Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
If Jesus Gave a TED Talk (#3): Jesus is Like a Crazy Farmer

If Jesus Gave a TED Talk (#3): Jesus is Like a Crazy Farmer

Last updated on: March 20, 2014 at 6:00 am by John Stonecypher

2 Comments

If Jesus Gave a TED Talk (#3): Jesus is Like a Crazy Farmer 2014-03-19T21:38:45+00:00 John Stonecypher

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

This is the third in a series of posts where I re-imagine Jesus’ five big sermons as TED Talks, in which he Educates people in God’s new Design for a world that runs on the Technology called love. This post is an interpretive paraphrase of Matthew 13.

—————————————

I often get asked: Since parables are so easy to misunderstand, why do I use them so much? Why risk being misunderstood?

Here’s the thing: I’m not interested in being understood by everybody; I am interested in being engaged by the few who are willing to think.

If you’re too grown-up and sophisticated to bother with childish stories about farmers and fish, then I’m frankly not interested in being understood by you. If you’re ready to hear and think things through with me, then you will understand. If you’re not, you won’t.

That’s sad, but it’s okay. I’m like a crazy farmer, running around town and throwing seeds all over the place. Most of the seeds will never sprout, but a few of those seeds will find good soil and yield a crop a hundred times greater than the number of seeds I started with. Seeds are tiny, but they can grow into giant trees. It’s exponential, like a little yeast worked into a big bunch of dough.

There was this farmer with a wheat field so full of weeds, he couldn’t pull the weeds without uprooting the wheat. So he let them grow side-by-side until harvest-time. Then he mowed them all down, took the wheat into his barn, and threw the weeds on the burning pile. Like wheat and weeds, good and evil exist side-by-side in this world, but only until the harvest.

If you have ears, listen: The harvest is coming. Our civilization is built on theft, rape, and murder, and it is about to destroy itself. Not one stone left on another.

When the Son of Man sits on the throne of the world, it means the end of beastly empires. Eventually, the Reality bell tolls for every single one; they get plucked out by the root and thrown onto the trash heap of history, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

There is only one way to transcend the constant rise and fall of worlds. I am offering that Way to you now, and believe me: It is worth the cost.

My Way is like a treasure hidden in a field. If you find it, you sell everything you own so you can buy the field. It’s like a pearl merchant finding the perfect pearl, and trading his whole inventory for it.

God’s new ecology is like fishermen with a net full of fish, sorting out the good from the bad. Our civilization is approaching an extinction event. When our cultural gene pool gets weeded, some ways of life will survive; others will not.

————————————-

John Stonecypher is a theologian/blogger/speaker living in Denver with his wife, Karen, and their 3 sons. John’s other endeavors include The Jesus Benyosef Project, a 4-year interactive social media drama of Jesus’ ministry years, and Geeked-Out Soul, a blog exploring geek spirituality.

Previous Post

March 19, 2014

A Gentle Fraying: Observing a Homespun Lent, Week 3

Next Post

March 20, 2014 Lent Is a Time to Follow the Highway to Zion

Recent Comments

2 Comments | Leave a Comment

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Advent Author Interviews Battle Over the Body and Blood of Christ Bearing Beauty Book Reviews Christian Education christian spirituallity christianity Christmas Church Church Leadership Contemplation Creation Care Death and Dying Death Penalty Disruptive Change Disruptors Series Easter Education Evolution and Faith Future of Progressive Christianity Gun Violence Health & Wellness Holy Week Interfaith Israel-Palestine Leading Differently Lent LGBTQ Living with Cancer Meditations on the Cross Mental Illness millennials Mimetic Mondays Monday Meditations Movie Reviews New Monasticism Pando Populus Parenting Patheos 10+1 Q&A Series PC(USA) Politics Pop Culture Practical Theology Series Prayer progressive christian Race Relations Reformation religion Religion and Politics Religion in America Rethink Church Social Justice Spirituality Spirituality of the Body Stump a Scholar Technology and Faith Thanksgiving Theodicy Trust Me Church Uncategorized Why I'm Still Christian Youth Ministry

Select a Month December 2025 April 2025 January 2025 September 2023 September 2022 May 2022 February 2022 January 2022 November 2021 October 2021 May 2021 February 2021 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 June 2020 May 2020 March 2020 June 2019 March 2019 January 2019 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What did God rest from on the seventh day?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Creating light Creating the sea Creating the animals Creating the world