The Gospel of John as the Parable of the Sower

Some thoughts . . .

The Fathers teach us about ‘logismoi’ – unhelpful thoughts. They are like birds flying about and through your head, and often like to sit on a branch of the tree. If given roosting space will drop their deposits into your soul to do their work . . . however, not all thoughts are ‘logismoi’ . . .

The Sower sows the seed . . .

Yesterdays gospel reading was ‘the parable of The Sower’, or ‘of the Seed,’ or ‘of the soil’ . . . take your pick, but you know the one I mean. Matthew, Mark and Luke all record it for us, and there’s good reason.

As Jesus berates the disciples in Mark? ‘You don’t get This parable? How will you understand ANY parable??’ (ROUGH translation) As Jonathan Pageau helpfully points out, this parable is a / the (?) Meta-parable, ‘the parable of parables’. Which brings me to that seed of a thought.

Recently I have been teaching on John’s Gospel, taking a largely thematic approach. Yesterday evening I set out again to teach on ‘Believing in Jesus’, perhaps THE theme of this Gospel of The Beloved. Yet when announcing in the morning that I intended to do that, I couldn’t help add by way of a thought, ‘including the Parable of the Sower in the Gospel of John’

To be totally honest, I hadn’t entirely thought this through . . . (‘question to self – “when did you ever?”‘)

I had previously spoken on ‘Jesus and Women in John’, working a theme about which I had given much musing over the years, that of how each significant encounter of Jesus with a woman in the gospel leads to Life in Abundance. Wine from Water, White fields of disciples from Sychar, Life from Death, and as at The Beginning, Light from Darkness.

In this, the Idea of the Logos Spermatikoi – the Seed of the Word was being worked out, which reminds us that Words are Seed Like. Rather than allowing those troublesome ‘logismoi’ a home, we might open up our soul soil to receive a life giving Logos, and thus finally by grace, become the Source (Beginning) of Abundant Life (John 7:37,8), Children of The Living God.

I was, I admit, teaching on the fly. There is a link here to the recording. Yet with regard to ‘believing in Jesus, I was gently suggesting that this required total identification with Jesus. (We are after all baptised into his death) So, I had noted ahead of time Jesus words in John 12 Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also.

And then I saw the context . . .

The Seed falling into the ground to die – but then more, much more, at least to my mind.

In Matthew, Jesus’ words come as Judgement. Indeed his presence is understood as Judgement. The ‘Woes’ announced on Chorazin and Capernaum had come hot on the heels of Jesus revealing that John the Baptist, was ‘the Elijah’ who was to come at the end of the age, and then refers to himself as ‘The Son of Man’ – the One coming on the clouds in Daniel. The End is present in Him. The judgement of the crowds on The Baptist and Jesus, is turned back on themselves, as all judgement is so turned back (Matthew 7:1)

We had excised from the RCL reading those words of the prophet which, in our supposed fragile state we could not bear:

“You will indeed listen, but never understand,
and you will indeed look, but never perceive.
For this people’s heart has grown dull,
and their ears are hard of hearing,
and they have shut their eyes;
so that they might not look with their eyes,
and listen with their ears,
and understand with their heart and turn—
and I would heal them.”

‘I’m teaching in parables because you don’t want to hear . . .

So back to John 12 where we read:

After Jesus had said this, he departed and hid from them. Although he had performed so many signs in their presence, they did not believe in him. This was to fulfil the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah:
‘Lord, who has believed our message,
   and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?’
And so they could not believe, because Isaiah also said,
‘He has blinded their eyes
   and hardened their heart,
so that they might not look with their eyes,
   and understand with their heart and turn—
   and I would heal them.’
Isaiah said this because he saw his glory and spoke about him.

These words come after Jesus has ‘departed and hidden from’ the crowds, from public ministry. He cries aloud after this, but having withdrawn John suggests to us that He is not heard. Shortly thereafter begins the chapters of the gospel, 13 through 17, in which Jesus opens up “the secrets of the kingdom of heaven“, to his disciples “For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance“

In other words, John 2-12 finds the Logos being scattered, then the Words of judgement, then the ‘explanation’ to the disciples in 14-17. So it follows the pattern of the parable in Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

Having in his public ministry scattered the Seed of The Logos, and occasionally bring forth fruit in receptive soil, the time draws near for Jesus to enact the entirety of the parable in Himself, as The Seed which falls into the ground and dies to bear much fruit. The Life which brings forth Life towards The Father springing up from the Earth.

The Word which hovers over the waters of chaos, calling forth the Life of repentance, the Life towards God which He Is, from those who have ears to hear and eyes to see.

And THAT is a parable, The Parable of the parable of parables . . .