Today I had the opportunity to re-visit another thing I got wrong about the Bible when I was younger.
I have said it before, but it bears repeating, to the best of my knowledge I was never intentionally misled into falsehood, poor hermeneutics or heresy by someone who knew they were teaching me error(s). However, the fact remains, my early Bible teaching, to say nothing of theology in a broad sense, was frequently, disastrously, wrong. I am not going into anything beyond what is in today’s Gospel lesson because I don’t see the point other than to spend some time breathing the mountain air found on High Dudgeon.
The error I fell into in the Parable of the Sower, Matthew 13:1-9, was to see this sowing as a one-time thing. I somehow managed to forget everything I had ever seen my mother, an excellent and enthusiastic gardener, or my extended farming relatives do. The sower (or Sower if you prefer) in my mind was someone who went to the field once, sowed the seed once, and if you were the “path,” the “rocks,” or the “weedy ground” too bad for you; your one chance was over. This is, was, and always will be wrong.
God, like every gardener, farmer, whatever sows whenever it is time to sow and if you are “path” this time, who knows what you’ll be next time.
Give the sermon a listen and let me know if I missed the mark.
Blessings,
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