Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s 1557 painting (above) beautifully depicts the parable of the sower’s differentiation between good soil and bad. Soil that is prepared and tended yields maximum harvests while unprepared and untended soil is bad because it yields little or nothing.
Look closely at the painting. In the foreground we see a man sowing seed near a woodland. The area is dark. Little sunlight reaches the forest floor. There is also the stump of a tree with its roots still in the ground. The sower looks to be scattering seed along a well-trodden pathway that is not ideal for propagation. Birds lurk in the underbrush, ready to foil the farmer’s efforts.
In the mid-ground grain fields are being harvested and workers seem to be having a good yield for their efforts. They have diligently cleared the fields of trees and stumps before planting, ensuring that crops will have sufficient sunshine. They have also leveled the hilly ground so rain doesn't run off. The ground has been plowed so it can absorb rain and receive seed, and it has most likely been enriched in order to nourish tender seedlings. No doubt, workers have continued optimizing good growth by scaring off birds and pulling up weeds. In short, a lot of work has gone into propagating healthy, ripe, grain-bearing stalks.
Do you see what's going on in the background? On the far shore of the river that cuts diagonally through the painting stands a crowd you can barely discern. Are they the people listening to Jesus as He propounds this and other parables? Are they able to look beyond him to see the men toiling in fields on the opposite bank? Bruegel's painting is a delightful image that enhances the message.
Jesus applied this parable to the responses people have to hearing His gospel, the good news of eternal life through faith in Him. It’s not a message universally accepted. Some hearers bear no fruit. Why not? Why do some reject good news? Doesn’t everyone want eternal life?
The reality then and now is that many people hear and reject it. Jesus was diagnosing a common problem.
Sowing the pro-life message
We might also apply this parable to the way the pro-life message is received. Isn’t it good news when new life is coming into the world? Isn’t a baby God’s gift? Sadly, not everyone agrees.
It’s understandable that even those who want children feel unprepared for parenthood. But when a person is overwhelmed by the worries or pleasures of life, or distracted by the Enemy’s lies, pregnancy can be perceived as very bad news.
How can we who believe the pro-life message help such a person? Are we prepared and willing to overcome those worries or counter those lies?
Intrinsic or inherent to the pro-life message are limitations on personal freedoms. We're asking people who may not believe in God to think about Him as the Creator of new life. We’re expecting them to make room in their lives for children they don’t want or can’t afford. We’re asking a lot.
This is why, for many, the recent Dobbs ruling by the Supreme Court landed with a huge thud. The ground was hard-packed and stony. The Enemy is active.
The ruling awakened and inflamed the “pro-choice” movement. Abortion “rights” have risen to be a factor in how many will vote in the upcoming midterm elections. It’s surprising to learn that even women who call themselves pro-life—perhaps many who’ve visited pro-life pregnancy centers and chosen life for their own babies—say they will vote to protect “freedom of choice.”
Pro-lifers rarely, if ever, receive a fair hearing. Those pregnancy centers—the shining stars of the pro-life movement that have helped countless women and families choose life—are coming in for severe criticism and abuse in the post-Roe era.
Better soil would yield a fertile harvest, but how can we nurture and tend to the hearts of our hearers so they may accept the pro-life message? God has much (indeed everything!) to do with a person's acceptance of the Gospel, but I suggest we can enhance the cause of life by:
- Loving our neighbors as ourselves (Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:8-10; 1 Corinthians 13:4-7)
- Loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44)
- Walking in the Spirit... remembering that "against such there is no law" (Galatians 5:16-24)
- Doing good to all people (Gal. 6:10)
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