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How Jesus used farming metaphors to teach about God's kingdom
1.
2. From the beginning God Created human
beings and instructed them to till the land
and take care of it. (Gen.2:15)
It is through agricultural activities that
humans learned to relate to fellow beings and
nature and order the course of their life.
3. Jesus’ audience was composed of diversity
farmers: grape growers, wheat growers, large
scale farmers, peasant
farmers, labourers, shepherds, fowl breeders
to name a few.
Jesus had to be relevant, then he used what
was known and familiar to his audience.
4. The daily activities of his audience was
farming hence for easy understanding of the
unknown – ‘the heavenly Kingdom’ – Jesus
used agricultural images to enhance their
understanding.
5. In teaching there is need of using concrete
examples and the best was what people know
and use in their daily lives.
Despite agriculture’s harmful impact on
environmental quality, Farming remain a
prime source of metaphors for the correct
relationship between humans and the natural
world.
6. Religion is based on faith, there is no better
and concrete example of living by faith other
than a farmer’s experience.
A farmer sow seeds in faith, wait for the rains
in faith, build burns in faith that he harvest.
7. A farmer is a good example of having these
qualities; he is the one who exercises
patience and tolerance. A farmer patiently
wait for the rains, germination and harvest.
A farmer exercises tolerance and cannot
easily give up, e.g. The parable of the weeds
(Matt. 13: 24 -30)
8. Jesus had to constantly remind humanity of
their responsibility and ability.
Also to highlight the limitations in human
beings and to conscientise them of the need
for divine intervention.
9. Jesus had to use what was familiar and known to
help his audience to understand better the
Kingdom of Heaven.
His audience were surrounded with agricultural
images of which he took advantage of to easily
deliver his message.
Concrete and memorable images are those which
people use on everyday basis.
Humans are attached to agriculture from the
beginning.
10. If it were in today’s world that Jesus
physically lived and happens to be in America
he could use concrete examples of
technology, sports and music to name a few.
THE END – THANK YOU.