The Plow is Essential
Often, spiritual analogies are overwrought…stretched to grotesque dimensions that defy the original purpose, if not logic itself. One particular analogy, though, is seldom pushed beyond its basic form. We often hear sermons based on sowing seeds for a future harvest. It’s a powerful analogy. It’s simple. It’s relatable. As analogies go, this is a good one. Let’s see how far we can stretch it…
If the harvest is the conclusion of the growing season, what is the beginning? I argue that the plow marks the beginning. The plow turns under what is left of the previous season’s work. The plow starts the process of recycling the sweat. The plow starts the process from which last season’s success forms the basis for better things this season. In our modern church, we are loath to “turn over” the work of the past and put it to use on a future harvest. We cling to the planting that was done long ago. We are dismayed when the fields turn brown and wither. We wonder aloud why we can not find more people willing to tend to the last season’s crop. We are forced to construct ever more elaborate ideas and mechanisms to justify extending this season. But year by year, we find it ever harder to get sustain ourselves, much less our neighbors, from that which was sown so long ago.
Before you can reap the harvest…before you sow the seed…you must prepare the ground.
Eventually, some will see the empty bellies, and begin looking for solutions. In spite of the blessing that last season produced, a few begin to plow under the remains. And we will become suspicious of them. We may view them as ungrateful. We may view them as ignorant. We are incredulous that they would plow under a field that has nourished so many. If plowed fields begin to show promise, we will question the “source” of such success. We will start to judge our work on the basis of adherence to tradition rather than our success in feeding the hungry. We view the plow as the destructor, something to resist. We will view those who advocate the study of the plow as heretics ands blasphemers. And so the plow becomes a symbol of destruction, something to be feared.
Is the plow a threat? Does the plow undo the work done last season? Does the plow mock the ideas that bore the last harvest? Did the nourishment that a child received from the last harvest become un-done by the plow? Quit the opposite is true. The stubble from last season’s harvest is what sustains the growth of this season. The lessons learned last season will allow us to learn more this season. It is a great leap of faith that moves someone to plow under the last bit of last season’s blessing in order to multiply the blessings of this season.
We may disagree on the timing, but we must eventually plow. A word of caution though: Those of you who are plowing right now, don’t get so excited about your fresh field that you move right into the sowing. Nope, first you must rest. You need the rest. The land needs the rest. And for now, I’ll let that topic rest.