This trip is proving to show me how much I really do like learning about and experiencing different people groups and their cultures. I remember being in graduate school and one of my first classes was Cross-Cultural Leadership with the amazing Dr. Russell West. Despite having a lot of fun in this course, I thought then when would I ever use this information but now I know!
With this in mind, every country we have visited so far has been amazing! Early on I wrestled with what it means to travel to places you had always thought of visiting but to experience them in a way you never imagined. In a way there was a surrender to expectations and upon leaving a country without getting to go to xyz location a surrender of self. Some of my younger counterparts are already planning return trips from a tourist perspective and I wonder if it’s within God’s will to come back and visit those iconic cities and places we missed in order to bring the gospel to the unreached. This format of traveling is definitely one most American tourists would not necessarily choose for themselves. Yet it allows us to truly experience things in a way we couldn’t otherwise.
Sidenote: A friend of mine couldn’t believe I would travel 12 hrs by car to see them and I now laugh given 12-20 hr train or bus rides are common.
As we travel though I often think about the “Parable of the Sower” in the gospels. We have traversed over many types of soil even within one literal physical location and many different road conditions. Sometimes we have questioned where we are based on the topography we see. Yet this parable calls us to look at the soil of our hearts and of those whom we share the gospel.
“Consider this: There was a farmer who went out to sow seeds. 4 As he cast his seeds, some fell along the beaten path and the birds came and ate them. 5 Other seeds fell onto gravel that had no topsoil. The seeds quickly shot up, 6 but when the days grew hot, the sprouts were scorched and withered because they had insufficient roots. 7 Other seeds fell among the thorns and weeds, so when the seeds sprouted, so did the weeds, crowding out the good plants. 8 But other seeds fell on good, rich soil that kept producing a good harvest. Some yielded thirty, some sixty, and some even one hundred times as much as he planted! 9 If you’re able to understand this, then you need to respond.”
10 Then his disciples approached Jesus and asked, “Why do you always speak to people in these hard-to-understand parables?”
11 He explained, “You’ve been given the intimate experience of insight into the hidden truths and mysteries of the realm of heaven’s kingdom, but they have not. 12 For everyone who listens with an open heart will receive progressively more revelation until he has more than enough. But those who don’t listen with an open, teachable heart, even the understanding that they think they have will be taken from them. 13 That’s why I teach the people using parables, because they think they’re looking for truth, yet because their hearts are unteachable, they never discover it. Although they will listen to me, they never fully perceive the message I speak. 14 The prophecy of Isaiah describes them perfectly:
Although they listen carefully to everything I speak,
they don’t understand a thing I say.
They look and pretend to see,
but the eyes of their hearts are closed.
15 Their minds are dull and slow to perceive,
their ears are plugged and are hard of hearing,
and they have deliberately shut their eyes to the truth.
Otherwise they would open their eyes to see,
and open their ears to hear,
and open their minds to understand.
Then they would turn to me
and let me instantly heal them.
16 “But your eyes are privileged, for they see. Delighted are your ears, for they are open to hear all these things. 17 Many prophets and godly people in times past yearned to see these days of miracles that you’ve been favored to see. They would have given everything to hear the revelation you’ve been favored to hear. Yet they didn’t get to see as much as a glimpse or hear even a whisper.
18 “Now you are ready to listen to the revelation of the parable of the sower and his seeds:
19 “The seed that fell on the beaten path represents the heart of the one who hears the message of the kingdom realm but doesn’t understand it. The Adversary then comes and snatches away what was sown into his heart.
20 “The seed sown on gravel represents the person who gladly hears the kingdom message, but his experience remains shallow. 21 Shortly after he hears it, troubles and persecutions come because of the kingdom message he received. Then he quickly falls away, for the truth didn’t sink deeply into his heart.
22 “The seed sown among weeds represents the person who receives the message, but all of life’s busy distractions, his divided heart, and his ambition for wealth result in suffocating the kingdom message and prevent him from bearing spiritual fruit.
23 “As for the seed that fell upon good, rich soil, it represents the hearts of people who hear and fully embrace the message of heaven’s kingdom realm. Their lives bear good fruit—some yield a harvest of thirty, sixty, even one hundred times as much as was sown.” (Matthew 13, TPT)
There are many different commentaries on this parable but typically we think of this parable as when introducing the gospel to someone and wondering if the seed will take root or not. However, what if it is applicable to anytime we read the word and whether or not scripture is having an effect on our lives? Is it possible in some seasons to find ourselves in different soils?
There have been many ups and downs throughout life and I can look back to see where there were times each type of soil was present in how I encountered the word. My hope is to remain as good soil so His transformative work brings glory to Him and Him alone.
For fun: One of our hosts has been playing Original Broadway Cast Recordings while we travel and so I thought it would be neat to include the parable as rendered by the musical “Godspell” for your viewing pleasure 🙂
