© 1992 Dave Cook
© 1992 ANZURA, Australia & New Zealand Urantia Association
By Dave Cook, Jan Juc, Victoria
Imagine you are one of the people on the shore listening to Jesus of whom you have heard favourable reports. He is sitting in the boat speaking words of life. You are seeking truth. You are not there out of idle curiosity with nothing better to do, nor are you there to contend with him as some obviously are.
You hear the first words of a parable he has begun to speak in answer to someone’s dejected plea about the woes of life.
“Imagine a sower going out to sow.” You have yourself done much sowing, being as you are, a farmer. You listen on. You see the footpath and the pigeons feeding on the grain that has spilt there. You warm to the story thus far told, for it is a familiar picture, part of everyday life with its ups and downs, its hardship and its humour, good times and bad. You do not begrudge the birds getting their fill on grain that would otherwise be trodden under foot to rot. You listen on.
“…patches of rock…" Ah, yes, those rocks in your field. But you cannot spend all your time clearing away rocks — there are so many of them! So you sow and compromise the ideal of a rock-free paddock with the practicality of survival. You see that the man in the boat is sympathetic because of the warmth with which he portrays you to yourself. You listen on.
“…thorns…”
“Yes, yes”, you nod to yourself, “just like the rocks. Alas, a perfect paddock is a fools’s dream.”
“…rich soil and produced their crop, some thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, and some a hundredfold.”
“Yes”, you say somewhat dejectedly, but then correcting yourself, “yes, though much seed did not grow due to the imperfections of things, yet was my toil fruitful in the end.”
Then this man in the boat, this man whom some have hailed as the Messiah, simply concludes his little story with: “Listen anyone who has ears.”
“Yes, I hear you”, thinks the farmer, “though things are imperfect, yet does my toil produce enough food to get my family through the year. My labour is fruitful.”
And with this comforting reassurance the farmer returns to his home carrying a new lease on life in his heart and joyfully greets his wife and children after having incurred their wrath for going off to seek out ‘that bloody Messiah character’. But now they see the farmer’s joy and they all rejoice as he relates the words and warmth of Jesus to them.
References: URANTIA Book UB 151:1.1-5,
Matthew 13:1-17, 18 — 23, Gal. 6:7 — 10