- Oct 2, 2015
It is that time in the year when Jews celebrate the festival of ‘ingathering.’ This is a harvest celebration dating back thousands of years. At the same time, traditionally, the Christian church holds its own harvest thanksgiving services; a useful reminder that our food does not primarily come from supermarkets but rather the land and, ultimately, the gracious hand of God.
In his teaching, Jesus frequently made use of parables involving harvest, farming (both animal and arable), good and bad seeds, good and bad soil, wheat and weeds etc. The most familiar of these is probably the ‘parable of the sower’. Here, good seed is scattered on the ground where the majority apparently lands on unsuitable soil. Of course, the parable was not concerned with teaching about the difficulties of farming. It was about the word of God (likened to seed) taking root in the soil of men’s and women’s hearts. Some seed fell on the packed earth of the path and so failed completely to germinate. This equates to the heart that is indifferent to God. Some of the seed entered into shallow soil but, when the tender young shoots were subjected to the heat of the sun, they withered and died. This equates to the heart that lacks depth. Further seeds had a good start but hostile vegetation (in the form of weeds, thorns and thistles) strangle the life out of it. This equates to the heart that is weighed down by cares, temptations and distractions to the detriment of things that really matter.
We know that one needs to sow bountifully in order to reap a harvest. When God sows the seed of his word, although some soil is invariably poor, the scattered seed will produce a harvest because some will certainly fall on good soil. The resulting yield from this soil is pleasing to him.
What, in the context of this parable, should we understand by good soil? A farmer will plough up a field and dig in fertiliser, so preparing the ground. Then, when the seed goes in and the earth is watered, the farmer can expect strong, healthy plants to grow.
Christians will often tell of how they heard the message about Jesus and his call upon their lives, the time when God’s Word germinated in their hearts. With hindsight they may well be able to see how prior to that event, through circumstances both good and bad, God’s own ploughing and fertilising had been preparing the ground.
I don’t know what your circumstances are at this harvest time, but it may just be that God is behind the scenes doing some ploughing and manure spreading, so that you may be fruitful and included in his forthcoming harvest. The ultimate harvest of which Jesus so often spoke.
- Sep 4, 2015
Some Christians living in Kent are travelling over to Calais in order to minister to the immediate needs of migrants in the camps there. This is being labelled as controversial in some media reports. Should British people be bothered about the welfare of those in the Channel camps?
As a Christian myself I can understand why these followers of Jesus Christ should feel such service is the right thing to do. God is not silent on such matters. In the Old Testament, God’s people Israel were under his instructions not to close their hearts to the genuine needs of the foreigner and alien who might come their way. After all, Israel’s people also, at one time, were aliens and slaves in another land (Egypt) and God had been merciful to them.
In the New Testament, Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan. This parable in itself would have been controversial, exalting as it does a despised foreigner (the Jews considered Samaritans as amongst the lowest of the low). In this parable, you will recall, the Samaritan traveller finds a man on the path who has been beaten and robbed. The traveller undertakes to meet the hapless man’s immediate need before transporting him to a home of safety, covering expenses from his own purse.
None of the above addresses the bigger issue of large numbers of people from the Middle East and Africa trying to force their way into Europe in the quest for a better life. It is obvious that mass migration is not sustainable. As I write, news is just breaking concerning 71 refugees suffocating in a lorry in Austria. May God have mercy upon us all, that a way through this dilemma may be found.
In the meantime, I ask you to consider just what the Christian gospel teaches about mankind in general. In the same way that the children of Israel were an alien people in Egypt, powerless and enslaved, well God says that this is a picture of how we all are from his perspective. By nature we are alienated from him and away from home. We are powerless to do anything about this because we are like slaves shackled to a treadmill of ignorance. The great news is that Jesus, a sort of Good Samaritan par excellence, empties his purse so to speak, in order to Minister mercy to men and women who know themselves to be broken and, metaphorically speaking, beaten and robbed. Will you welcome his ministration’s as I am sure many of those migrants around Calais welcome those of the Christians from Kent (as well as other agencies)?
- Aug 7, 2015
There will be a number of people reading this article who, at this point in time, are feeling weak and vulnerable and could do with a word of encouragement. There is a brief portion in the New Testament which reads, ‘ When I am weak then I am strong.’ What is the writer (the apostle Paul) going on about? We understand what is meant when a person is said to be weak-willed or of weak character, but that is not the sort of weakness that the writer has in mind.
The Anglican theologian, Jim Packer, is surely right to direct us to the sort of weakness which is common to all of us, though we often choose to turn a blind eye to it for as long as we can. Packer sees weakness, as the ‘inability finally to control our life situation relationally, circumstantially, financially, health wise and so on, despite all that our therapeutic present-day culture can do for us.’ Such weakness ‘will be with us as long as life in this world lasts’.
Our world does not look favourably upon weakness. So acknowledging one’s own weakness does not come easily, because our pride doesn’t want others to see us as such.
Jesus taught that God has little time for the proud, but the humble he welcomes. It is here that we can begin to see how weakness may be a way to strength. Who is the stronger, a strong man without God in his life or a weak man with God alongside him?
If you are aware of your weakness and vulnerability, then you can allow these to be tools in the hands of Almighty God; tools that can draw you to him, yes perhaps even force you to him. Our culture may say that it is typical of weak people to turn to God when they become aware of their lack of self-sufficiency. God, however, says turning to him is the wisest thing to do at any time but he knows we are more likely to call upon him out of our weakness than out of our strength.
Jesus issues an invitation to all people: ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.’
What the apostle Paul had discovered was that when our weakness causes us to get harnessed to the mighty Jesus, then our state is elevated to one of strength.