Children’s Sermon

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

What Lies Below

By Lois Parker Edstrom

Object suggested: A potato

What is your favorite way to eat potatoes? There are so many choices: baked potatoes, boiled potatoes, mashed potatoes, French fries, scalloped potatoes, and potato salad.

Potatoes are a root vegetable which means they grow beneath the ground. If you’ve ever had a chance to dig potatoes you know that exploring the soil below the potato plant and finding potatoes there seems magical. Digging potatoes is like discovering buried treasure!

Potatoes have a funny appearance. These little indentations on the potato are called eyes. When a potato is planted it is cut into sections with an eye in each section. If the potato has been planted in good soil, has had enough water and sun, it produces other potatoes on roots that grow beneath the soil.

Potatoes are a very common food all over the world. They are tasty and are filled with vitamins, minerals, and fiber; things that are very good for our health.

In the Bible Jesus talks about the need for people to grow strong roots. Jesus says, “What was sown on the good ground, this is he who hears the word, and understands it, who most certainly bears fruit” (13:23).

When people read the Bible or hear the word of God, and begin to understand it, they are choosing good soil which will grow strong roots. We receive God’s message and it becomes a part of who we are. Like the potato that grows, puts down roots beneath the soil, and produces other potatoes, the word of God grows and bears fruit in our lives. The fruit that people produce is love; that love will feed and nourish others.

Note: The weight of the world’s largest potato is recorded as 18 pounds 4 ounces.

Scripture quotations from the World English Bible

Copyright 2008, Richard Niell Donovan