1 Corinthians 3.9

The analogy that we are God's field seems so peaceful, so tranquil.

That is, until we realize what God has in store for His field.  God's field is to be a place that produces the fruit of salvation, or, translating into Lutheranese, the "grain of grace".  :-)  God does not plan to just let His field grow wild with weeds.  This shouldn't surprise us.  It goes way back...remember where this whole Biblical story began?  In a garden!   Jesus was a carpenter, but God is a gardener!

Have you ever seen what a gardener does to a field?  I'm sure it doesn't make the field very happy at first.

First, the field gets tilled.  A blade is used to cut open the green, grassy surface of the field and turn it over.  This exposes the dirt underneath.  Nobody wants their dirt exposed.  But, honest confession is the beginning to something new for the field.  Tilling is a rough and harsh process for the field to endure.  The gardener runs his blade back and forth with what seems little care or gentleness.  Tilling is a rough process, a painful process the field is reluctant to accept.  Though the field may not understand, at first, this tilling process is actually an act of the gardener's love for his field.

Once tilled, the field is ready for planting.  Into this mess of mangled topsoil and dirt the gardener plants his precious seed.  The seed gives hope to the once wild, estranged field.  From the field's perspective, the pain of the tilling process is still very raw, and the seed too small to appreciate.  But, soon the seed will grow and the soil will heal, then the field will appreciate what the gardener has done for it.

Next, the gardener waters his newly seeded field.  Spring rains baptize the field, washing into every crack and crevice cleansing it, while nourishing the seed to life.  The water brings forth the first sprouts of new life deep inside the belly of the field, still undetected by the world above.  The field remains unaware of what all this means, but is beginning to realize that it will never be the same wild field it once was.  Yet, sensing that somehow what it is becoming is much better than what it was.

In time, the entire field transforms into a crop.  The once hidden gifts that sprouted up deep in the soil begin to reach higher and higher to God, growing stronger and more noticeable to the world.  The field is now showing forth something brand new..something very good.

Then the weeds come.  Just as the field is beginning to appreciate this new life growing within, the weeds of the past return.  They once made the field wild, and they threaten to do that again.  The weeds begin to choke and kill the young crop; robbing it of nourishment and blocking it from light.  Now, the gardener comes to protect his chosen field.  Where the weeds are not too entangled with the crop, they are uprooted and destroyed.  Where the weeds are entangled, the gardener allows them to grow together so as to not risk the loss of even one of his precious little ones.

In time the crop bears the "grain of grace" (or fruit of the gospel--whichever you prefer).   It is harvested and used to feed people who are desperately hungry for it.  This makes the field very thankful to have been chosen by the gardener.  Now, the field welcomes the next tilling and trusts the gardener.

You are God's precious and chosen field.

Lent is the tilling season.  Trust the Good Gardener.

Heavenly Gardener, open me, turn my insides out, prepare me to receive your seeds of grace.  Amen.