Luke 8. How in the world are we going to talk about just one thing from all of Luke 8?! There is so much here. The parable of the Sower, the lamp under a basket, Jesus redefines family, and wow – all the miracles! Jesus demonstrates his power and identity by calming the storm (8:22-25), by healing the man oppressed by a legion of evil spirits (8:26-39), and by healing two women (8:40-56) – power over creation and the environment, power over the spiritual world, and power to restore from physical illness and death (and restored identity too)! We could take a whole week just exploring Luke 8. 

As the narrative of Jesus in the gospels alternates between his teachings and his activities, let’s start with the parable of the Sower. It is the first parable Jesus shares, and as such it lays a foundation for many teachings that follow. Jesus was a storyteller. In fact, he was an extraordinary storyteller – throwing together a couple of characters in a little short story and drawing the audience into imagining the situation. Parables are an analogy, a way of explaining an alternate way of thinking about reality. As such, each parable has one main central point – and we would do well to not pick it apart too far and turn every little detail into something it was not meant to be. Parables often have a twist to the story, the thing that makes the audience say, “What? That’s not how I thought it was going to be.” Parables are also set in a certain place and time (first century Jewish world) and so we must be careful to not set them in Nebraska or Alabama instead. One way to capture the essence of a parable is to summarize the main point in a single sentence.

The main point of the parable of the Sower is that, as Jesus and the disciples go out sharing the good news of the kingdom (the seed), people will receive it differently (the soils). Not everyone will receive it well and produce more kingdom goodness – in fact, most people will not. I am sure the disciples thought that everyone would love to hear the good news and that the gospel would go on producing goodness in all the places it was spread – flowers everywhere the seed is tossed! Everything is sunshine and roses! (Why not, this is what I expect out of my life too, ha ha!) The twist is that the gospel is very productive in some places, and not well received in others.

The text that stands out to me explains why the gospel is not fruitful in some places, “… these have no root, they believe for a while and in a time of testing fall away… they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.” (8:13-14) These are the two main types of heart soil where the gospel is not productive. This begs the question:

What risks choking out the growth of my faith, of your faith?!

Am I too lazy, not willing to put forth the effort required to go deeper and grow some roots? If I am not well-rooted, then my faith will wither in times of stress and testing. I don’t want that, so I’m going to have to put down some roots and not be a sloth about spiritual growth. Do I have too many cares about the things of this world? (I certainly have too many cares, anxiety is always lurking out there!) Am I driven by busyness and distracted by things that will not matter in the end? Am I deceived by the riches of this world, by the pursuit of wealth or power or significance? Am I just chasing pleasure and the easy, enjoyable life?

Take a minute today and think on these things. What is keeping your heart from being that good soil where the good news of the kingdom can flourish and bear fruit? How are your roots? And what weeds risk choking out your growth? I know that you – like me – hope and pray the gospel bears fruit in your life. Let’s open our hearts to God’s work.

What stood out to you from Luke 8?