“Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that
was thirty, sixty
and even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” (Matthew 13:8,
NLT).
Greetings to you all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!
As we enter into the new season of Advent to prepare to celebrate
the birth of a baby Jesus in Bethlehem, a voice from the wilderness is echoing
around our ears,
“Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming!” (Luke 3:4b,
NLT).
So how’s your first step to this new beginning looks like, I mean
through your preparation? And what do you see at the end of your journey? In
other words, what is your wishes and hopes and dreams for this new journey?
One day, Jesus sat beside the lake and talked about our
preparation for the final day, I mean, for the end of our journey. According to
that story, it might be devastating, disappointing, or full of joy and
thanksgiving. It was a parable of the farmer scattering seed.
The story goes like this…
A farmer went out to scatter seeds on the ground all across the
field. Then, some seeds fell along the path; some fell on rocky ground; some
fell among thorns; and some fell on good soil. I wonder what the farmer had in
his mind scattering seeds, I mean his hopes and wishes and dreams. By the way,
it could be her too.
I believe no farmers want them to die when they scatter the seeds
but to produce many fruits out of it in the harvesting season! However, those
seeds on the path were taken by the birds. They ate them all. Those seeds on
the rocky ground wilted under the hot sun and died because they did not have a
deep roots. Those seeds among thorns were chocked out by them as it grew. Only
those on good soil produced a crop, thirty, sixty and even a hundred times
much.
We might wonder “what made it difference?” Of course, we know it
was soil, GOOD soil!
How about our spiritual life, I mean our spiritual soil, to end
our journey with joy and thanksgiving in thirty, sixty or hundred folds someday?
Here is a story of good soil. Two thousand years ago, when people
lost their hopes and dreams, an angel came and told a young virgin named Mary
that she would conceived a child by the power of the Holy Spirit. Then the
angel also told her fiancée named Joseph to marry her and name the baby Jesus
even though Mary was pregnant before they got married. Shepherds saw angels in
the sky and were told of a savior’s birth in Bethlehem. Wise men from the East
traveled hundreds of miles to worship the new born King just following the
star.
They were all from different places, i.e., classes, nationalities,
ages, and genders; however, there was one thing in common. They followed what
God said to them even taking the risk of losing their life. What a good soil
they were! It made a Christmas story, I mean the miracle of God’s love on
Christmas Day.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, this Christmas miracle can happen
to all of us when we prepare our life like Mary and Joseph, shepherds and the wise
men. Then we will celebrate with full of joy and thanksgiving at the end of our
journey! How exciting!
So now I would like to invite you to join us in this Christmas miracle story this month imagining bountiful harvest, thirty, sixty or even a hundred times than what we sow this month together! Join us!
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Kyochul
