I will definitely need to re-read this - it so deeply resonates as truth but my mind needs time to wrap itself around this. Thank you so much for your work!
This was so clearly stated and thoroughly explored - thank you so much for sharing it. My wheels are spinning with what you’ve said, especially in light of recent conversations I’ve had about evangelism and how (or if) it’s effective anymore.
Thank you, Bethany. Yes, sounds like we are asking the same kinds of questions, re: evangelism. So glad this helped. Keep going! And let me know if you have further thoughts.
For one, taking the literal decades to sort this out, and communicate it with us. You give both the insight and inspiration I need to do sort these very things out in my own mind. Check back in ten years for my first attempt!
For two, it’s the long game for every one of us, and everyone around us, isn’t it? We will never surpass the master, but we do share in his labor. That must mean getting our hands dirty and living life in all the places we been tasked with gardening.
Ha! Yes, count your work/growth in decades. That's the way to do it. And yes, it's the long game for sure. If we are following the Master, that seems to be his way. It looks like losing in the short term, but he always wins in the end. Thanks for this thoughtful comment, brother.
At the heart of this issue (I suspect), is that we think we have a much greater understanding of consciousness than what we actually do. This gets into PVK's "hierarchies bind and blind". When you try something and it works, you assume that you understand the problem. It is only through failure and confusion, which allows our eyes to be opened.
Well said! Yeah, failure and confusion and disappointment are the kinds of things that break the soil, making it more fertile for the right seed. That's a good use of PVK too; I've hear him say that, but hadn't really thought about how to apply it.
This was wonderful. Thank you for writing it. It’s so good when I read something that actually acknowledges honestly the difficulty in many of Jesus’s sayings, actually engages with it honestly, and arrives at a deep truth thereby. I wish I could think of a metaphor from nature or craftsmanship of some kind, but the image I’m left with is some kind of process of a mask being hardened so when it’s broken it breaks off cleanly; or some kind of chemical reaction that brings impurities to the surface where they can be skimmed off; or a hardening that leans to a finer dust when it is ground, like ripened wheat that can be ground into fine flour.
Again, you have to read Dallas Willard - he’s the one from whom I first heard a similar idea from this parable that the types of soil are all within each of us; and even suggesting that perhaps we have some control in removing weeds and rocks from our soul soil.
Kate, yes! The mask, the reaction, and fine flour are all excellent images of what I'm trying to get at. And for what it's worth, this is how Lewis said true understanding and articulation works: not by stating the idea literally, nor by receiving it as a metaphor, but by making your own metaphor of the idea. And yes, I am still guilty of having never read Willard. Another reminder. It is now officially added to the list. I assume I should begin with The Divine Consipacy?
Personally I would probably say begin with The Renovation of the Heart or The Spirit of the Disciplines - they’re a little easier to begin with. Or there are some truly excellent YouTube teaching series from him - there is one called “Kingdom Living” and one called “Healing the heart and life by walking with Jesus daily” (on the Dallas Willard channel under playlists) that are just absolute gold. The Divine Conspiracy is great, but I haven’t reread that one as much.
If Christ's ministry is the soil-tilling, then the crucifixion is the planting. The soil is ready, the seed is cast; the seed falls to the earth and dies. But of course, we know that's not the end.
Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds."
Do you think there's a good way (in the sense of not being totally awkward) to find out what our "one thing" is from others?
Separately, I feel like the art of soil-tilling is totally idiosyncratic to each individual and moment. Few people some of the time may be ready for a direct confrontation while others, most of the time, will require the long game approach. Have you noticed any patterns for discerning what type of moment you're in with someone?
This is fantastic. It explains how God sometimes works in our lives. The way we can take a direction we are sure is His will, all the signs are there. Then it all.goes wrong, there's seemingly no fruit and we've wasted our time, sometimes years. We question ourselves, our discernment, our doctrine. Surely God Himself wouldn't pull a bait and switch? This essay has made me think that sometimes He actually does and is playing Joseph's trick with us, setting us up to fail so that our hearts will be tilled for a deeper repentance or blessing!
Thanks Hannah. You're in deep territory here. Probably many folks would not like this idea very much, but yes, I think there is truth to this. Of course, the trickery is not arbitrary. As in the Joseph story, the trickery isn't there from the start. It rather becomes necessary because of our sin. Like a vaccine that has to use part of the disease to bring the cure. To use another image: To be at home is good. But what happens if the home becomes corrupt? Well then, you have to go away from home for a time, which is what the Bible calls "exile." So there is also a kind of good in exile (if you remain faithful there) even though it's not home. But exile is not an ultimate good; it is a means to getting home again. Sometimes we must go away from home in order to come back home, so that we and our home can be restored to their proper good. Progressives are usually correct when they point out that "home has become corrupt." The progressive mistake is to think that "going away from home" is the ultimate good. It is not; it is a means to an end. Likewise, the conservative mistake is to think that we must remain at home at all costs. No, sometimes going away from home is the only way to go home for good. Anyway, thanks for reading and leaving this thought.
Another event from Patient Kingdom. You have made the best and strongest case I know of for why "soil-tilling" is the best mental model for thinking about Christian Ministry. This work is a gift to us all.
That means a lot! If this is Daniel, I believe we began our very first exchange on this premise from the Parable of the Sower. Always grateful for your encouragement.
Yes sir! It absolutely was: I think back on that discussion fondly. Thank you for all you do and your work: it helps people. It has certainly helped me.
Following your path of patient exploration into this parable was an absolute delight. One of the things sticking with me visually is the part about the different condition of parts of our heart rather than an approach that classifies one person's soil as completely fertile or not. Thank you for taking the time to give us all this gift.
This essay is impactful on many levels. My question is, other than meditating on the parables themselves and on Jesus's life and approach, what books, approaches, or thinkers have helped you pull these ideas together specifically? I have read a good many of your essays at this point, and I think your strongest pieces are the ones about the parables and Jesus's teachings. I say that mainly as a writer looking at the depth of insight in the essays that focus on those areas. Hopefully, you take it in the spirit offered; I always like to exhort people when their gifts are so clearly on display. You likely already know this, though. Thx for writing.
A seminal work. Saving to read over and over again. Thank you.
Thanks man. Means a lot coming from you. Also I just started your fiction series! Woohoo! So good. Sorry I’m slow.
Thanks Ross! I hope you enjoy it
This is INCREDIBLE work on a long-debated and misunderstood parable. I am speechless.
Thank you, Eugenia. Thanks for reading!
I will definitely need to re-read this - it so deeply resonates as truth but my mind needs time to wrap itself around this. Thank you so much for your work!
Glad it resonates, Erick. Yeah, let me know if you have more thoughts as you ruminate.
This was so clearly stated and thoroughly explored - thank you so much for sharing it. My wheels are spinning with what you’ve said, especially in light of recent conversations I’ve had about evangelism and how (or if) it’s effective anymore.
Thank you, Bethany. Yes, sounds like we are asking the same kinds of questions, re: evangelism. So glad this helped. Keep going! And let me know if you have further thoughts.
Once again, thank you.
For one, taking the literal decades to sort this out, and communicate it with us. You give both the insight and inspiration I need to do sort these very things out in my own mind. Check back in ten years for my first attempt!
For two, it’s the long game for every one of us, and everyone around us, isn’t it? We will never surpass the master, but we do share in his labor. That must mean getting our hands dirty and living life in all the places we been tasked with gardening.
Peace, blessings, and thanks, Ross.
Ha! Yes, count your work/growth in decades. That's the way to do it. And yes, it's the long game for sure. If we are following the Master, that seems to be his way. It looks like losing in the short term, but he always wins in the end. Thanks for this thoughtful comment, brother.
At the heart of this issue (I suspect), is that we think we have a much greater understanding of consciousness than what we actually do. This gets into PVK's "hierarchies bind and blind". When you try something and it works, you assume that you understand the problem. It is only through failure and confusion, which allows our eyes to be opened.
Well said! Yeah, failure and confusion and disappointment are the kinds of things that break the soil, making it more fertile for the right seed. That's a good use of PVK too; I've hear him say that, but hadn't really thought about how to apply it.
This was wonderful. Thank you for writing it. It’s so good when I read something that actually acknowledges honestly the difficulty in many of Jesus’s sayings, actually engages with it honestly, and arrives at a deep truth thereby. I wish I could think of a metaphor from nature or craftsmanship of some kind, but the image I’m left with is some kind of process of a mask being hardened so when it’s broken it breaks off cleanly; or some kind of chemical reaction that brings impurities to the surface where they can be skimmed off; or a hardening that leans to a finer dust when it is ground, like ripened wheat that can be ground into fine flour.
Again, you have to read Dallas Willard - he’s the one from whom I first heard a similar idea from this parable that the types of soil are all within each of us; and even suggesting that perhaps we have some control in removing weeds and rocks from our soul soil.
Kate, yes! The mask, the reaction, and fine flour are all excellent images of what I'm trying to get at. And for what it's worth, this is how Lewis said true understanding and articulation works: not by stating the idea literally, nor by receiving it as a metaphor, but by making your own metaphor of the idea. And yes, I am still guilty of having never read Willard. Another reminder. It is now officially added to the list. I assume I should begin with The Divine Consipacy?
Personally I would probably say begin with The Renovation of the Heart or The Spirit of the Disciplines - they’re a little easier to begin with. Or there are some truly excellent YouTube teaching series from him - there is one called “Kingdom Living” and one called “Healing the heart and life by walking with Jesus daily” (on the Dallas Willard channel under playlists) that are just absolute gold. The Divine Conspiracy is great, but I haven’t reread that one as much.
Perfect. Thanks so much. I may start with youtube then!
Made out of the soil,
to dust we will return--
till our hearts till then.
Perfect
If Christ's ministry is the soil-tilling, then the crucifixion is the planting. The soil is ready, the seed is cast; the seed falls to the earth and dies. But of course, we know that's not the end.
Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds."
John 12:23-24
Do you think there's a good way (in the sense of not being totally awkward) to find out what our "one thing" is from others?
Separately, I feel like the art of soil-tilling is totally idiosyncratic to each individual and moment. Few people some of the time may be ready for a direct confrontation while others, most of the time, will require the long game approach. Have you noticed any patterns for discerning what type of moment you're in with someone?
This is fantastic. It explains how God sometimes works in our lives. The way we can take a direction we are sure is His will, all the signs are there. Then it all.goes wrong, there's seemingly no fruit and we've wasted our time, sometimes years. We question ourselves, our discernment, our doctrine. Surely God Himself wouldn't pull a bait and switch? This essay has made me think that sometimes He actually does and is playing Joseph's trick with us, setting us up to fail so that our hearts will be tilled for a deeper repentance or blessing!
Thanks Hannah. You're in deep territory here. Probably many folks would not like this idea very much, but yes, I think there is truth to this. Of course, the trickery is not arbitrary. As in the Joseph story, the trickery isn't there from the start. It rather becomes necessary because of our sin. Like a vaccine that has to use part of the disease to bring the cure. To use another image: To be at home is good. But what happens if the home becomes corrupt? Well then, you have to go away from home for a time, which is what the Bible calls "exile." So there is also a kind of good in exile (if you remain faithful there) even though it's not home. But exile is not an ultimate good; it is a means to getting home again. Sometimes we must go away from home in order to come back home, so that we and our home can be restored to their proper good. Progressives are usually correct when they point out that "home has become corrupt." The progressive mistake is to think that "going away from home" is the ultimate good. It is not; it is a means to an end. Likewise, the conservative mistake is to think that we must remain at home at all costs. No, sometimes going away from home is the only way to go home for good. Anyway, thanks for reading and leaving this thought.
Another event from Patient Kingdom. You have made the best and strongest case I know of for why "soil-tilling" is the best mental model for thinking about Christian Ministry. This work is a gift to us all.
That means a lot! If this is Daniel, I believe we began our very first exchange on this premise from the Parable of the Sower. Always grateful for your encouragement.
Yes sir! It absolutely was: I think back on that discussion fondly. Thank you for all you do and your work: it helps people. It has certainly helped me.
And yours has helped me!
Following your path of patient exploration into this parable was an absolute delight. One of the things sticking with me visually is the part about the different condition of parts of our heart rather than an approach that classifies one person's soil as completely fertile or not. Thank you for taking the time to give us all this gift.
Thank you, Corrie! Means a lot coming from you. Yes, that’s one of the key insights for me too.
I very much enjoyed this
Thank for reading, Victoria!
This is amazing, already want to read it again. Outstanding!!
This essay is impactful on many levels. My question is, other than meditating on the parables themselves and on Jesus's life and approach, what books, approaches, or thinkers have helped you pull these ideas together specifically? I have read a good many of your essays at this point, and I think your strongest pieces are the ones about the parables and Jesus's teachings. I say that mainly as a writer looking at the depth of insight in the essays that focus on those areas. Hopefully, you take it in the spirit offered; I always like to exhort people when their gifts are so clearly on display. You likely already know this, though. Thx for writing.