Verse 9: Jesus said, “Look, the sower went out, took a handful of seeds, and scattered them. Some fell on the road, and the birds came and pecked them up. Others fell on rock, and they did not take root in the soil and did not produce heads of grain. Others fell on thorns, and they choked the seeds and worms devoured them. And others fell on good soil, and it brought forth a good crop. It yielded sixty per measure and one hundred twenty per measure.”
Whenever I read a quote like this without context, I ask myself, “What’s the real lesson behind these statements?”
I suspect that, like any other teacher, Jesus hoped that his disciples would take what they learned from him and pass it on to others. In this verse, he’s explaining to his students that they’re not always going to be aware of the consequences of their actions. Sometimes, they will reach people and other times, they won’t, but it’s not necessarily because of anything they did or didn’t do. For those they do reach, those people will go on to share the ‘good word’ with others who will share it with others.
When I think about this lesson, I suspect his disciples were feeling discouraged after not being able to reach every person they spoke with. Jesus attracted many followers, and I think his disciples wanted to emulate him.
We get discouraged when our expectations aren’t met, but we’re often unaware of the belief behind the expectation. When we’ve been criticized far more than praised, and when our egos and spirits have been chronically beaten down by the hurtful words of others, we become desperate to prove that we matter. The key words here are desperate and prove. We want to make a difference so that we matter.
Additionally, when we come across someone who makes a huge impact on our lives, as Jesus did and continues to do, we want to give something back to that person. We want them to be proud of us, so we try hard to please them.
I have no doubt that every person who spent time with Jesus was deeply touched by him and didn’t want to let him down when he suggested they go out and pass on to others what they had learned.
I think Jesus was trying to explain that we don’t have to try so hard.
When we are trying hard to ________________, we might think we’re trying to accomplish something to impress someone, but we’re really trying to prove to ourselves that we can do whatever it is we’re trying hard to do. Behind the willingness to put all that effort in - ie: try hard - is a FEAR file that says that we can’t.
BUT - that’s ok! If we don’t try we can’t succeed. We have to retrain our mind’s process to recognize our talents, skills, and accomplishments. It’s when we think we have to go way beyond or place a great deal of importance on the idea of making a difference that we get ourselves into trouble and end up disappointed.
Sometimes, when we meet someone who has it all together and appears to be perfect, we don’t realize that they had to go through the same stages of awareness that we do. No one is successful 100% of the time. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and everyone makes mistakes. We are all one small part of a massive whole and each of us makes a difference.
Yay! The sameness of making a difference 💜
Beautiful! I have found it to be true through personal experience also. Thank you!!