Way Side Soil - Matt 13:1-4; Mark 4:1-4; Luke 4:4-5

Jesus leaves the Pharisees that he was speaking to and “sat by the sea side.” People surrounded him, so he went into a boat and instead of sleeping or resting like I’m sure he wanted to, he began to teach the people who waited for him on the shore using parables. The IM says, “He began using a teaching method that reached listeners at their individual levels of spirituality- He began to teach in parables.” The IM suggests that we understand the parables using tools such as looking at the audience he was addressing at the time, the questions that were posed to him which prompted the parables, etc. The IM also comments, “Although there is normally one intended interpretation of a parable, there may be many lessons and truths from a parable that can be applied to modern circumstances. President Hugh B. Brown of the First Presidency pointed out that the Savior’s parables most likely developed out of ordinary day-to-day experiences: ‘His parables were not woven from fancy. They were word pictures of what he had observed as he lived among the people. He had seen the sower at work in the field, the shepherd with his sheep, the repentant son returning to his father, the barren fig tree; he knew the publican and the Pharisees and had attended wedding feasts where foolish virgins had no oil for their lamps. He taught from the richness of his own life, and he taught because he loved the people.’”

Jesus tells a parable of a man who was sowing seeds, and there were several different places that the seeds ended up with varying degrees of success.
1. “Some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up.” More and more it seems to me that this parable is about the impact that our environments can have on our ability to accept the gospel. I think it’s interesting that this comes up now because having just moved to Utah, I had a religious conversation with some amazing girls I work with. None of these girls were LDS, although 2 had been raised in the church. Listening to their stories of the way that they were treated by church members while growing up here in Utah is abhorrent to me, with the blatant racism, misogyny, lack of concern for others, and tendency to concoct false doctrine. I realized after talking to them that if I had grown up in Utah, I would have left the church just like they did. I wouldn’t be able to see beyond the hypocrisy of the people to the beauty of the gospel. It was the first time in my entire life that I was grateful that I grew up in California. They told me of parents disowning children for leaving the Church, bishops counseling members to “fulfill your wifely duties better” in order to save their abusive marriages, and they didn’t know that we believed in the resurrection, even though 2 were raised LDS. That broke my heart, the resurrection is the best part, and how could they live in a place so heavily dominated by LDS religion and culture and be raised in the LDS church and never had the doctrine of the resurrection taught to them. How was this possible? What had Utah been doing while I was gone?

To me, Jesus’ example of the seeds sown on the way side , is Jesus speaking of those who are not ready to receive any part of the gospel. It’s not necessarily because they have hardened hearts, but maybe they were hardened by life. I feel like many people here in Utah are at this point because they are pushed so heavily to become a “member.” Way side soil is dried out, compressed from it’s malleable state by repeated grinding pressure from people walking on it. Similarly, it appears that people here aren’t open to any aspect of the gospel because it is pushed on them so frequently and with such fervor that they feel completely flattened by pressure. It’s like if you moved somewhere and most people drove Fords and you drive a Toyota, and everyone always tells you that you should buy a Ford because it is the only good car, but you aren’t looking for a new car. Say these new neighbors always sent Ford salesmen over to your house to tell you that they have the perfect car for you, even when you told everyone repeatedly that you weren’t interested in a new car right now. Say people wouldn’t talk to you or let their kids play with yours because you didn’t drive a Ford. Maybe some family members disowned you because you don’t even like cars and want to ride a motorcycle. What if you got into a car accident and the paramedics told you that even though you were just a passenger in a Ford, you couldn’t go to the hospital because you should have tried harder to avoid the accident. What if people told you that your whole life is a lie and meaningless because you don’t drive a Ford? I personally would start to question their motives. Do they work for Ford? Do they make a commission if I go and buy a Ford? Do they get points towards their next car if they refer a friend? And if you ever were in the market for a car, I wouldn’t go look at Fords because of how awful my experience was with Ford owners.

All that sounds crazy right? Now let’s ascribe all that drama to a much more serious matter, like religion. A car is just a tool that gets you from point A to point B, but your beliefs in a higher power or the lack of one is deeply rooted in who you are. Now imagine all that craziness with the cars scenario and make it about religion, and why in the world would anyone EVER want to learn about the gospel after being treated like that? If you have a crappy family life, which many people do, that is ignored by the church or judged you for it, why would you trust them? If your boss uses his position of authority over you to send missionaries to your house repeatedly, does that pull you towards God or away? If the ward you attend uses racial slurs and bigoted epithets during church meetings, do you believe that they are really Christ-like? If the missionaries come to the door of your part member home and tell you that your marriage is meaningless and that your family is going to hell because they aren’t all baptized, does that make you want to invite them into your home to learn more about the merciful, compassionate and just Jesus Christ? These are all real things that people have experienced here, and this is just a handful of examples. All of these experiences would have made me run away screaming from the church, and that’s not any account of abuse by those supposedly representing Jesus Christ in the way of church leadership or parents.

People in these situations are not interested in the Church because they feel that the church really isn’t interested in them as people, only as numbers. If these people were really concerned with the welfare of non-members and less-active members, they would take the time to form a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and take every encounter based on the guidance of the Spirit. So that begs the question, how does way side soil become malleable again? With moisture and rest. What kind of “moisture” can we provide for people who are not interested in the Church? Love, kindness, concern for them personally, friendship, service. I believe two sayings are very applicable to member missionary work, people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. And live your life so that others will want to know Christ because they know you.