Luke 8 and Matthew 13
October 22, 2014

The parable of the sower is in both our our chapters today.   At one time I used to think "why would any decent farmer bother throwing seed on hard ground, or on the path?"   Then, when I visited Israel our guide pointed out that the gardens there are fairly narrow, and are on terraced hillsides.  You don't see very much land that you could drive a large farm tractor on, pulling a set of plows.   The whole country is filled with stones, mountains and slanted farm land.   No wonder Lot looked toward the plains when he wanted to choose a place to graze his sheep

When a farmer plants in the hills of Israel, you have a narrow path you walk along, and scatter seed along the plowed ground.   Since it's terraced, the path is tight to the higher side of the hill, and is almost always right down to bare rock.   Between the path and hillside a few weeds and briers grow up...sort of like weeds coming out of the cracks in the sidewalk.   You can't but scatter some seed in the brush and along the path.   Everything is so tight you can't avoid it.    That's the way it is with people today.   One person in the household is fertile ground, but they live with people who are hard ground, or ground with briers, etc.  

That's might be why we have the parable of the weeds immediately following this passage.   The weed and the wheat grow together.  The point is that the seed grows in some, not in others, and we will all be growing together until the Lord returns.

Then, the next thought recorded is to motivate us by letting us think about heaven.   So the parables of treasure in heaven help us get motivated to stay righteous.

Luke 8
The demon possessed man we've discussed previously, so I won't spend more time today on that thought.

Then we have the account of Jairus' daughter and the women w/bleeding.   Sometimes our faith is tested twice.  We need enough faith to accept that Jesus can heal our loved ones, and then the situation gets worse, and we need even more faith to combat disappointment.    I would be pretty frustrated if I had to wait while Jesus was busy healing someone who has been sick for years, when all the time my little girl was dying.   I would be thinking "she's made it for years....another day won't hurt...let's take of my daughter now, and then you can come back and deal with her later."

But Jesus is concerned with everyone, not just me.  And my timeline isn't His timeline.   Jesus isn't limited by what limits me, so He isn't worried when I'm worried, or afraid when I'm afraid.    Time isn't as important to Jesus as it is to me.  The reality is that we all are eternal beings, and we won't ever cease to exist, but we don't act like it most days.   If Jairus had been thinking this way, he wouldn't have been as worried as he was.    I love that Jesus turns to him and says "don't worry, she isn't really dead."      I commit that to memory.  When we leave earth, we aren't really dead.

The woman who was the cause of the delay simply clung to Jesus in faith and her faith was enough for Jesus.  He healed her because of her steadfast belief in Him.    Jairus' daughter was brought back from the dead because he believed.     I pray that we have the same amount of faith...remember it starts small and begins to grow...

PR