Stephen W. Hiemstra's Blog, page 28

December 9, 2024

Talents: Monday Monologues (podcast), December 9, 2024

Stephen_HIemstra_20210809


 By Stephen W. Hiemstra





This morning I will share a prayer and reflect on the Parable of the Talents. After listening, please click here to take a brief listener survey (10 questions).







To listen, click on this link.









Hear the words; Walk the steps; Experience the joy!


Talents: Monday Monologues (podcast), December 9, 2024
Also see:
The Face of God in the Parables
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
Other ways to engage online:



Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com





Newsletter at: https://bit.ly/Thanks_24,   Signup

 

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Published on December 09, 2024 02:30

December 8, 2024

Prayer for Prudence

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By Stephen W. Hiemstra


Wise and loving father,


All praise and honor, power and dominion, truth and justice are yours, because you teach us patience when the world models imprudent impatience that leads to poverty, loneliness, and strife.


We confess that we want the world to gift us with riches, honors, and opportunities without effort, delay, or investment. We do not want delay or advice that would bring the things that we desire.


Thanks be to you for you are patient with us and sit with us while we wait.


In the power of your Holy Spirit, guard our hearts so that “neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 8:38-39)


In Jesus’ precious name, Amen.


Prayer for Prudence
Also see:
The Face of God in the Parables
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
Other ways to engage online:



Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com




Newsletter at: https://bit.ly/Thanks_24,   Signup
 

 

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Published on December 08, 2024 02:30

Oración de Prudencia

Imagen_de_Dios_en_las_Parábolas_portada


Por Stephen W.  Hiemstra


Padre Sabio y Amoroso,


Toda alabanza y honor, poder y dominio, verdad y justicia son tuyos, porque nos enseñas paciencia cuando el mundo modela una impaciencia imprudente que conduce a la pobreza, la soledad y la lucha.


Confesamos que queremos que el mundo nos regale riquezas, honores y oportunidades sin esfuerzo, demora o inversión. No queremos demoras ni consejos que nos traigan las cosas que deseamos.


Gracias a usted por ser paciente con nosotros y sentarse con nosotros como un padre amoroso mientras esperamos.


En el poder de tu Espíritu Santo, guarda nuestros corazones para que “Porque estoy convencido de que ni la muerte, ni la vida, ni ángeles, ni principados, ni lo presente, ni lo por venir, ni los poderes, ni lo alto, ni lo profundo, ni ninguna otra cosa creada nos podrá separar del amor de Dios que es en Cristo Jesús Señor nuestro.¨ (Rom 8:38–39)


En el precioso nombre de Jesús, Amén.


Oración de Prudencia
Also see:
El Rostro de Dios en las Parábolas
Prefacio de La Guía Cristiana a la Espiritualidad 
Prefacio de la Vida en Tensión
The Who Question
Other ways to engage online:



Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com




Newsletter at: https://bit.ly/Thanks_24,   Signup

 

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Published on December 08, 2024 02:15

December 6, 2024

The Talents

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Teach us to number our days 


that we may get a heart of wisdom.


(Ps 90:12)


By Stephen W. Hiemstra


Jesus teaches us to watch for his return, a mark of patience. Mark 13:33 reads: “Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time will come.” Likewise, Luke 12:35 echoes the Parable of the Ten Virgins: “Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps lit.” Directly after the Parable of the Ten Virgins in Matthew 25, we read the Parable of the Talents that not only advises watchfulness, but guides us on how to center our lives on God as we wait.


Risk-taking for Christ

The Parable of the Talents starts with advice about being watchful, but then goes on:


For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. (Matt 25:14–15)


We are then told how the first two servants invested the master’s money and doubled his principal, while the third servant buried the master’s money in the ground.


When the master returns, he settles accounts with each of the servants. The first two servants present the master with his principal and the earnings from their investments. In both cases, the master responds with the same statement: “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.” (Matt 25:21–23)


In contrast to the first two servants’ risk-taking, the third servant acts out of fear:


Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours. (Matt 25:24–25)


The master calls this servant “wicked and slothful” and parrots the servant’s suggestion that he is a hard man, suggesting agreement, but he goes on: “Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.” (Matt 25:27)


In so many words, the master suggests that the third servant is both cowardly and imprudent, because depositing the money with a banker requires accepting little risk of financial loss. The master takes the money given to the third servant and gives it to the first. Then, the third servant is described as worthless and condemned to perdition, a penalty too harsh for most postmodern people even to hear.


Lessons on Waiting

So what do we learn from this parable? The first thing to note is the context. Immediately after the Parable of the Talents is another parable of judgment, where the goats and the sheep are separated. Then, in chapter 26 of Matthew, we read:


When Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified. (Matt 26:1–2)


The implication is that the three parables in chapter 25 are given to prepare the disciples for Jesus’ death, resurrection, and second coming. All three suggest that the disciples should be watchful of Christ’s return, but only the Parable of the Talents suggests how to spend the time while Jesus is absent.


Knowing that Christ will return, the parable suggests that we should be cheerful, not fearful, in our work, taking risks to advance the Kingdom of God. It is like the roulette player who knows what the next number will be: The bet measures confidence in the knowledge, determines the level of winnings, and suggests an appropriate attitude. Christ’s good and faithful servants are described as cheerful risk-takers rather than fearful hoarders, who confidently invest the king’s resources to earn the highest returns.


God of Abundance

Schlossberg (1990, 316) writes: “A steward is the caretaker of property that belongs to another. A good steward husbands the property and causes it to produce its proper income.” In the Parable of the Talents (Matt 25:14–29), Jesus pictures the good steward as not only earning income (depositing with a banker), but also taking risks to invest the property and earn above-average returns (doubling property value). By contrast, the bad steward allows the property to depreciate (hoarding property).


This last point is critical. We serve a God of abundance. In John’s Gospel (2, 6, 21), we see a God who multiples wine, bread, and fish far beyond expectations. When we model our lives on this God, we expect to be generous and take risks for the kingdom because that is the image of God that we are given and we want to be like God.


References

Schlossberg,Herbert. 1990. Idols for Destruction: The Conflict of Christian Faith and American Culture. Wheaton: Crossway Books.


The Talents
Also see:
The Face of God in the Parables
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
Other ways to engage online:



Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com




Newsletter at: https://bit.ly/Thanks_24,   Signup
 

 

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Published on December 06, 2024 02:30

Los Talentos

Imagen_de_Dios_en_las_Parábolas_portada


Enséñanos a contar de tal modo nuestros días, 


Que traigamos al corazón sabiduría. 


(Sal 90:12)


Jesús nos enseña a esperar su regreso, una señal de paciencia. Marco 13:33 lee: “Estén alerta, velen; porque no saben cuándo es el tiempo señalado.” Asimismo, Lucas 12:35 se hace eco de la Parábola de las Diez Vírgenes: ¨Estén siempre preparados y mantengan las lámparas encendidas.¨ Inmediatamente después de la Parábola de las Diez Vírgenes en Mateo 25, leemos la Parábola de los Talentos que no sólo aconseja estar atentos, sino que nos guía sobre cómo centrar nuestras vidas en Dios mientras esperamos.


Tomar Riesgos por Cristo

La Parábola de los Talentos comienza con un consejo sobre estar alerta, pero luego continúa:


¨Porque el reino de los cielos es como un hombre que al emprender un viaje, llamó a sus siervos y les encomendó sus bienes. Y a uno le dio cinco talentos (108 kilos de plata), a otro dos y a otro uno, a cada uno conforme a su capacidad; y se fue de viaje.¨ (Maeo 25:14–15)


Luego se nos cuenta cómo los dos primeros siervos invirtieron el dinero del amo y duplicaron su capital, mientras que el tercer siervo enterró el dinero del amo en la tierra.


Cuando el amo regresa, ajusta cuentas con cada uno de los sirvientes. Los dos primeros siervos presentan al amo su principal y las ganancias de sus inversiones. En ambos casos, el amo responde con la misma afirmación: ¨Bien, siervo bueno y fiel; en lo poco fuiste fiel, sobre mucho te pondré; entra en el gozo de tu señor.” (Mateo 25:21)


En contraste con la toma de riesgos de los dos primeros siervos, el tercer siervo actúa por miedo:


¨Señor, yo sabía que usted es un hombre duro, que siega donde no sembró y recoge donde no ha esparcido, y tuve miedo, y fui y escondí su talento en la tierra; mire, aquí tiene lo que es suyo.¨ (Mateo 25:24–25)


El amo llama a este sirviente “malo y perezoso” y repite como un loro la sugerencia del sirviente de que es un hombre duro, sugiriendo estar de acuerdo, pero continúa: ¨Debías entonces haber puesto mi dinero en el banco, y al llegar yo hubiera recibido mi dinero con intereses.¨ (Mateo 25:27)


En pocas palabras, el amo sugiere que el tercer siervo es a la vez cobarde e imprudente, porque depositar el dinero en un banquero requiere aceptar poco riesgo de pérdida financiera. El amo toma el dinero dado al tercer siervo y se lo da al primero. 


Luego, el tercer sirviente es descrito como inútil y condenado a perdición, un castigo demasiado severo para que la mayoría de la gente posmoderna siquiera lo escuche.


Lecciones sobre Espera

¿Qué aprendemos de esta parábola? Lo primero que hay que tener en cuenta es el contexto. Inmediatamente después de la parábola de los talentos hay otra parábola del juicio, donde se separan las cabras y las ovejas. Luego, en el capítulo 26 de Mateo, leemos:


¨Cuando Jesús terminó todas estas palabras, dijo a Sus discípulos: Ustedes saben que dentro de dos días se celebra la Pascua, y el Hijo del Hombre será entregado para ser crucificado.¨ (Mateo 26:1–2)


La implicación es que las tres parábolas del capítulo 25 se dan para preparar a los discípulos para la muerte, resurrección y segunda venida de Jesús. Los tres sugieren que los discípulos deberían estar atentos al regreso de Cristo, pero sólo la parábola de los talentos sugiere cómo pasar el tiempo mientras Jesús está ausente.


Sabiendo que Cristo regresará, la parábola sugiere que debemos ser alegres, no temerosos, en nuestro trabajo, asumiendo riesgos para hacer avanzar el reino de Dios. 


Es como el jugador de ruleta que sabe cuál será el siguiente número. La apuesta mide la confianza en el conocimiento, determina el nivel de ganancias, y sugiere una actitud adecuada. Los siervos buenos y fieles de Cristo son descritos como alegres tomadores de riesgos en lugar de temerosos acaparadores, que invierten con confianza los recursos del rey para obtener los mayores beneficios.


Dios de la Abundancia

Schlossberg (1990, 316) escribe: “Un mayordomo es el guardián de la propiedad que pertenece a otro. Un buen mayordomo cuida la propiedad y hace que produzca los ingresos adecuados.” En la Parábola de los Talentos (Mateo 25:14–29), Jesús describe al buen mayordomo no sólo ganando ingresos (depositando en un banquero), sino también asumiendo riesgos para invertir la propiedad y obtener rendimientos superiores al promedio (duplicar el valor de la propiedad). Por el contrario, el mal administrador permite que la propiedad se deprecie, lo cual es la consecuencia inmediata del acaparamiento durante la inflación.


Este último punto es crítico. Servimos a un Dios de abundancia. En el Evangelio de Juan (2, 6, 21), vemos a un Dios que multiplica el vino, el pan y el pescado mucho más allá de lo esperado. Cuando modelamos nuestras vidas según este Dios, esperamos ser generosos y tomar riesgos por el reino porque esa es la imagen de Dios que se nos ha dado y queremos ser como Dios.


Los Talentos
Also see:
Prefacio de La Guía Cristiana a la Espiritualidad 
Prefacio de la Vida en Tensión
The Who Question
Other ways to engage online:



Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com




Newsletter at: https://bit.ly/Thanks_24,   Signup

 


 

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Published on December 06, 2024 02:15

December 3, 2024

Haidt Analyzes Pervasive Mental Illness

Haidt_review_20241006

Jonathan Haidt. 2024. The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. New York: Penguin Press.


Review by Stephen W. Hiemstra


May you live in interesting times is a Chinese curse that fits the postmodern era. We all recognize the pain of the chaos over the past decade, but few commentators have adequately formulated a reasonable hypothesis pointing to solutions. Data and analysis normally follow such a hypothesis and hopefully lead to prescriptions to deal with the problem.


Jonathan Haidt’s book, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, offers a promising line of


Inquiry and a voluminous review of literature in keeping with this promise.



Introduction

Haidt links the rise in mental illness to Gen Z’s uniqueness in two respects: The rise in helicopter parenting and introduction of the smart phone. He defines Gen Z as the generation born after 1995, the last year of millennial births (1981-1995; 5) and the first generation to come to age after the introduction of smartphones in 2010 (6). Haidt’s thesis then is:


“My central claim in this book is that these two trends—overprotection in the real world and underprotection in the virtual world—are the major reasons why children born after 1995 became the anxious generation.” (9)


Haidt supports this thesis with a detailed review of empirical studies. One might characterize this book as child psychology meets Huxley’s Brave New World.



Background and Organization

Jonathan Haidt received his bachelor’s degree from Yale University. His master’s and doctoral work are from the University of Pennsylvania. He did postdoctoral work in cultural psychology at the University of Chicago. He has written a number of books. He is currently on the faculty at New York University in the Stern School of Business.


Haidt writes in twelve chapters divided into four parts:


PART 1: A TIDAL WAVE




The surge of suffering

PART 2: THE BACKSTORY: The Decline of the Play-Based Childhood




What children need to do in childhood
Discover mode and the need for risky play
Puberty and the block transition to adulthood

PART 3: THE GREAT REWIRING: The Rise of the Phone-Based Childhood




The four foundational harms: Social deprivation, sleep deprivation, attention fragmentation, and addiction
Why social media harms girls more than boys
What is happening to boys?
Spiritual elevation and degradation

  PART 4: COLLECTIVE ACTION FOR HEALTHIER CHILDHOOD




Preparing for collective action
What governments and tech companies can do now
What schools can do now
What parents can do now (vii-viii)

These chapters are preceded by an introduction (growing up on Mars) and followed by acknowledgments, notes, references, and an index.



Discovery Versus Defend Mode

The goal of childhood normally is to develop into a self-reliant, functional adult. Human children, unlike most animals, remain children until they reach an age of nearly twenty years. We observe this development in a physical sense because most animals reach physical maturity within a year while human children grow in stature throughout their teenage years. Parallel to this physical growth is the need to mature emotionally and psychologically, which is harder to observe from a distance.


Haidt offers insight into this maturity problem employing mammalian attachment theory (91-93). A young mammal needs a secure base in a parent. Once secure, the young mammal vacillates between discovery mode—exploring the world—and defense mode—running back to the parent in response to threats. As the young mammal grows physically and in confidence, they learn to manage risks in the physical world. Their risk management capabilities likewise have analogues in the emotional psychological worlds. Once these lessons are learned, they are able to transfer from a secure base in a parent to a secure base in a mate.


In this model of mammalian attachment, the human child surpasses children of other species because of the lengthier childhood period of learning provided that the child remains in discovery mode and is able to take risks. Problems arise when children are forced by adversity or fearful parenting to remain in defense mode. Sheltering children or distracting them from normal risk taking has the effect of delaying or preventing maturity. Thus, helicopter parenting and smartphones do precisely that. Haidt likens this effect to starving the immune system of stimuli needed to calibrate a normal response to bacteria, disease, and things like peanuts (93).


  The Spiritual Dimension


Haidt (215) quotes Blaise Pascal—“There is a God-shaped hole in every human heart”—and describes convincingly what that hole must look like in spite of professing to be an atheist (201). He writes (202-215) about six spiritual practices:




Shared Sacredness
Embodiment
Stillness, Silence, and Focus
Transcending the Self
Be Slow to Anger, Quick to Forgive
Find Awe in Nature.

Haidt writes: “Virtuous actions bring one upward, closer to God, while base, selfish, or disgusting actions bring one downward, away from God.” (200) He argues that “The phone-based life produces spiritual degradation” leading to user descending from discovery mode into defense mode (199).


“Two big things that schools could do” are: “Phone-free schools and more free play.” (247) Four things that governments could do are:




Assert a duty of care on tech companies.
Raise the age of internet adulthood to 16.
Facilitate age verification.
Encourage phone-free schools. (232-239)

Haidt also offers detailed advice to parents with specific age benchmarks.



The Search for Security

Haidt talks about the helicopter parenting problem arising out of fear and the onset of cultural safetyism. Haidt writes: “Safetyism refers to a culture or belief systemin which safety has become a sacred value, which means that people become unwilling to make tradeoffs demanded by other practical and moral concerns.” (89) Where there were no parents at the bus stop when I was in grade school, today there are more parents than kids.


The political implications of Haidt’s analysis are far-reaching and profound. Consider this cite from Brave New World:


“For the immediate future is likely to resemble the immediate past, and in the immediate past rapid technological changes, taking place in a mass-producing economy and among a population predominately propertyless, have always tended to produce economic and social confusion. To deal with confusion, power has been centralized and government control increased.” (xi)


Huxley revised his book in 1946 in future view of the Second World War. Yet, this confusion exists today and the tendency to seek security in authoritarianism—on both sides of the aisle—is no less real.



Assessment

Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness is a book that is deservedly making the rounds. It is having an impact only paralleled by Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care book from 1946. While most of the studies cited in this book are familiar only to child psychologists, most adults working with kids should be aware of the premises of this book.



References

Huxley, Aldous. 1969. Brave New World (orig pub 1932). New York: Harper and Row.


Spock, Benjamin and Robert Needlman. 2018. Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care. Tenth edition. New York: Simon and Schuster.



Footnotes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonatha....



Haidt Analyzes Pervasive Mental Illness
Also see:
Preface to a Life in Tension
Other ways to engage online:

Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com

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Published on December 03, 2024 02:30

December 2, 2024

Sower: Monday Monologues (Podcast), December 2, 2024


This morning I will share a prayer and reflect on the Parable of the Sower. After listening, please click here to take a brief listener survey (10 questions).







To listen, click on this link.









Hear the words; Walk the steps; Experience the joy!


Sower: Monday Monologues (Podcast), December 2, 2024
Also see:
The Face of God in the Parables
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
Other ways to engage online:



Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com




Newsletter at: https://bit.ly/Thanks_24,   Signup
 

 

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Published on December 02, 2024 02:30

December 1, 2024

Prayer for Good Soil

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By Stephen W. Hiemstra


Most patient father,


All praise and honor, power and dominion, truth and justice are yours because you are the gracious father who gives us time to grow and models the image that we are to grow into.


Forgive our impatience. Overlook our youth. Heal our sinful hearts for we are unable to pattern our lives after Christ without your assistance.


Thank you for times and seasons of life when we can take tiny steps in your direction and help others to follow.


In the power of your Holy Spirit, shelter your church and our lives from the winds of mindless change that wash away the legacy of the faithful that proceeded us. Grant us the strength rather to build your legacy with the time that you have given us, and bless us with a revival of faith in this generation.


In Jesus’ precious name, Amen.


Prayer for Good Soil
Also see:
The Face of God in the Parables
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
Other ways to engage online:



Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com




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Published on December 01, 2024 02:30

Oración para Buen Suelo

Imagen_de_Dios_en_las_Parábolas_portada


Por Stephen W. Hiemstra


Padre muy paciente,


Toda alabanza y honor, poder y dominio, verdad y justicia son tuyos, porque tu eres el gracioso padres quien nos da tiempo para crecer y modela la imagen en la que debemos crecer.


Perdona nuestra impaciencia. Pasar por alto a nuestra juventud. Sana nuestros corazones pecaminosos porque no podemos modelar nuestras vidas según Cristo sin tu ayuda.


Gracias por los momentos y etapas de la vida en los que podemos dar pequeños pasos en tu dirección y ayudar a otros a seguirte.


En el poder de tu Espíritu Santo, protege a tu iglesia y nuestras vidas de los vientos de cambio sin sentido que arrastran el legado de los fieles que nos precedieron. Concédenos más bien la fuerza para construir tu legado con el tiempo que nos has dado, y bendícenos con un renacimiento de la fe en esta generación.


En el precioso nombre de Jesús, Amén.


Oración para Buen Suelo
Also see:
El Rostro de Dios en las Parábolas
Prefacio de La Guía Cristiana a la Espiritualidad 
Prefacio de la Vida en Tensión
The Who Question
Other ways to engage online:



Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com




Newsletter at: https://bit.ly/Thanks_24,   Signup

 

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Published on December 01, 2024 02:15

November 29, 2024

The Sower

Image_of_God_in_the_Parables


As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, 


hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience. 


(Luke 8:15)


By Stephen W. Hiemstra


Patience is the heart of faith and its engenderment.


In the Parable of the Sower, found in Matthew (13:3-23), Mark (4:3-20), and Luke (8:5-15), Jesus likens himself to a farmer sowing seed:


“A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.” (Matt 13:3-9)


The life of the farmer starts and ends with a patient heart. In the rocky soil of Palestine, it is not always obvious where one will dig up a rock, which makes planting a crap-shoot. Neither is the weather reliable and predictable. Modern Israel has lush crops, but only where irrigation is available. Time and patience are requisite for a farmer to gain a harvest.


In further discussion, Jesus explains that the soil in this parable is the word of God (e.g. Luke 8:11), which makes this parable an allegory. Substituting the revealed context of the parable, the preaching of the word of God, the meaning of the parable is clarified.


The Character of Patience

You may be wondering why I chose to talk about patience in the Parable of the Sower. The parable is not about patience; the parable is about the character of good and bad soil (Matt 13:19-23). The reason is this—there is no such thing as a impatient farmer. One cannot be a farmer without patience. Farming requires patience. The parable assumes that the farmer is patient, which allows a story to then be told about soils. Not coincidentally, time and patience are also required to be a good parent, one of the chief characteristics of God that Jesus leaves us with.


The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares

The Matthew account of the Parable of the Sower is followed immediately by a second farming story, the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares—a tare (KJV) is weed with poisonous seeds (darnel) that resembles wheat (ζιζάνιον BDAG 3384). Roman law specifically forbad the sowing of darnel in the wheat fields of an enemy, suggesting that this parable has a basis in ancient practice (Keener 2009, 386–387) Matthew writes:


“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds? He said to them, An enemy has done this. So the servants said to him, Then do you want us to go and gather them? But he said, No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.” (Matt 13:24-30)


In the parable, the master of the house specifically directs his servants not to pull the weeds, lest the wheat get pulled up as well. This direction requires that the servants be patient to allow the wheat to grow.


The fruit of patience in this parable is faith. The eschatological judgment of God is deferred, we surmise, so that the faithful can be revealed and the unfaithful winnowed out. Patience has its limits in the parable as the winnowing is done at the time of harvest.


The Sower
Also see:
The Face of God in the Parables
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
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Published on November 29, 2024 02:30