Dear Amy,

What is the desire of the sower?

And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, [Jesus] said in a parable, “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

― Luke 8:4-8

In all three synoptic gospels where Jesus refers to the prophecy from Isaiah 6:9-10 it is in the context of the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20, Luke 8:4-15). Let’s ponder that.

And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’

― Luke 8:9-10

This prophecy is just so uncomfortable, isn’t it? Let’s just see if we can relate it to what we know of the goodness and kindness and steadfast love and faithfulness of our heavenly father by asking, what is the desire of the sower?

Haven’t you ever wondered this: the sower was really quite a bad farmer, wasn’t he? Why was he so profligate in his sowing? What a waste to sow that precious seed in all the wrong places! But was it really wasteful? Or is this nothing less than God’s super-abundant generosity and grace towards unrepentant sinners?

And consider Jesus’ urgent cry, his most impassioned invitation: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

So, what is the desire of the sower? And why is the message of salvation wrapped up in parables, shrouded in mystery? Jeremiah has a clue for us.

You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD …

― Jeremiah 29:13-14a

Jesus underlines exactly this in the Sermon on the Mount.

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

― Matthew 7:7-8

The one who seeks, and seeks with all their heart, that one will find. The gospel is not a spectator sport. But for those who cry out for mercy and seek with all their heart, to these is the Kingdom revealed. In his great wisdom and mercy and kindness, so has the Lord made it.

Trust the Lord, Amy, in his plans and purposes to rescue and redeem all of humankind, he knows what he is doing and it is very good! 🙏