the prickliest personalities are in need of God’s Love too. We can grow in our appreciation of the the times when human hearts are like the humble soil that is prepared to receive the seed of God’s Love. Soulful humility allows Love to take root within our souls and helps us to live lives of greater fruitfulness and contribution. It can be so for each of us if we choose this path. We all have the same potential to receive God’s Love, no matter what the current condition of our souls may be. We have been created to receive it through the practice of prayer!

I believe that most of us who live on the earth have the potential to embody all of these different kinds of soul conditions. I see in my own soul all four of these types of conditions every single day, but God keeps showering seeds of Divine Love upon my soul, knowing that I am only going to allow a few of them to take root and grow into a bountiful harvest while I feel like there are mountains of Divine Love “seeds” surrounding me that have not yet germinated for a lack of fertile soul soil.

This story also causes me to contemplate the nature of the seed of God’s Love. I like to think that God’s Love is like a seed that “waits” until just the right moment to break through all of the defenses I have created to protect my fragile self-image. I don’t think this is literally true, but it’s an image that gives me comfort at this point in my journey.

Whenever I see weeds growing through cracks in the pavement, I think of the power of God’s Love and Life. Pavement is meant to be an impenetrable barrier to prevent life from taking root. With just a little bit of time, water, and temperature change, an impenetrable surface can change just enough to allow a weed seed to take root in a tiny crack. Another thing about weeds is that they can actually widen those cracks and accelerate the inevitable destruction of what appeared to be an impenetrable structure. Contemplating images like this makes me think that my limiting self-image doesn’t stand a chance against the persistence of God’s Love in the long run.

I feel that God’s Love may be something like a weed seed – able to wait for the moment when the soul is receptive to its germination. Our souls know what they need (God’s Love), but our minds have been trained, conditioned, and socialized to misinterpret that single desire into a myriad of limiting patterns of habit, distraction, and addiction. The seed of God’s Love can take root when we come to recognize the true need of our soul for Life despite our dysfunctional efforts to protect and prop-up our flimsy and fragile self-images. On the other side of the self-images we simultaneously resist and identify with is a realm of limitless possibilities represented by the untapped potential of the seed (the unimaginable power of God’s Love). 

We have been socialized into a fabricated world that does not appreciate the incredible generosity that God shows toward us. Most of us are much more familiar with the management of resources to maximize gains and minimize losses in our workaday world. God plays a different game of reckless generosity and surprising persistence. Innumerable seeds of love are showered upon our rock-hard hearts which may come to perceive the true desires of our souls for union with our Heavenly Parent. 

Our Loving Creator knows that we can change, and that the germination of a single seed cast with generous abandon can be the first step in turning a wasteland of death and darkness into a paradise of Life and Light. May it be so for the sake of our priceless souls and our precious world!

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Scripture  taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.