Week 25—Saturday 1 Corinthians 15:57-58
Week 25—SATURDAY
“THE GOOD SEED MEANS THE SONS OF THE KINGDOM”
We are on the last day of the halfway week in our quest, and we sum up our studies with two passages: “Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom . . .” (Matt. 13:18-19). “He who sows the good seed is the Son of man; the field is the world, and the good seed means the sons of the kingdom” (Matt. 13:37-38). Note in one place “the word of the kingdom” is the “seed”; in the other “the sons of the kingdom” are the “seed.” In one place it seems that a verbal proclaiming of the word of the Kingdom is the seed, and in other the Word of the Kingdom has become flesh in the sons of the Kingdom. The “sons” are the seed.
So I do not sow a message apart from myself—I must be the message, embodied. Proclaiming a message apart from experience is the Word become word. It must be out of experience if it is to be the authentic Christian message. It must be the sharing of a fact operative within me if it is to be Christian.
Then “preaching the Word” is not preaching words out of the Bible—it is preaching the Word become flesh in Jesus and the Word become flesh in the proclaimer.
A theological student was troubled that he was proclaiming something not operative within himself. But he said he was comforted and relieved when he took a course in a theology which said that proclaiming the Word had nothing to do with yourself, that it was proclaiming the Word entirely apart from yourself—it was from the Bible to people and not mediated through one’s own experience. Yes, he was “comforted and relieved,” but it was apart from salvation, for it was apart from the Christian faith—it was the Word become word and not the Word become flesh.
O Lord Jesus, sow my life as seed. I consent to be buried in the furrows of your will and purpose. I am ready to die. For I know that I won’t really die—I shall live. For your resurrection power will live within me. I thank you. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: I am a child of the Kingdom, therefore seed to be sown anywhere he wills.