CHAPTER 2
Discovering the Fruit of the Spirit
I
n the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells a story about a sower who freely cast seeds on the ground, some of which never take root. Other seeds land on rocky ground but grow only a little before dying. Still other seed grow a great deal before weeds choke them. Lastly, some seeds produce a bountiful harvest, thirty, sixty, or a hundredfold (see Matthew 13:1-23). This parable, with its emphasis on growth and fruitfulness, captures the theme of this book and is the source of its title. The parable of the talents in the Gospel of Matthew also addresses the theme of growth and fruitfulness but from a different perspective. A master goes away on a long journey, entrusting different portions of his fortune to three servants until his return. Two of the three invest the money and double it. The third buries his treasure and reaps no profit for his master. When the master returns, he praises the first two servants for their faithfulness. He condemns the third for wasting the opportunity before him (see Matthew 25:14-30). So what is the fruit in the first parable? What are these talents in the second? There seem to be two common candidates we could explore for these. The first is that of personal holiness and the second is the making of new converts to the faith. Which would you say you prefer? 19
