The Barefoot Evangelist

Read Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 with your family.

Jesus often taught life lessons in stories we call parables. A parable is a story that teaches a lesson.

In the reading from Matthew today, Jesus tells the story about sowing seeds. His audience was full of people so excited about everything they had learned from Jesus that they wanted to share it with everyone they met.

This story was a way for Jesus to remind them that someone only changes when they want to, never when they are forced. And that sometimes that change happens over a long time.

So each of us when we are sharing the teachings of Jesus has to remember that we might only get them a bit interested, but it’s going to take a lot of time and many more conversations with other believers before a person is ready to say “Yes, I want to follow Jesus”.

We plant seeds. And sometimes those seeds land on good soil, meaning the person is ready to hear what we have to say. And something that’s not what happens. We don’t get to control any of it.