AfterWords: Parables - Preparing the Soil

 

Matthew 13:1-9

Jesus tells a parable in today’s reading that focuses on two things: 1) the seed—the message of the Kingdom, the Good News of the Kingdom of God…that message of God’s love and grace and 2) the soils of our lives. How is our the soil of our lives? Is it hard-packed soil of the path, the shallow rocky soil, the weedy and thorn-choked soil…or the good soil? From what little I know of farming and gardening, I do know that having the soil prepared is important. Whether it’s the soil of our gardens or the soil of our lives, we need to prepare the soil for whatever seeds may come—whether tomato seeds or the seeds of the Kingdom.

Sometimes our life soil becomes hard-packed…like a path. And, like a path, our lives become hard from people walking all over us, from people hurting us. We protect ourselves by becoming hard. Like the old Simon and Garfunkel song, we become “a rock, and island” to avoid the pain of life. We sacrifice something important when we become hard—we give up compassion, empathy, care and concern. Jesus says we can’t be hard-packed soil and have the Kingdom seeds grow within us. Like farmers and gardeners who use tools to break up the soil, we need God’s Spirit in us to help break up the soil of our lives.

Sometimes our life soil is thin and rocky. We have no depth and Kingdom seeds cannot grow in us. We put on a show for a Sunday morning…and forget God the rest of the week. When we’re challenged, when our faith is put to the test, we fold and fall away. Some of the rocks in our lives have been there since childhood…and we didn’t know they were there—family hatreds, family secrets, family disfunction. As we find the rocks in our life soil, we ask God’s Spirit to help us remove them.

Sometimes our life soil is choked by weeds and thorns of worry or a false confidence in wealth. If we worry, we are not trusting God, God’s goodness, God’s power, God’s Word. When worry hits us—and it will—we must stop and ask God’s Spirit to help us weed out the worry and to trust. At other times, we think that if we have enough money (or power) everything in life will be fine. Yet, we cannot trust in money or wealth. We trust God, and allow God’s Kingdom to be rooted in our lives. Again, we ask God’s Spirit to help us trust in God rather than riches.

The “good soil” receives the Kingdom seed and God’s love and grace grows well there. Thankfully, God is a sower of seed who comes often and sows liberally, throwing seed all over the place. We have time to prepare the soil of our lives. We have the Spirit of God to help us prepare the soil. We will be ready next time the seeds of the Kingdom fall into our lives. The seeds will fall in good soil, sink in deeply, germinate, send roots down, and sprout and grow within us. And the Kingdom of God will spill out of our lives through words and actions of grace and hope and peace and loving-kindness. Let’s tend to our soil and be ready for the Kingdom seeds.

Sunday, October 19, 2025
“Parables: Preparing the Soil”
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