Daily Lesson for March 19, 2014

Today's Daily Lesson is from Mark 4, the Parable of the Seed

" 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain."

This morning Jesus gives us three vivid pictures of crop failure. They are, of course, intended as metaphors for the spiritual life. And the images of birds, sun, and thorns correspond to the various threats we face at different stages of personal and spiritual development.

The seed taken by the birds simply never gets started. It is symbolic of a person whose life never takes root into anything more significant than what remains on the surface level of life. Mass consumption of sports and other entertainment are enough to keep this person occupied for life. That and work. But there is no true bonding, friendship, or meaning in this person's life. 

The second seed does take root and it begins to grow. They went to youth camp as a kid and had an initial encounter with God. Or in college they attended a Bible study or went on a mission trip and they began to think on spiritual things, eternal things - things other than themselves. But they didn't go any further. They never developed any depth to their personhood and during the scorching heat of life's noon-day demon, when life got difficult with the job and the marriage and the kids, they wilted as persons altogether.

Then there are those whose spiritual selves do germinate and take root, but in the course of life the spiritual also grows up with the material - the kids up and off to school, then to work, then errands at the lunch break, then back to work, then pickup the kids with a quick bite to eat in the car before soccer or baseball or ballet or piano or a thousand other things, then back home to get them to bed before falling exhausted into bed themselves only to wake up tomorrow and so it all over again. And Saturday is an early game followed by yard work and then a birthday party and then an adult party for somebody from the gym. All this, and your husband's business isn't going that great and grandma has just been diagnosed with cancer. And Sunday morning is the only day to sleep in. And what happened to that seed? It got choked out.

But then there was a fourth picture Jesus gives us - the image of a seed that took root, deepened into a ground source of good nutrients and plentiful water, and grew up free from all that would set out to choke it. And that one, Jesus said, produced fruit that lasted generations. This is the image of a life well lived - and that's the one I want to be like.