Sow What?
What do we need to cultivate in our children's hearts?
Parables can be dicey things. That we often misunderstand them is plain enough in that we often misunderstand their very purpose. That is, how often have you heard someone wax eloquent about the wisdom of Jesus in teaching through story? These folks are quick to praise our Lord for being up on the latest learning models, for eschewing the boring talking head model. Jesus, they argue, really wanted to reach people, to communicate powerfully and effectively. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Except that it’s not true.
As we seek to spread the Word of God abroad in the hearts of our children it will grow richer and stronger roots in our own hearts. They need the Word—just as we do. This is how our families will move from faith to faith. This is how our families will move mountains.
Immediately after the parable of the sower, the disciples asked Jesus, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” Jesus explained, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.” Jesus goes still further, suggesting that He speaks not to clarify, but in mysteries such that the prophecy of Isaiah might be fulfilled, “Hearing you will hear and not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive. For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed.” Jesus didn’t talk in parables because He was some sort of communications guru. He did so, that those whom He wished to hear would hear, and those whom He wished not to hear would not hear. He sought as much to hide as to reveal.
This, however, is not the end of the trouble with parables. We also face this challenge. Either we reduce parables down to one simple point, or we spread them out and push the symbolism envelope into strange places. If we thought the parable of the sower were merely to tell us that some people don’t believe, some people seem to believe, and some people do believe, we’d have a rather anemic parable. If, on the other hand, we argue that some seed produced thirty-fold, some sixty-fold, and some one hundred-fold because Jesus wants us to read Psalm 30, Psalm 60, and Psalm 100, we’ve fallen off the other side of the horse.
Thankfully, in this particular parable, Jesus was good enough to explain to the disciples the cast of characters. We know, for instance, that the birds represent the serpent, who takes away what was sown. We know the thorns that choke the plants are the troubles of this world. What I want us not to lose sight of, however, is the seed. This, Jesus tells us, is the Word. The prophet Isaiah revealed this Word from God, that His Word can never return void (Isaiah 55:11). This is why we can sow the Word in the lives and hearts of our children with confidence.
Most of us have been to homeschool curriculum fairs. We’ve walked from display to display, and listened as ear-nest friends sought to persuade us that Product X will do this or give that to our children. We’ve heard folks promise, “By using our Whiz-Bang 2000 study system we can guarantee that your child will add as many as 200 points to their SAT scores.” Most of us have come out of those curriculum fairs with less confidence, less certainty (and less money) than when we went in. To be fair, the Whiz-Bang 2000 study system may do even more than promised. Many of the products we see in these fairs are products we’re terribly grateful to have. But when we start with them, no matter how good the sales pitch, we start with some level of fear and trepidation.
Most of us have likewise had conversations with our homeschooling friends, not just about this product or that, but about this approach or that. We likely have unschooling friends and classical schooling friends. We have friends who swear by this “school-in-a-box” provider, and others who swear by that one. Hopefully when these conversations end we haven’t lost any friends. But again, usually those on both sides of the argument come away having lost some level of confidence.
Not so with the Word of God. When we seek to cultivate the Word of God into the hearts and minds of our children, we do so with an unconditional guarantee from the very One Whose Word is truth, from the one Being in the universe who cannot tell a lie. It will not return void. We will not have wasted our time, our energy, our treasure. The Word of God will bear fruit. When the Word of God dwells richly in our children, they will have ears to hear and eyes to see. They will, by His grace, bear much fruit.
But wait, there’s more. This is the power of the Word: As we seek to cultivate the Word of God in our children we find not that some has fallen among the rocky places, but rather that some will fall upon our own hearts. As we seek to spread the Word of God abroad in the hearts of our children it will grow richer and stronger roots in our own hearts. They need the Word—just as we do. This is how our families will move from faith to faith. This is how our families will move mountains. May the Word of God dwell richly in you, in your children, and in your children’s children. And may we all together be fruitful in the vineyard of our Lord.