And some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. Luke 8:6 RSV
There are things that are hidden as well as things revealed. There are times that we cannot know what we are looking at just by using our physical eyes. For me, the point of Luke 8:6 is that things are not always what they seem. A soul finds the word of Elohim, recognizes her sin and the hope of heaven. She receives God's word gladly. Without the intervention of the Spirit of Elohim the soul cannot produce fruit. If the Word of God does not produce fruit in our life then we know we are not of the Kingdom of God. Why is that?
In the case of the rocky soil (rock hidden under a shallow layer of loam) it seems that the seed sown, which is the Word of God, sprang to life. An observer would look at the field spoken of and see evidence of life as the Word sprouts up, adding its fresh color to the person represented by rocky soil. But there is stone just under the surface that will not absorb the life giving moisture required to sustain the life of the seed, the Word of Elohim. What is hidden to our eyes is what prevents the seed from producing fruit. The missing factor is moisture. The water that we take for granted is the missing element in the life of the sprout that dooms the garden to failure. The purpose of the seed in the field is to produce fruit. It cannot without moisture.
In Hebrew, the letter of water is "mem" M & It represents water. Our Latin letter M came to us from the Hebrew picto-graph mem. The picto-graph of mem was a simple representation of waves of water, one above and one below. Genesis 1:6-7 tells us that in the beginning Elohim separated the waters, some above the firmament, and some below the firmament. The Hebrew spelling of the letter mem is "mem-yod-mem sofit" (Sofit is the suffix form of some letters, usually used at the end of the word and has the simple meaning of hidden waters or wisdom.) Yod is the picture of the hand (in this case of Elohim) that separates the water below from the water above. Mem communicates the ideas of waters, wisdom, the Word of God, peoples and their languages (wisdom is communicated by language). As wisdom, the regular mem communicates the idea of revealed wisdom. We can observe that in the giving of God's Word, the Torah, to Moses who revealed the wisdom of the Holy Word of Elohim to Israel. The sofit
mem is closed and is representative of hidden wisdom from the Word of God. James 3:17 "But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without uncertainty or insincerity." RSV
Y'shua, Jesus, the Messiah is the revealer of mysteries Luke 8:9-10 And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, he said, "To you it has been given to know the secrets (the mysteries) of the kingdom of God; but for others they are in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. RSV.
What about the stone in the soil? The Word of God is not distributed on soil, but into hearts. Our hearts are hidden from view. Not just our physical heart, but the very essence of who we are. God's prophet Ezekiel, speaking for God by the Spirit of God, said, "A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances." Ezek 36:26-27
RSV The strictly religious person might call themselves a spiritual woman. She may well know and love passages of the Bible which she receives with joy. Yet somehow, even though there is evidence of God's word in her ethics and philosophy of life, she does not live a life of power. There is no fruit in her life. When life puts her to the test, she shows us who she really is. A woman whose heart is of stone, unable to absorb the water of life that sustains her in crisis through the Word of God. Her religion, her spirituality is nothing without the water of life, which is the Spirit of God. The revealer of the mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven.
What hope is there for those who hide a heart of stone under a thin layer of flesh? The book of John holds the testimony of a woman of Samaria. If ever a soul unworthy of the Kingdom of Heaven it would be this woman. A woman of a stony heart who, on the surface, seems to have received the "seed" of God's Word but could not produce fruit. . . .
Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, and his sons, and his cattle?" Jesus said to her, "Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.". . . . The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain; and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." John 4:10-15, 19-24 RSV
The Woman of Samaria and Ezekiel both give their witness that God is able and willing to change the heart of stone that is our natural condition, into a heart that is able to receive the truth of the mystery of life, abundant and eternal, flowing with the water of life, the Spirit of God.
Ask and it shall be given, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.
Deborah; April 30, 2010
Hebrew for Christians by John Parsons http://hebrew4christians.com/Grammar/Unit_One/Aleph-Bet/Mem/mem.html
Seven Thunders Ministry, Greek/Hebrew Word a week, "Mem" http://www.seventhundersministry.com/teachings/mem1.htm
BibleWheel.com, The 13th Spoke, "Mem, A Fountain of Living Waters" http://www.biblewheel.com/Wheel/Spokes/mem_fountain.asp
