2020-01-13. Reaping What Has Not Been Sown.
There are many citations regarding reaping and sowing, usually in the context that what one sows is what one reaps.
We have heard the expression, “Today is the father of tomorrow.” In Galatians 6:7, (and UB 2:3.2) is written, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap.” This concept of reaping what you sow appears many, many times in The Urantia Book.
But there are other contexts in which the reaping has little to do with the sowing. Two of the most notable parables contain these ideas: the parable of the talents and the parable of the pound.
For those that do not recall the parable of the talents, the story is about a wealthy master, a nobleman, that took leave of his household and divided up some of his wealth among several servants, one receiving five talents, another two talents, and one servant received only one talent. Whereas the other servants all invested the talents in their possession and, later, received double their investments that they then gave to their master, the servant with only one talent buried his, thus earning nothing. The wise servants were then given greater responsibilities over the household since they evidenced trust and sagacity. The unfortunate, unfortunate servant with the one talent received nothing, but even his one talent was taken away and given to the servant with the five talents. Jesus’ concluding words are, “To every one who has, more shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but from him who has not, even that which he has shall be taken away.” (Matt 25:29) and (UB 176:3.4)
There is also the Parable of the Pounds found in Luke 19:12-27 (and UB 171:8.7). It is almost the exact same story but using pounds as the unit of money instead of talents. Same conclusion: “To every one who has shall be given more, but from him who has not, even that which he has shall be taken away from him.’”
But it is the idea of reaping without sowing that I want to draw our attention. In the parable of the talents we are told this: “And then there came to the accounting he who had received the one talent. This servant came forward, saying, `Lord, I knew you and realized that you were a shrewd man in that you expected gains where you had not personally labored; therefore was I afraid to risk aught of that which was intrusted to me. I safely hid your talent in the earth; here it is; you now have what belongs to you.”
Note here the servant was basically telling his master that because the master did not himself invest the one “… the last of the servants, on being called to account, reported: `Lord, behold, here is your pound, which I have kept safely done up in this napkin. And this I did because I feared you; I believed that you were unreasonable, seeing that you take up where you have not laid down and that you seek to reap where you have not sown.’ “
In both cases, the servant feels entitled to his position since the money was not his and why should he take his time to invest it just to give the profits back to the master. In both cases, he would have benefited by being in his master’s good grace.
We all benefit from that which we have not sown. Life is full of those instances from the time we are born (who labored in that situation?) to the moment we are invited to graduate from this world and are drawn into the next one. While Jesus tells us we reap what we sow, this does not take into account all those that are also sowing on our behalf, from which we continually reap many rewards. Life is like that. By the slothful servant’s reluctance to invest–to sow–the master’s money–and he knew he was expected to do so–he lost his advantage altogether. Just was justice served.
Another example of this concept of reaping and without sowing is found in paragraph (UB 143:6.1) where Jesus says to his apostles: “He who reaps receives wages and gathers this fruit to eternal life; consequently the sowers and the reapers rejoice together. For herein is the saying true: `One sows and another reaps.’ I am now sending you to reap that whereon you have not labored.…” And in ( UB 54:6.3), in a larger context, “Families, groups, nations, races, worlds, systems, constellations, and universes are relationships of association which possess individuality; and therefore does every member of any such group, large or small, reap the benefits and suffer the consequences of the rightdoing and the wrongdoing of all other members of the group concerned.”
Perhaps the most famous quote from Jesus about not reaping what you have sown comes from Luke 12:27 (and found in The Urantia Book, 165:5.3): “Consider the lilies, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is cut down and cast into the fire, how much more shall he clothe you, the ambassadors of the heavenly kingdom. O you of little faith! When you wholeheartedly devote yourselves to the proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom, you should not be of doubtful minds concerning the support of yourselves or the families you have forsaken. If you give your lives truly to the gospel, you shall live by the gospel. If you are only believing disciples, you must earn your own bread and contribute to the sustenance of all who teach and preach and heal. If you are anxious about your bread and water, wherein are you different from the nations of the world who so diligently seek such necessities? Devote yourselves to your work, believing that both the Father and I know that you have need of all these things. Let me assure you, once and for all, that, if you dedicate your lives to the work of the kingdom, all your real needs shall be supplied. Seek the greater thing, and the lesser will be found therein; ask for the heavenly, and the earthly shall be included. The shadow is certain to follow the substance.”
Or is the reaping built into the grace of being a child of our Paradise Father?
James Leese
October 17, 2018
