The real point of this parable...
Illustration
Object:
The real point of this parable is that soil is passive, not what kind of soil it is. Plants and crops grow from soil, but dirt does nothing but receive the sun, rain, and animal enrichments. Jesus says that with reference to the Work of God we are nothing but soil.
This is not the American way. We think of ourselves as self-reliant. A 2011 Pew Research Center poll found that 62% of the public (as compared to less than 50% in most Western European nations) believe that success in life is determined by factors we can control. Another American (famed Colonial preacher Jonathan Edwards) took Jesus' side on this matter. He wrote:
There is an absolute and universal dependence of the redeemed on God. The nature and contrivance of our redemption is such, that the redeemed are in every thing directly, immediately, and entirely dependent on God. They are dependent on him for all and are dependent on him every way.
(Works, Vol. 2, p. 3)
As Martin Luther once put it regarding our blessings: "So we receive our blessings not from them [human beings or by our actions], but from God through them. Creatures are only the hands, channels, and means through which God bestows all blessings" (The Book of Concord [2000 ed.], p. 389).
This is not the American way. We think of ourselves as self-reliant. A 2011 Pew Research Center poll found that 62% of the public (as compared to less than 50% in most Western European nations) believe that success in life is determined by factors we can control. Another American (famed Colonial preacher Jonathan Edwards) took Jesus' side on this matter. He wrote:
There is an absolute and universal dependence of the redeemed on God. The nature and contrivance of our redemption is such, that the redeemed are in every thing directly, immediately, and entirely dependent on God. They are dependent on him for all and are dependent on him every way.
(Works, Vol. 2, p. 3)
As Martin Luther once put it regarding our blessings: "So we receive our blessings not from them [human beings or by our actions], but from God through them. Creatures are only the hands, channels, and means through which God bestows all blessings" (The Book of Concord [2000 ed.], p. 389).
