Jesus taught in parables or stories to help people to understand things about God and the Kingdom of Heaven. He said, ‘a farmer went to sow seed in his fields. He threw the seed it all over the ground’.
All day, the farmer worked, throwing his seed all over the field.
Some of the seeds feel into the dust and the birds came and ate up the seed quickly.
Some of the seed fell in places where there was lots of rocks and the soil was not very deep.
Other seeds landed on soil where there was a lot of weeds. The seeds could not get enough water and quickly dried up.
But finally, a lot of seeds fell on good soil and produced a really big harvest.
Jesus (the man sitting in the boat in the picture below) explained that the seed was like the good news of the Kingdom of God.
He said, ‘the birds represent people who hear the message, but who do not understand it and the message is taken from them’.
The rocks represent a person who hears the message and likes what they hear, but change their mind and walk away when other people do not agree.
The weeds represent a person who hears the message of God and rejoices for a time, but then starts worrying about what they will eat or what will other people think and they turn their back on Jesus.
Finally, the seed that fell on good ground and produced a big harvest, is like people who receive the message about Jesus and His Kingdom and believe it, hold on to it and share it with other people. This is called living by faith.
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