Luke 22:27 (God's Word)
27 Who's the greatest, the person who sits at the table or the servant?
Isn't it really the person who sits at the table? But I'm among you as a servant.
Matthew 13:1-23 (New Living Translation)
Matthew 13
Parable of the Farmer Scattering Seed
1 Later that same day Jesus left the house and sat beside the lake. 2 A large crowd soon gathered around him, so he got into a boat. Then he sat there and taught as the people stood on the shore. 3 He told many stories in the form of parables, such as this one:
“Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seeds. 4 As he scattered them across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them. 5 Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. 6 But the plants soon wilted under the hot sun, and since they didn’t have deep roots, they died. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants. 8 Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted! 9 Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”
10 His disciples came and asked him, “Why do you use parables when you talk to the people?”
11 He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secrets[a] of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not. 12 To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. 13 That is why I use these parables,
For they look, but they don’t really see.
They hear, but they don’t really listen or understand.
14 This fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah that says,
‘When you hear what I say,
you will not understand.
When you see what I do,
you will not comprehend.
15 For the hearts of these people are hardened,
and their ears cannot hear,
and they have closed their eyes—
so their eyes cannot see,
and their ears cannot hear,
and their hearts cannot understand,
and they cannot turn to me
and let me heal them.’[b]
16 “But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. 17 I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but they didn’t see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn’t hear it.
18 “Now listen to the explanation of the parable about the farmer planting seeds: 19 The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the Kingdom and don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts. 20 The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. 21 But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word. 22 The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced. 23 The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!”
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This week has been not easy I can tell you my brothers and sisters in Christ. I look at the passage and the discussion at the care-group, if not for God I would have retreated in my shell like a turtle does and never stick my head out. I have pride, not wanting to admit that I am wrong - prove all that I am the correct one. I look at the the parable of the seeds that fall on different soil and I learn how to cultivate the soil of Grace through awareness listening. I grew up with friends and always wanting to serve and not ask for anything...but in my heart I use to say, "How good it is to be appreciated by friends and after knowing how much good I am doing." I have not received any grace or understanding, I am in my own world and self adapting to the world and allowing the world of sin to control me! Am I really listening to God, or implying that is silence.
We want to be lead into greater faith so that it becomes easier to change and overcome difficulties, and therefore I need awareness-listening. Doing my devotions and allowing rest to come from God helps me bridge the silence I think that God is not responding in my life. God is amazing, and in his time-line I will be touched and with Christ we can be in his approval/righteousness. Turn away from sin and turn towards the love and grace that the Gospels preach to you are saying. Turn and listen and be in his Rest.
A friend of mine who i knew, during a retreat in Singapore once walked over to me with a towel and basin and placed my feet in it and washed them carefully and gently, and after that he bended over and kissed it. I started to tear and knew my life has changed through Christ, the Christ who encountered life and whom all nations will one day knee now kneels before his disciples. You showed your love by the Gospels, coming to bring the dead in sins to life, washing away our dirt and transforming our lives so that we will put only fall into the good soil and live in Grace.
I was playing and hearing this song,
Towel and the Basin [Scribbling in the Sand: The Best of Michael Card (2002)]
I leave you with the lyrics to it:
In an upstairs room, a parable
is just about to come alive.
And while they bicker about who's best,
with a painful glance, He'll silently rise.
Their Savior Servant must show them how
through the will of the water
and the tenderness of the towel.
And the call is to community,
The impoverished power that sets the soul free.
In humility, to take the vow,
that day after day we must take up the basin and the towel.
In any ordinary place,
on any ordinary day,
the parable can live again
when one will kneel and one will yield.
Our Saviour Servant must show us how
through the will of the water
and the tenderness of the towel.
And the space between ourselves sometimes
is more than the distance between the stars.
By the fragile bridge of the Servant's bow
we take up the basin and the towel.
(Thanks to Pastor Andre and the grace for the moment)
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