Artistic Theology

                                     The Sower Mixed media The parable of The Sower is sometimes called the parable of The Four Soils.  We have looked at each soil in the past two posts and have seen how it represents the heart's level of response, reception and commitment upon hearing the Word of God.  We know that Jesus explained that the seeds represent "the word of God" (Luke 8:11) or "word of the kingdom." (Matthew 13:19)  The Sower, however is not identified explicitly.  We are simply told  "A sower went out to sow his seed..." (Luke 8:5)   Imagine Jesus - out in a boat, close to the great multitude of people who had gathered on the shore to hear him, calling out over the water to teach them about the kingdom of God.  Indeed, he was scattering the seeds of the Word of God on many types of soil that day. He embodied the sower in the parable. Imagine...

                                       This is the second of three posts about the parable of The Sower and the artwork it inspired. In the first post, we defined parables and why Jesus used them. We also looked at the first two soils - the hardened wayside soil and the rocky soil. Here, we will look at the last two soils and the accompanying relief prints.  In the next post, we will look at the sower himself, think about the parable in universal terms and view the large, mixed media artwork that I created from this scripture. The Thorny Soil "And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it."  (Luke 8:7) Jesus' explanation: "And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of  this  life, and bring no fruit to perfection ."  ( Luke 8:14) The third type o...