Well, that was a weird interpretation of the parable of the sower....

[hopeforhappiness]

This morning it was explained to us (not offered even as one interpretation) that Jesus was the seed in this parable.
So there are 4 fates of Jesus in the world and in the church - He can grow or be stifled or be overwhelmed or stay inactive, depending on the circumstances of His embedding in the world. And in each case, there are only degrees of failure or success. So a church may fail and be shut and the witness of Christ be removed from a location, but this is all in its own season. Christ will arise and blossom elsewhere.
Although not made clear, I suppose the soil or rocks etc is the world or us and I presume the sower is God. No mention of the gospel or the Message.
I noted that the preacher had his cassock and surplice and used the raised pulpit, which is rather unusual on our circuit. I thought at the time that maybe if you are part of the hierarchy, going to conference, have status etc etc, then it must be encumbent on you to have novel conceits and be 'original'. Can't have the predictable, especially when a movement seems to be dying.

 

[PloverWing]

Thanks for posting this. I'm not Methodist, so it's not up to me to say whether this interpretation is consistent with the Methodist tradition. But it's a really interesting idea, thinking of the seed as the person of Jesus who is actively working in the world. You've given me a lot to think about!

 

[Sorn]

Thanks for posting this. I'm not Methodist, so it's not up to me to say whether this interpretation is consistent with the Methodist tradition. But it's a really interesting idea, thinking of the seed as the person of Jesus who is actively working in the world. You've given me a lot to think about!

Is there much difference as to whether the seed is Jesus working in the world or if its His word, ie the Gospel working in this world?

 

[PloverWing]

Is there much difference as to whether the seed is Jesus working in the world or if its His word, ie the Gospel working in this world?

Maybe not. Either way, it's that active "working" that caught my attention. I think when I've heard sermons on this passage before, the emphasis was on the soil doing/being the right thing: "Make sure you're fertile ground, and not thorny or rocky ground." I've even heard preachers say that it's really a Parable of the Soils. With this emphasis, the seed is almost passive, and the dirt is doing all the work.

So, shifting the perspective to make the parable about God doing God's work in the world, and even though there are various obstacles, God is doing wonderful things -- for me, that was a different way to look at the story. And a seed is, after all, a living thing. The plants grow from the seeds, not the dirt.

 

[hopeforhappiness]

Thanks for posting this. I'm not Methodist, so it's not up to me to say whether this interpretation is consistent with the Methodist tradition. But it's a really interesting idea, thinking of the seed as the person of Jesus who is actively working in the world. You've given me a lot to think about!

Hi there, you have brought up the issue of hermeneutic. Can we just feed back into the text a novel idea, when centuries of interpretors have never found such a thing? Or, as I suspect, this particular guy feels he has to be original. It all seemed a bit 'look at me' stuff especially as no-one has ever worn his or her full regalia and few have used the pulpit.

 

[PloverWing]

I admit that I haven't studied the ways the parable has been understood throughout the centuries, so I can't speak to that. But you might be right in guessing that the visiting preacher felt a need to be original, and sometimes being original leads us into weird places.