The kingdom of heaven is like a sower. The good news is that God loves and shares the precious seeds of new life in Christ with all of us. God is good, the seed is good and we are recipients of His grace.


The troubling part is considering what kind of soil we are. In the kingdom of heaven, the seed needs to be received, embraced and protected against enemies. The same kind of life-giving seed that fell on fertile soil is the kind that fell on the hard path where it did not take root. It is the same seed that fell on shallow ground and among weeds and thorns. The seed was good, but was the ground ready to receive and nurture it? We are not responsible for sowing the seed; that is the work of God’s grace. We can see to it that our soil is soft, welcoming and weeded.


Jesus said that He often describes the kingdom of heaven by using clear, simple stories. I have taught the Bible in many, many cultures of the world and can testify to the amazing, comprehensible universality of the stories
Jesus told.