A Ducky and a Horsey?

One spring day, a gardener showed his neighbor a packet of seeds he had just purchased. The seed envelope pictured a beautiful array of exotic flowers. “I’m hoping this will be my best flower garden ever,” the man told his neighbor. A month later, the neighbor again stopped by and asked, “How’s your flower patch doing?”

“I’m sorry to say it hasn’t done very well,” the gardener replied. “That’s a shame. Was it bad soil? Pests? The hot weather?” the neighbor inquired. The man shook his head. “Then maybe your seed was the problem,” the neighbor suggested. “Yeah, I suppose the seed was the problem,” the man admitted. “You see, I never got around to planting it!”

Getting the seed into the ground can sometimes be the hardest part of growing things, especially in first-century Israel. In the days of Jesus, managing a meagre harvest from the land was a back-breaking struggle. The area itself was the first obstacle. Palestine is a hilly country,…