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‘Some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture.’
Luk_8:5-6
I. The choice of the seed.—We need to know that the choice of seed is largely in our own hand. Do we wish to sow Christ’s word, which is faith in the Heavenly Father and love to the brethren, or the Devil’s word, which is love for ourselves and no belief in anything that is greater? Are we convinced that the real world is the world of spiritual thought and aspiration, and the only world worth living in, the only world worth sowing for, the only world that has the promise of this life and the life to come, or are we content with the world of touch and taste and handling—of the visible and the present? Shall we sow to this latter world of the flesh and reap corruption, or be sowers in the world of spirit and see God everlastingly? You answer, we need some one to help us to our conviction; to whom shall we go to strengthen us as we go forth to the fields till eventide ere the night comes when no more work can be done? I reply, go to the shore of the Sea of Galilee, join the multitude there that is listening to the Speaker of a wondrous parable, and first be convinced of the truth that
God may have other words for other worlds,
But for this world the Word of God is Christ.
II. Sowing in pain.—And next let us be convinced that as He sowed in pain ere He reaped with joy, so to us all must come the constant disappointment that shall try us, the fiery temptation, the heat and burden of the day, ere in due time we reap. We cannot expect to be sowers of the good seed, the seed of the mind of Christ, unless we are prepared to suffer for our principles and to stand persecution because of the Word—persecution that is no less real because in our twentieth century it is less apparent. But depend upon it, it is God’s plan that as surely as the seed corn cannot grow to fruit till all the earth about it has suffered the thrust of the plough, the bruising of the harrow, and the breaking of the ground, so for us who will go forth to sow good ‘in scorn of consequence’ it is eternally true that only through much tribulation shall we enter the kingdom of heaven. Let us be convinced of this and go forth bravely to the field. Let us be sowers of the ideal, sowers for the Kingdom, and endure as seeing Him Who is invisible, for he only that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.
III. No seed wasted.—One other conviction needs to be deepened in our hearts. It is this, that if the seed we sow be indeed the Word of Christ, it shall not return empty. Though all appearances be against it, and we die not seeing the harvest, the seed will not wither. In the time of trouble and the strife of tongues God shall hide it secretly in His own rock from the provoking of all men. And after many days the earth shall be glad thereof, and men shall eat of its bread and be satisfied.
Canon H. D. Rawnsley.
Illustration‘The husbandman went forth in good heart, and beneath the form of this brave going forth to sow in such unpromising-looking ground is a lesson which Christ the Master Sower emphasised when He came forth to cast His seed not only into good ground, but on rocky heart—in shallow mind and lives preoccupied with this world’s caring—as lovingly as the heavenly Father sent His sun on the just and unjust alike, and having done His work left the fruit of it to be carried far and wide by successive generations of heavenly-hearted husbandmen, and bids us go forth in His undaunted way to scatter our seed in spite of all the world, the flesh, and the devil can do to thwart us, in hard as well as soft ground, on well tilled and on waste alike. That figure of Christ as Sower has helped all true hearts all the ages up. “We be but sowers,” said St. Francis. “We are at the best only sowers,” said Edward Thring, and he never tired of telling his pupils to look upon themselves as going forth to sow seeds of light in dark places, and trusting to God for the increase in His own good time.
Heralds of the light are we,
Sowers of the world to be
With a seed-light pure and free.
Heralds of the morn we stand,
Foot to foot and hand in hand,
Flinging morning o’er the land.’