Pastors Should Be Gardeners - Not Armchair City-Slickers

The Parables of Jesus emphasize Creation, especially those experiences in the everyday lives of people.

How can anyone understand John 15:1-10 without growing grapes, cultivating roses, or harvesting fruit?


I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and his withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. 9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. 10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

The often overlooked parable of leaven in Matthew 13 is good for bakers, if they have used yeast or sourdough. The rest of the parables are mostly outdoor examples.

Matthew 13:33 Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.

What is the early and late rain? The early rain established the crop just sown or planted. My first lesson was watering the seeds enough to get them fully established. The late rain is the moisture needed to bring the crop to fruition.

James 5:7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

Mark's unique example is the seed growing secretly. We go to bed after doing the work and the plants come up. There is no greater comfort about broadcasting the Word.

Mark 4:26 And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, 27 and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. 28 For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. 29 But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

What should we think and believe about supposed failures in the ministry. Mark 4 (Matthew 13) provides the parable and the explanation. If WELS-ELS-LCMS leaders read the parable and believed it, they would make study at Fuller-Trinity-Willowcreek a capital offense. Instead, justification by faith is cause for excommunication.

The Parable of the Sower
Mk. 4.1-9 · Lk. 8.4-8
1	The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side.
2	And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; Lk. 5.1-3 and the whole multitude stood on the shore.
3	And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;
4	and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them up:
5	some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:
6	and when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
7	And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:
8	but other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.
9	Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
The Purpose of the Parables
Mk. 4.10-12 · Lk. 8.9, 10
10	¶ And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
11	He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
12	For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Mt. 25.29 · Mk. 4.25 · Lk. 8.18 ; 19.26
13	Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
14	And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith,          By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
15	for this people's heart is waxed gross,          and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. Is. 6.9, 10
16	But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
17	For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. Lk. 10.23, 24
Jesus Explains the Parable of the Sower
Mk. 4.13-20 · Lk. 8.11-15
18	¶ Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
19	When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the wayside.
20	But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
21	yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
22	He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
23	But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandethit; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
The 500 Biblical references to sheep and shepherding are lost on city-slickers who have never experienced the group stupidity of sheep and their individual stubbornness. Dropping Latin from the curriculum was bad enough; lack of farm experience is the real crime. How else can one explain the ovine and bovine behavior of all  people, including ourselves? Isaiah 53 1  Who hath believed our report? Rom. 10.16 and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? Joh. 12.38  2  For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4  ¶ Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: Mt. 8.17 yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 1 Pet. 2.24  6  All we like sheep have gone astray; 1 Pet. 2.25 we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7  ¶ He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, Rev. 5.6 and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. 8  He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: Acts 8.32, 33 for the transgression of my people was he stricken. 9  And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. 1 Pet. 2.22  10  ¶ Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 11  He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. 12  Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors: Mk. 15.28 · Lk. 22.37 and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. PS - The Bartleby website is great for providing a good format plus Biblical references.  If you must copy and paste, copy and paste from a good source.