"A farmer went out to sow his seed...." (Luke 8:5-8)

"A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown. Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear." (Luke 8:6-8) 

What does the parable of the farmer and seed mean?

We can see this same parable spoken by Jesus in the book of Matthew. The two parables are practically identical, with the exception of the multiple of the crop. In Luke, it says "a hundred times more than was sown." In Matthew, it says "a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."

Is this significant? No. But it is notable because the multiple referred to in Matthew indicates there is a unique quantity for different situations. In other words, different situations will produce different crop multiples according to the parable.

Jesus described this meaning to his followers in the coming verses:

"Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop." (Luke 8:10-15)

 

Why are 'seeds' so important in Jesus' parable?

Even with this clear explanation, there have been misunderstandings regarding the meaning of this parable. The key symbolism relates to where the seed fell.

Let's look more closely at the four seeds and where they fell, and what each means:

1) Seeds that fell on the path: "Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved."

2) Seeds that fell on rocky ground: "Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away."

3) Seeds that fell among thorns: "The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches, and pleasures, and they do not mature."

4) Seeds that fell on good soil: "But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop."

In all four scenarios, the issue is what each person did after they heard.

1) "...the ones who hear..."
2) "...the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it..."
3) "...those who hear..."
4) "...who hear the word..."

This means that hearing is the key element that Jesus is relating to.

But hearing what?

He is talking about his students hearing his teachings.

Why are some not getting this?

Yet this concept - that the parable clearly relates to Jesus' teachings - often gets lost. Why? Why wouldn't they want to focus on Jesus' teachings?

The only reasonable explanation relates to those who prefer to push forth their own agenda. Here are some examples of agendas of sectarian teachers that could run contrary to Jesus' teachings:
-To gain followers.
-To have their salaries paid.
-To be respected by others.

How do we know this? Jesus taught us precisely how to understand this:

"By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them." (Matt. 7:16-20)

And what has been the fruit of the various sects for the past 1800 years? Fighting over territory and struggling to maintain followers; imprisoning people; torturing people; taking people's land; massacring natives in foreign lands; choosing their leaders through political appointments; changing and rearranging scripture to suit their political motives; abusing innocent children.

Are these not enough fruits to be able to understand the tree? Are these activities not enough to figure out whether these sects are thornbushes or figs?

Can Jesus' teachings save us?

Jesus is stating with this parable that indeed, his teachings have the ability to save us.

This is evidenced by this statement that explains the results for those "who hear the word."

Here "word" is being translated from the Greek word λόγος (logos) - which refers to a doctrine or teachings.

Certainly, if all we have to do is accept that Jesus died for my sins, then what would the purpose of his teachings be? Why would we need to bother with learning Jesus' teachings if all we have to do is accept that he died for our sins?

If the main thrust of Jesus' life was to "die for my sins" then why would Jesus teach the meaning of this parable with the statement about not being "saved" after "the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts"? And why would he say, "But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop."

If this teaching (that all we had to do is accept that Jesus died for my sins) were true, then learning Jesus' teachings would be a waste of time. It would have little purpose, because we would already be saved.

The reality is, Jesus never taught that he would save anyone simply by his physical body being crucified. And he never stated that the death of his physical body would in itself relieve our sins.

In fact, the thrust of Jesus' teachings - and this parable - have nothing to do with Jesus' physical body dying on the cross. And here in this parable, we can see that Jesus is speaking of his teachings. And the fact that his teachings can save us.

What about fanatical followers of Jesus?

Jesus also clarified his view of fanatical followers who claim ownership of Jesus' life and the meaning of his life inconsistent with Jesus' teachings:

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" (Matt. 7:21-23)

What is Jesus trying to teach with this statement? "Only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." What does this mean? It means only those who worship and serve God will be returning to the spiritual realm.

And what does this teaching mean:

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38)

What is "the word" have to do with the "seed"?

These teachings comprise the essence of "the word" that Jesus is referring to with regard to his parable about the farmer and the seed: Loving God and serving God. Jesus is talking about someone who hears these teachings, retains them, and puts them into practice.

Jesus is speaking of knowledge. Hearing and applying Jesus' teachings.

Let's consider Jesus' teachings for a moment - what hearing is, and what knowledge is:

Most theistic people will certainly agree that God is the Source of all knowledge and Truth, but we must consider this more carefully.

If we accept that God is ultimately a person, then we have to view "knowledge" from a different perspective. A Person has personality, a will, desires, objectives, and so on. This would confirm Jesus' statement, "will of my Father." If God has a will, God must be a person.

If God is the Source of knowledge, then knowledge comes from the Supreme Being. God is a Person, and God can create anything He wants at any time.

And because none of us are capable of completely understanding and knowing God - because He has so many different aspects - different moods, pastimes, forms, and so on - which He can change or produce at will - we can only pray that He will show us Himself as He would like us to see Him. This means revealing our own personal relationship with Him.

In other words, knowledge of the Truth is not a set of facts. It is knowing the Person of God. It is being re-introduced to God and coming to know Him personally - within the context of our personal relationship with Him.

When we know God personally, we will know everything. We may not know all the facts, but we don't need to know all the facts. What we will know is the Person behind everything that exists. We will know what pleases Him. We will know why He does what He does. And because God can and does everything, we can know everything simply by exchanging our unique loving relationship with Him.

If we understand that the Truth is not a set of facts that we hunt down, but rather coming to know a person - God - then we can also understand that only God can reveal Himself to us.

This is the same with anyone. We can only come to know a person when they let us in. They have to trust us enough to open up to us.

The Supreme Being is no different.

And He will only open up to us when He trusts that we are ready and that we are not going to abuse what is opened up to us.

Just consider a person you have known at a distance in your job or school comes to you one day and ask you to open up to them more about yourself. Will you do it? Maybe, maybe not. It depends upon whether you can trust the person not to abuse what has been opened up to them.

God is no different. While He has nothing to fear when it comes to revealing Himself, and He knows whether we will abuse what He reveals to us beforehand; the fact is, we have decided in the past we wanted to get away from Him. We wanted to do our own will rather than His will. We became self-centered and became desirous of having what He has - control and enjoyment.

So He created this temporary physical world for us to get away from Him, and pretend to be who we are not for a while. We were given these temporary physical bodies that give us the illusion that we have some sort of control over something, and that we are enjoying these physical bodies and what is given to them. And most importantly, these bodies shield us from Him. They allow us to ignore His existence.

And that's what most of us do within the physical world. We ignore God. Some of us try to pretend we are religious and join a church or something - but essentially our focus is still upon ourselves. We try to avoid God's personal existence because we are focused on our own desires. We don't want God to interfere with our desires.

This freedom is what we wanted, and this is what has been given to us - graciously, by God. Because He loves us, He readily gives us freedom.

But here we are, empty and lonely without Him. We might even be part of a large family - wife, husband, kids - everything. But we are still lonely without our relationship with the Supreme Being.

"The word" - Jesus' teachings - is what can rescue us from our loneliness and emptiness. This is the purpose of Jesus' teachings. To rescue us because we are drowning in this world without our relationship with the Supreme Being.

What is the "time of testing"?

If we want to regain our relationship with Him - which is nondifferent from gaining knowledge or Truth as indicated above - we have to show Him that we really want to return to our loving relationship with Him.

This means commitment. He doesn't want us to pretend we want to know Him so that we can show off to all our buddies or our church members that we now know God and aren't we so great because we know God and we are the big guy now. He wants us to be serious about returning to our relationship with Him.

Very few people might really be serious about coming to know God as He is and wants to sincerely renew their relationship with Him. Others may seek to be accepted as a sect member or want to be a leader of a sect. While these may not be inherently wrong, they also may miss the focus of Jesus' teachings if those teachings are not taken seriously.

Does God reveal Himself to those who don't want to know Him?

When we are serious about coming to know God, God reveals Himself from within.

For this reason, people may read or hear Jesus' words, and not really hear them at all. Or they may misinterpret them or mistranslate them. Their desires (symbolized by "the devil" in Jesus' discussion above) may interrupt their hearing them. Or they may truly hear them but their commitment or seriousness is not there so what they heard fades away.

In other words, we may be in contact with the Truth by reading or hearing Jesus' words, but because we are not serious enough, we don't see God through those teachings.

If a person is serious about coming to know God, God will guide a person to hear from someone who knows Him. And then will also teach them from within.

This is the way God often operates. He uses those who know Him and lovingly serve Him to introduce Him to others. This was Jesus' role. He was God's representative, and God wanted Jesus to introduce those who were serious about knowing Him - to Him.

But during that introduction process, a person may remain serious or not. They may decide their own desires are more important. This is where the "test of time" comes in. Should we feel serious for a while and try to sincerely hear and follow Jesus' teachings, we can be assured we will be tested through time (the "time of testing").

What did Jesus mean by 'persevering'?

Many desires and temptations will enter the picture in the coming years. These include so many physical things: Name and fame. Wealth. Sensual things. All of these things will be put in front of us to test our seriousness.

This is because God only wants us to return to Him if we remain serious about it. He wants us to become committed to our relationship with Him. This is what Jesus meant by "persevering."

And should we become increasingly serious - persevere - as we follow the teachings of God's representative, God will continue to reveal Himself from within.

And "the crop" Jesus spoke about producing? Quite simply, this is helping others to remember and grow closer to God. This is why Jesus sent his own disciples out to pass on his teachings to others.

"The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest ..." (Luke 12:16-21)

"The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." ' But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God." (Luke 12:16-21)

What does this parable of the abundant harvest mean?

Jesus is continuing his discussion regarding materialism in response to one of his students asking Jesus to arbitrate between him and his brother regarding their inheritance.

Just prior to this parable, Jesus instructed:

"Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions." (Luke 12:15)

Now Jesus is utilizing a parable or analogy to communicate the importance of putting the focus of one's life towards one's relationship with the Supreme Being. This relates to a prime question raised by this parable: Should we be focusing our lives upon the things, people, and accomplishments of this world when all of these will be taken from us at the time of death?

Everything of this world - wealth, house, career, reputation, family, investments - everything that has to do with the physical world and this temporary physical body - is lost at the time of death.

This is the nature of Jesus' parable. Jesus is comparing the farmer - who has an abundant harvest and wants to build bigger barns to store his harvest - to focusing our lives upon accumulating wealth and money and accumulating possessions for the future - including what modern society refers to as retirement.

The farmer is convinced that once he has all of his grain stored up, he will reach a state of comfort and satisfaction - where the farmer will supposedly:

"Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry."

This is, in fact, the axiom of materialism. But where does it come from and why is it so bad to want to be comfortable and "merry"?

Can materialism ever give us fulfillment?

No. We remain empty regardless of how abundant our harvest is. No matter how much money we have. No matter how young and beautiful our body is. No matter how much fame and power we have. These things will not fulfill us. They will not make us happy.

This is why even the richest people - even the most famous people - even the most powerful people - still get depressed. That's why rich, famous people often become addicted to drugs and alcohol. This is why rich, famous and powerful people sometimes commit suicide: Because wealth, fame and power do not fulfill us.

The real issue relates to our identity. Who are we? Are we these physical bodies? If we are these physical bodies, then certainly materialism would fulfill us. And keeping the body comfortable, keeping it fed, safe and healthy should be of the highest importance - right?

But we are not these physical bodies. And no matter how much focus we give them and how much energy we put into making them comfortable and healthy - they will still get sick and they will still die.

Yes - no matter what we do, our physical body will get sick and die.

And then we will have to leave the body and everything related to the body behind.

How long will the body last?

Most physical bodies were designed to live about 100 years, give or take a decade or so depending upon how well we take care of it. Even those bodies given new hearts, new joints and other new body parts will still only last about 100 years.

If the body was so important to our identity, why does it die? And then why does it decompose - eventually turning into soil?

Yes, these are scientific facts. But we want to avoid these realities. We want to avoid the topic of death. We want to pretend that our bodies will never get sick and die.

We want to pretend that our bodies will last forever.

And for this reason, as our body ages, we don't want to admit the age of our body. As our body ages, we less and less identify with how old the body is. We deny that our body is aging: So we will color our hair so the gray won't show, or try to cover the body's wrinkles with creams.

All of these attempts to deny the age of the body comes from our innate feeling that we are eternal, yet our physical bodies are temporary.

These and many other scientific facts point to the reality that we are not these physical bodies.

Rather, we are each an eternal spirit-person who dwells within a temporary physical body. Each of us is spiritual in essence, yet we are each an individual. We are of a different substance than the physical body, and this is why in clinical death cases, the person will float up above their clinically-dead body and look down upon it.

Even though the body's heart stopped, the brainwaves stopped and every other function of life within the body has stopped, the person will still be alive, and will still be able to observe and have experiences outside of the body - because we are not these physical bodies. Who is seeing the body from above if we are the physical body? With what eyes is the body being looked upon?

These physical bodies are simply vehicles. They are like cars, which require a driver to get in and drive them in order to move around. And just as cars will break down - causing the driver to get out - our bodies will break down and die, causing us to get out.

This reality is also reflected upon by Jesus, as he portrays God saying:

"'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'"

Is this what Jesus really said?

This is actually mistranslated. The word "life" is being translated from the Greek word ψυχή (psychē) - which means, "the vital force which animates the body and shows itself in breathing" and "the soul" according to the lexicon.

And the phrase "will be demanded" is translated from the Greek word ἀπαιτέω (apaiteō), which means "to ask back, demand back, exact something due."

Thus what Jesus is suggesting is that the life of the body - the soul or the spirit-person - is being exacted from - or taken from - the physical body.

Other translations of these verses have reflected this. Consider, for example, the New King James Version:

"'And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry." "But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?'" (Luke 12:19-20 NKJV)

Jesus is stating this because the physical body is on loan to the spirit-person (the soul). It is not a permanent ride.

This might be compared to a rental car. A driver will rent a car from a car rental company and then will drive the car for a predetermined period of time - say a week while on vacation - and then must return the car back to the rental car company.

This situation would perfectly reflect the notion of ἀπαιτέω (apaiteō), because the car is being demanded back by the car rental company. Thus the driver must take the car back to the car rental company and then step away from the car - and leave it behind and go on his way.

This is the precise situation with regard to the spirit-person who is temporarily utilizing a physical body. At the end of the lifetime of the physical body - whether it be several decades or a hundred years - the body is demanded back from us - and we must leave the body behind.

And just as the rental car driver will have to leave all the components of the car - the radio, the GPS system, the steering wheel and anything else that came with the car - the spirit-person must leave behind whatever is attached to the physical body - its name, its family, its wealth, its reputation and so on. Everything will have to be left behind.

But just as a rental car driver will still have to pay for any speeding tickets that occurred while driving the rental car - even after the car is returned - the spirit-person will still be responsible for the consequences of their activities while driving the physical body.

These consequences - together with the consciousness developed during one's physical lifetime - will remain with the spirit-person after the physical body dies.

And this combination of our consciousness and the consequences of our activities - will determine the next destination for the spirit-person.

Isn't this discussing consciousness?

In this parable, Jesus is discussing consciousness. The consciousness we develop while within the physical body relates to the focus of our lives. Are we focused on the accumulation of wealth and the comfort of our bodies? Are we focused on the body's physical sensations - including sex, tasting food, music, and so on? Are we focused on the reputation of the body and its name? Are we focused on the family of this physical body?

It is not that being attentive to the needs of our body or family is bad in itself. But becoming focused upon these as though they will fulfill us produces a certain type of consciousness - related to self-centeredness - the desire to become self-satisfied by the things, names and forms of the world.

Why is this so bad though? Because not only do the things and people of the world dissolve at the time of death of the body; but the things, names and forms of the world simply do not satisfy us. They do not bring us fulfillment.

It is like the driver of a car being hungry and stopping at a gas station to fill up the gas tank - thinking that if the gas tank is full of gas, the driver won't be hungry anymore.

In such a scenario, the driver will still be hungry because the gas only filled up the gas tank - it did not touch the driver's stomach.

This is because the driver is not the car, and the gas tank is not the driver's stomach.

In the same way, we are not these bodies: Filling up the body with material things will not touch the spirit-person within because we are of a different substance. We are spiritual in substance, while the body is physical in substance.

This is why the things of the physical world do not fulfill us and even the wealthiest and most famous people of the world can still be empty inside - unfulfilled. This is why we find many wealthy and famous people committing suicide or overdosing on drugs. They are empty inside despite their wealth and fame:

"This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God."

What fulfills the spirit-person?

What will fulfill each of us? Notice Jesus states "stores things for themselves." This relates directly to self-centeredness. Putting my own self-interests above everything else.

The second key phrase is "but is not rich toward God." What does this mean?

The Greek word translated to "towards" is εἰς (eis), which can mean "into, unto, to, towards, for, among."

These words all indicate the same thing with respect to God: A relationship.

We must remember that Jesus is teaching about a personal God: Not some vague force or booming voice. Jesus is speaking of the Supreme Being who can be loved, served and pleased. Consider, for example, this statement by Jesus:

"By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but Him who sent me." (John 5:30)

Jesus is speaking of having a relationship with the Supreme Being - "who sent me." Jesus is seeking to please the Supreme Being. He wants to please the Supreme Being because he is enjoying a relationship with the Supreme Being. He is loving the Supreme Being and out of that love, Jesus is seeking to please his beloved God.

Jesus also stated something even more clear regarding fulfillment:

“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work." (John 4:34)

By "food" Jesus is indicating that this is fulfilling Jesus. Doing what pleases the Supreme Being - doing "the will of Him who sent me" - is Jesus' metaphorical "food" because this is what satisfies him.

This is what Jesus is trying to teach his students. He is trying to tell them that their focus upon the temporary things of the physical world will not bring any fulfillment. He is trying to tell them to focus upon re-developing their innate loving relationship with the Supreme Being as this and only this will make them (and us) happy.

This is because the Supreme Being created us to be His loving servants and friends. He created us to be His loving companions and servants. But because love requires freedom, He also gave each of us the freedom to love Him or not.

And those who chose not to love Him were separated from Him and His spiritual realm and given temporary physical bodies to act out our self-centered desires.

This is because when we abandoned our love for Him, the resulting emptiness was replaced with self-centeredness.

The spiritual realm - our home - is a place of love and kindness: A place of love between the Supreme Being and His children, and no one is fighting to be the top dog.

This is why so many of us try to stop wars and hunger and violence: Because we miss our home. We are trying to make the physical world - the place where all the self-centered people are placed to act out our self-centeredness - into the spiritual realm.

Remember how John Lennon "Imagined" no wars, no countries and so on. He innately missed his home in the spiritual realm and wanted to return there. But John Lennon's song - and many other imaginings of the spiritual realm - imagine heaven without God.

We might be able to "imagine" the spiritual realm without God - but that place will only exist within the mind.

This is because we cannot have peace and self-centeredness at the same time. They are opposing consciousnesses.

We can only return home to the real spiritual realm when our consciousness of self-centeredness replaced with our innate loving relationship with the Supreme Being.

If we re-develop our innate loving relationship with the Supreme Being - we fall in love with God - we will then automatically love His children. Then we will be fit to return to the spiritual realm at the end of this body's lifetime. And we will, in fact, be home in our relationship with the Supreme Being even while we are still driving this temporary physical body.

This is why, when asked by a Jewish teacher: "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" (Luke 10:25) - Jesus answered:

‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Luke 10:27)