It’s Spring on the farm & we’re working hard, but never to hard to contemplate the words of the Bible. Recently we decided to investigate what Jesus himself said about farmers & farming.
We found these verses to be particularly relevant to our profession & we thought they may speak to you too, whether you are, like us, a farmer or simply someone who enjoys their garden & the great outdoors.
In Mark 4 we find the Parable of the Sower:
Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.2 And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them:3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” 9 And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Well, that’s certainly something that every who has grown plants has experienced. Not all plants thrive — it is part of the way of nature — but those sown in good soil & properly tended do well, just as we do well when in the bosom of our Christian community.
We find exactly this spiritual flowering in Galatians 5:22-23:
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
And in John 15:5, Jesus reminds us that he is everything & we are so lucky to have Him:
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
We hope you enjoyed these verses, & think of the farmers who bring you your food as you meditate on your blessings today.
