The Parable of the Sower

This morning I read one of my favorite parables – the parable of the sower. Every time I read it, I find myself chewing on it, meditating on it, and learning from it. I invite you to do the same…

“And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.” (Matt 13:3ff)

I enjoy gardening. I don’t get a chance to do it much as a missionary though – there is too much moving back and forth. But I grew up gardening. My dad kept a large vegetable garden in our back yard, read books about gardening, and spent many hours working in it – often teaching me and my sisters how to tend a garden. One of his maxims was, “You don’t grow plants. You grow dirt.” True to his word, he spent almost as much time tending and developing the soil, as he did the plants. I distinctly remember watching him labor in the compost bed. He would collect grass and leaves, buy manure, save food scraps, and mix it all together in special raised beds. He would water the compost and turn it every so often with a pitch fork to help the compost grow. I could go on, but I suspect you might find the particulars growing dirt less interesting than I did…

So what does this have to do with the parable of the sower? As I reflect on our ministry as Bible translators, I think God has given us a ministry that is more about growing dirt, than growing plants.

In ancient times, as in current ones, farmers had to prepare a field before sowing it with seed. You cannot simply walk up to a plot of ground and throw some seeds around and expect them to thrive. This was true in ancient Israel, it’s true in modern Israel, it’s true in America, and it’s true in Papua New Guinea.

It is especially true for the Domung people with whom we work. Almost every single Domung speaker is a subsistence farmer. They know how to farm. It’s extremely hard work in a tropical rainforest. First, they have to select the ground they will turn into a garden – is the slope too steep? Will the torrential rains, wash their crops away? Is the slope too gentle? Will the same rains puddle and drown the crops? Second, they have to cut down all the trees on the plot of land (a very difficult task with just an axe, and a much harder one with a stone axe which is what was used until only about 100 years ago). Third, they have to clear these trees, harvest them for firewood, and use them to build a fence around the garden (to keep the wild pigs from digging up their food). Fourth, they have to let the grass and brush dry (carefully timed with the dry season), then burn away this undergrowth. Fifth, they have to turn the soil to work in the ash from burnt undergrowth and remove stones and roots and such. Lastly, they have to plant new plants (mostly using cuttings or portions of tubers/roots). And then they have to continue to weed the garden and maintain the fence, and tend the crops – in the case of their staple crop of taro, they don’t get a harvest until 3 years later.

So what can we learn from this parable – particularly applied to our ministry among the Domung?

First of all, Jesus’ listeners, and Domung speakers, feel at a gut level the truth that a single farmer cannot tend very much land. They have to start small. They have to focus their efforts and gradually grow their gardens. Many hands (or a tractor) make for light work. But when you don’t have many hands (or a tractor), it makes for very heavy work. Our ministry feels like that sometimes – we are the only people working among the Domung. We have to be content with starting small. We have to trust that God will bring more laborers and recognize we cannot do all the work we would like to do. It would be like expecting one man to start a hundred-acre farm from scratch with nothing but hand tools. I don’t think God expects the impossible. And neither should we. But that does not mean He does not DO the impossible. He does! He can and does take a small garden and make it produce 100 fold. That is our prayer for the Domung people.

Second, we learn that much work must happen before the sowing even begins. Again, Jesus’ listeners (and Domung speakers) understood this in a way that most Americans simply cannot. Good farmers prepare the soil before they plant their seed. In other words, good farmers grow dirt first.

So how do we grow dirt? We believe Bible translation is a big part of that work. When Jesus explains this parable a few verses later, he said, “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart.” How well would you understand the word of God’s kingdom if it was not in your first language? What if you heard it in Spanish? Or Greek? Or whatever second language you might know? You might get the main ideas, but would you really understand it? With your heart? I think this is what has happened in much of PNG. Many heard the gospel in the past (only 2 or 3 generations ago), but they did not understand it because it was not in their language. They simply heard it and then added the worship of God to their worship of other spirits. This is what we see among the Domung.

Growing dirt includes providing and preaching God’s Word in the language that people understand best. And this takes a very long time to do. Particularly when the language is complex and does not have a written form yet. It’s a slow and difficult work.

Growing dirt also includes teaching people how to use and to apply God’s Word to their lives. Most Domung speakers do not even think to look to the Bible for wisdom and help and comfort in navigating their daily struggles. And they don’t think to look to the Bible for truth either. Truth is something that is passed down from parents and elders, not something found in a book. One of our tasks is to teach people how to read (or listen) to God’s Word and then apply it to their lives.

Growing dirt is a slow and difficult work, but it is a necessary work. If you skip it, then I am convinced that most gospel seeds are simply snatched away by the Evil One.

Third, we learn that even when the soil is carefully prepared, even when we start small, even when we are patient and faithful, even when we trust God to do the impossible, we are not in control. God is.

God is the Lord of the harvest. “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matt 9:37-38)

God is the one that brings the growth. “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” (1 Cor 3:6)

And while God does not promise a 100-fold bumper crop. He does promise a harvest. Both in this parable and elsewhere. “So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” (Is 55:11)

So we can labor knowing that this work is ultimately not in vain. It is a necessary work. It is soil-preparing, dirt-growing work. It is rarely glamorous or interesting. It is often slow and tiring. There is a lot of waiting and not much visible fruit. But we can trust the Lord of the harvest to bring the growth and to accomplish His purpose of glorifying Himself by claiming a people for Himself from every tribe and nation and language.