Planting A Sermon Illustration Upside Down

You know, when you have an idea that’s great till it’s not. This is one of those stories.

One day, I joined one of my Murkim friends in his garden and found out I’d be planting cassava. Cassava is a tuber, a root vegetable, kind of like a potato. The edible part grows underground, while a tall, skinny stalk grows above.

My friend, Tarson, showed me how to plant it. You cut the stalk into 8–10 inch pieces, called “starts,” and jab holes in the dirt with a stick. Then, you plant three starts in each hole—with the little buds pointing up. Simple, right?

At first, I had no idea what a “bud” even looked like. Honestly, I was just guessing. But eventually, I got it down and was feeling pretty proud of myself. That’s when the idea hit me: “What a great gospel illustration!” Just like cassava buds need to face the sun to live and grow, we need to turn to Jesus—the Son—in faith to have eternal life and grow spiritually.

I even planned out my leading question: “If it’s planted bud-down, will it grow?” I imagined they would answer with a resounding, “No!” I would then share the good news of Jesus with them.

But… As we were finishing up, I realized that for the last quarter of the planting, I had been putting the buds in upside down.

I began fixing my mistake and told Tarson what I’d done. I asked him, “If it’s planted bud-down, will it grow?” He smiled and said, “Yeah, most likely, just leave them.”

I’m happy to report that although my illustration was flipped on its head, all of Tarson’s cassava is growing very nicely, and we have started forming valuable relationships to share the gospel with the people of Mot.