October 3 I Sunday

Isaiah 17-19

Ephesians 5:17-33

“Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”  —Luke 8:8

A few decades years ago, I had the opportunity to visit an Egyptian museum in Cairo. Part of the exhibit held contents from the tomb of Tutankhamun, who was a Pharaoh of Egypt and died at a young age. Although many of the Pharaohs’ tombs had been robbed, this tomb, when it was discovered in 1922, was surprisingly intact. All of its contents now lie in an Egyptian museum, apart from the mummified body of Tutankhamun, which they put back in his original tomb, out of deference and respect for the dead.

       Amongst the items found in the tomb were barrels of grains and seeds. At the exhibit, beside these barrels, are a little glass container with a layer of soil, moisture and two or three seeds placed under a controlled temperature. What we see is a 3,300 year-old seed germinating and coming to life—it was only waiting for the right environment!

       From Jesus’s teaching on the Parable of the Sower, He explains that the seed represents the Word of God, which is interesting and important because life is held in the seed. Not with the sower, because he only distributes the seed, or with the soil, because the soil itself is static, but life is found in the seed. When a seed is placed in the right environment, it germinates and comes to life. When we teach the Word of God, we are actually putting life into people’s hearts.

       The author of Hebrews tells us, “For the Word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). The Word of God is living and active; that seed can lie dormant for a long time, but when the environment changes, it can germinate and come to life.

       Sometimes, planting the Word of God into people’s hearts is almost like planting a time bomb. We do not know when it will go off, but we can have this hope that long after we have placed it in their hearts—where they sat and listened to some truth of God’s Word—that truth is going to germinate and come to life. We may not immediately see the result of the seeds that we sow into another person, but we can have the assurance that God is at work in their lives. Our task is to remain faithful when we share with others truth that is found in God’s Word and trust in His time for the life in the seed to germinate in the lives of those that we sowed.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, how amazing that there is still life in a 3,300 year old seed! Grant me the boldness to share Your truth with others and the patience to trust in the right timing that it will germinate. Thank You, Lord.