SEEDS, PLANTS and SOULS

4 SEEDLINGS

What, then, makes the spiritual seed germinate
and what does this and subsequent development
 represent?

A clue is found in the parable of the sower,
written in Mark's Gospel (and also in Luke and Matthew).
 Jesus is talking to a crowd by the lake of Galilee:

 "Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed.
As he scattered 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,
so that they did not bear grain.
Still other seed fell on good soil.
It came up, grew and produced a crop,
multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times".
(Mark 4:3-8)

Jesus then goes on to explain the parable:

"The farmer sows the word.
Some people are like seed along the path,
where the word is sown.
As soon as they hear it,
Satan comes and takes away the word
that was sown in them.
Others, like the seed sown on rocky places,
hear the word and at once receive it with joy.
But since they have no root,
they last only a short time.
When trouble or persecution comes because of the word,
 they quickly fall away.
Still others, like seed sown among thorns,
hear the word;
but the worries of this life,
the deceitfulness of wealth
and the desires for other things
come in and choke the word making it unfruitful.
Others, like seed sown on good soil -
hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop -
thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times what was sown"
. (Mark 4:14-20)

There are many things to think about here:
the seed, germination, roots and shoots, and the soil.

A seed must germinate and develop in something -
 usually soil -
if it is to fulfill its purpose.
How well it grows, if at all,
will depend on the type of soil.
A seed technologist makes seeds germinate
as a matter of routine
on filter paper, sterile sand or agar in laboratory tests.

But if we want a seedling to grow to full size by itself,
 then adequate soil is essential.
So - in us the soil represents
 our mind, soul or spiritual part.
We'll come later
to what the different types of soil represent
in Jesus' parable.

Immediately a seed germinates,
a root is put out anchoring the seed to the soil,
enabling it to take up nutrients.
Then the shoots and leaves sprout and grow.
Germination of the spiritual seed
represents the time when a person
hears the word of God, believes and acts on it.

The roots represent the growth of his faith or belief -
or the knowledge and acceptance of Jesus
and his teachings in that person's life.
If the roots represent the faith of a person,
then the above-ground shoots, leaves and fruits
of the growing plant
can be imagined as the things we do -
our works - that result from our faith.

This is supported by passages in the Bible
as will be seen later.

And if we imagine that the roots are, in effect,
the growth of Jesus in our lives -
and that Jesus is God,
and that God's character is divine love,
then these `good works' are those things that we do
 resulting from the growth of God's love in us -
actions that are motivated by an unconditional love f
or God and our neighbours
of which our human selves are incapable of.

So, to summarise:-

The seed is the intellectual knowledge
of God and Jesus in our lives
and what that means for us -
God's word - the Good News!

The shoots are the works
resulting from the growth of our belief or faith
in God and Jesus,
motivated and caused by God's love.

The soil is our spiritual soul -
that part of us that can live for ever with God,
provided it is sown, cultivated and bears fruit!

Having got an idea
of what the soil, seed, roots and aerial parts of the plant
can represent,
let's now look - first of all briefly -
at the processes involved
and what could be their spiritual parallels.

NEXT PAGE