A Parable

Every day in the spring a certain farmer would go out to his fields and sow seeds. When harvest time came, he was quite surprised to find the trees in his garden yielded grapes.

“I really wanted figs,” he said quietly to himself.

When the snows melted and the ground thawed later that year, he sowed some more. Yet again, at harvest season, he was astonished to see only grape vines.

“I really, really wanted figs,” he said again, scratching his head. At the Great Feast that night, he told everyone who would listen of his problem.

“Every spring I sow seed and every fall I get grapes, even though I want figs.”

“What seeds did you sow?” was the invariable question put to the farmer.

“The seeds that are in my barn. They’ve always been there, and I’ve always used them.”

“Well, make sure you use only fig seeds.”

After the sun warmed the lands, the farmer went to his silo, got seed, and sowed as he had always done. And six months later, he was astonished, and, truth be told, a little angry at himself as he surveyed the great crop of grapes. He knew what the other villagers would say. But despite his promises to himself, he went ahead and complained to anyone who would listen at the Great Feast.

Years went by, and still the farmer only produced grapes, not his desired figs. And he grew bitter; for even a decent crop of figs would bring him much wealth, and he quite enjoyed their taste, as did his wife, his children, and his neighbors.

Finally, as a frail old man with only a small plot of land (for he had given away most of his acreage at the marriages of his children), he decided that this harvest season he would have a modest crop of figs to take care of him during his remaining years.

He went into his silo, filled his bags with seed, and went out to the field. However, this time he stopped. Before sowing the first seedling, he paused, and studied it carefully. After much deliberation, he realized it was a grape seed. This seed would not do. He put it back, drew out another, and studied that. After a moment he came to the same conclusion. All the seeds were grape seeds. If he wanted figs, he needed to plant fig seeds and only fig seeds.

The farmer then did something he never did before. He returned to the silo and refilled his bags with fig seeds, checked each one carefully, and then sowed. And that harvest season, his fields produced a rich yield of figs.

Let him who has ears listen.