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There is abundant evidence that human beings were working stone over two and a half million years ago. Early humans were making Acheulean axes and other large cutting tools over one and a half million years ago.

Two hundred thousand years ago middle stone age tool kits included scrapers, stone awls, the points of spears. And yet, two thousand years ago and even today, anyone working the land would regard a field of stone as a royal pain in the . . . 

In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus described such places as having “little soil.” It would quickly dry out which meant that seedlings would usually be unable to obtain the necessary moisture and avoid withering in the hot sun. They would be unable to put down roots so even if they emerged in spite of such conditions, they couldn’t be relied upon to weather even a short period of drought.

Veteran cosmic rockers can recall the lyrics to a song by the Rolling Stones that includes the chant: “I ain’t got no love, I ain’t the kind to meet. ‘Cause she’ll never break this heart of stone.” The people listening to Jesus were equally well versed in Ezekiel and the chapter where God said: “I will give you a new heart and take away your heart of stone.”

Our own endurance is dependent upon the ability to put down roots. When our relationships are shallow, when our friendships are superficial, and when our communities are inauthentic, we are at risk. Working to maintain relationships can be difficult. It may involve breaking rocks, preserving what little soil we have, and even bringing in the human equivalent of soil amendments.

Where the relationships are worth having because others value them as much as we do, we would not be unequally yoked while we work the soil. In fact, where values are shared, where we are equally yoked with our cohorts, the work can be far, far more enjoyable. We are constantly reminded that we are a part of something bigger than ourselves.

Shallow soil makes it difficult to build authentic communities. We are wholly dependent on individual relationships and hopefully these are truly genuine. Deep seated, positively symbiotic relationships occur when they are reciprocal, mutually beneficial, and complementary.

We live in a time when stone can quickly be turned into the kind of dust that can prevent soil from being compacted. It can also sometimes, through abrasive action, polish the gems of truth that we acquire in the rough. The growth that occurs in the depths of our souls, thanks to obstacles along the way is seldom achieved through just accepting the kind of situation where we are between a rock and a hard place.

Sometimes it may seem as though a field of stone is all we have within a material world. And yet, in this designer universe, the same atom that can cause kidney stones or calcify arteries, contributes to the strength of our bones and the bricks we use to build our homes.

With the right attitude, the worst case scenario can become the most stimulating challenge. Just how we rise to meet any given problem is usually a matter of spiritual idealism, of our enthusiasm for life.

Agrarian societies tend to gravitate towards the fertile bottom land where the river and all of its tributaries contribute to soil tilth as well as gut flora.There is, however, intense competition for lands that are ideally suited for providing nourishment. The Aztecs found their promised land on a small island at the center of Lake Texcoco. they lashed reeds together and built rafts on lake wetlands freshwater swamps. They scooped mud off the bottom and piled it onto these rafts to serve as soil for their produce.

The plants would send roots through the soil, penetrate the bottom of the raft, and derive nutrients directly from the waters and later the deposits on the bottom. This heroic survival story included tales of these “Chinampas,” that either included a gardener’s hut or were adjacent to the gardener’s household. The gardener would pole the raft-garden to the marketplace. Eventually these rafts were lashed together and poles were driven into the lake bottom. The island became the city of Tenochtitlan and later on, Mexico City.

Other, equally tenacious civilizations found ingenious ways to move water up hill. The hanging gardens of Babylon may eventually inspire a growing dome over your kitchen, rivers running atop the walls of your house, food and flora whenever and wherever you want or need it. And this is why the Parable of the Sower and the lessons that relate to providing favorable conditions for growth, will always ring true.

Today, crushed rock is used in most hydroponic systems. And, approximately one third of the recorded words of Jesus are in the form of parables. These parabolic analogies, many of which focus on spiritual growth, gracefully transcend time. Perhaps this is why we see so many signs that say “You are closer to God’s heart in a garden than anywhere else on earth.”

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Tooling Up for Hydroponics

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There is a ruggedized form of ministry that closely follows in the footsteps of Jesus. It operates in a way that is both informed by, and stems from, the Parable of the Sower. It serves to soften any compacted soil and it labors to break-up any rocky soil that might prevent seedlings from gaining a foothold. It engages in this necessary soil conditioning so that each individual seed, packed with all the potential God saw fit to include, can be planted at the proper depth and at the proper time. Let’s revisit this particular teaching, how the lessons gracefully transcend time, and how they inform our respective ministries going forward. Jesus put it this way:

“A sower went forth to sow. As he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside to be trampled underfoot and consumed by birds. Other seed fell upon the rocky places where there was little soil. It sprang up quickly because there was no depth to the soil. As soon as it was warmed by the sun, it withered because it had no root as a means to secure moisture. Other seed fell among the thorns, and as the thorns grew up, it was choked so that it yielded no grain. Still other seed fell upon good ground and, while growing, yielded, some thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, and some a hundredfold. The kingdom of heaven is also like a man who cast good seed upon the earth; and while he slept by night and went about his business during the day, the seed sprang up and grew. Although the Sower didn’t know just how it came about, the plant came to fruit. First there was the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And then when the grain was ripe, he put forth the sickle, and the harvest was finished.” — The Parable of the Sower as Told by Jesus.

While scattered seed that fell by the wayside may be trampled, this is not the only statement on record where Jesus referred to things of value being “trampled.” In the context of his lesson regarding the folly of casting one’s pearls before swine, he led by example when he refused to dignify the feigned curiosity of Herod whose questions were intended as a mockery rather than a sincere search for truth.

The Gospel is not to be thrust upon those who despise it. The incurious, the insincere, and the insolent are often found wandering aimlessly along the wayside. Those who are self-satisfied, not ready to reach for truth, too busy to grow spiritually, or whose hearts have become too calloused, may represent a soil too compacted to receive precious truth-bearing seed or a soul too distracted to enjoy seed bearing fruit. They may miss opportunities, but God wastes nothing.

If we are somehow reluctant to consume that which truly nourishes, the sparrows are not. Another way of looking at this is in the way birds may also play a role in scattering consumed, but undigested, seed. While those who are religiously atheist might look at Charles Darwin’s writings and his observations on the Galapagos Islands and conclude that such research is “proof” that evolution is happenstance, a person of faith is likely to reach entirely different conclusions from the same data.

We might see the same variety of birds, including one with a beak capable of crushing nuts and seeds to obtain nourishment. Then we see another bird with a beak so long and slender it can extract nectar from a delicate flower without crushing it. While the atheist would look upon this microcosm as random chance involving a collection of disparate elements, the believer beholds such beauty as yet another inspiring example of God’s handiwork.

Such an ingenious system of specialized and precisely targeted distribution, for an island’s limited food supply, is evidence of mind. The atheist sees the universe as the juxtaposition of random fortuitous events where somehow magic matter organized through mindless causation. The person of faith sees orchestration, by an ingenious composer and conductor, within a universe of universes responding to evolutionary over-control. Evolution is, after all, simply an unfolding, creativity that occurs over time.

Some must hold that science and religion are mutually exclusive in order to maintain an incoherent world view. This reflects a lack of understanding with respect to a trifurcation that took place during the enlightenment; For science is to facts, what philosophy is to meanings, and what religion is to values.

The Parable of the Sower highlights the fact that seed falling by the wayside is not likely to take root. That means both the seed and the labor are more likely to be wasted. The story of the sower highlights a very familiar process in a way that is factual as well as meaningful.

This particular story, as told by Jesus, presents the facts and meanings through a parable, a teaching style and technique also known as a parabolic analogy. He did this so that those of us “with ears to hear,” would find it not only factual and meaningful, but also valuable.