Flight 815 - The Good Soil

In preparing this post my mind jumped at the scripture reference of Luke 8:15 and the infamous flight number Oceanic 815 from Lost.  The passage in Luke is a description of the good soil.

But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. 

Pretend with me that I know what I'm talking about.  I know there are many wiser men and women who have examined this passage in depth and know oh so much more about it than I do.  But surely a standard blue-collar bloke like myself should be able to pull something from it.  I mean, what's the point of having a Bible if God can't reveal things to us with out a degree in it?

Look at the four actions listed:  Hear.  Retain.  Persevere.  Produce.

Everyone is capable of doing those things.  Right?  I surely hope so.  Okay, so what does this have to do with Lost?  Well, in truth, not a whole lot.  I mean I could pull all sorts of comparisons to the people on the plane and what kind of soil they were and all that, and maybe one day I will...but not today.

I will say that many of them were capable of being good soil.  Having noble and good hearts, with the ability to hear, retain, persevere (which they surely did) and produce.  But I want this to be about you and me. The couple sitting across from me at Panera who prayed over their meal.  The lady across the restaurant who didn't.  Jesus' teachings were meant for the people around him.  Including us.  We might not have been there, but he is here with us now.


The soil is about us as much as it is not.  Jesus had already called the disciples.  If you're reading this chances are he's already called you.  If you're thinking about how to disciple others and spread the seed that is the word of God, You've already been the soil.  It's time to move on to being the farmer planting the seed.


Good soil will Hear.  If you are out there scattering seed the good soil will hear it.  And trust me, there is plenty of good soil out there.  I've read descriptions of this parable that the good soil is a 1/4 of the types of soil...but let's think about that for a moment.  What kind of farmer scatters seed across all his land knowing that only 25% will accept it?  No.  The path is a narrow, small portion of land.  The rocky ground is going to spots and here and there.  The weeds...well, hopefully the farmer has done a good job of weeding before planting.  But weeds are weeds and will creep in at places.  A majority of the land is then good soil.


The good soil will also Retain.  That means it will keep it.  It will hold the seed, the word, and let it grow.  The word of God will grow in them.  Not because of what we the farmer have done, but because it's the Word of God!


Persevere.  This is probably the most difficult of the four actions.  Other words like; endure, faith, hope, cling to, hold on, push through...you get the idea.  It makes me think of the verse in Ephesians that challenges us to put on the whole armor and after everything...to stand.  Persevere.


The last one is Produce.  Jesus talks several times about bearing fruit.  It's a common theme.  I mean he even curses a fig tree because it should have been producing fruit and it wasn't.  That's like a Christian who looks like a follower of Jesus but isn't really doing anything about it."

I've been that guy.  Would you admit to yourself that you have too? 

Okay now that we've admitted that...let's do something about it!  Jesus tells us that if we remain in him, the true vine, he will remain in us, the branches.  And what do branches produce?  Fruit.  In that fruit is seed.  So once we mature enough to produce fruit, fruit with seed, that fruit needs to grow and scatter the seed.  We move on and start over again.  And so do they.  It's a simple, difficult, beautiful process that Jesus hardwired into the very creation of the world.  Genesis 1:11 

"Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so.

Find the good soil.  Scatter the Word.  And watch God work.

grace, peace + hope
-Jesse