6 Pentecost/ Proper 10/Ordinary 15 Year A July 16, 2017
Luther Memorial Church Seattle, WA
The Rev. Julie Hutson
Genesis 25: 19-34 + Psalm 119: 105-112 + Romans 8: 1-11
Matthew 13: 1-9, 18-23
Grace and peace to you from the one who sows seeds of love, peace, and justice, Jesus the Christ. Amen.
Listen! A sower went out to sow.
And so Jesus begins teaching with parables….parables are stories that are mostly metaphors. Jesus used them frequently because very few people like to just sit and listen to lectures day after day. Teachers will tell you that people learn differently. Some learn through lots of visual aids. Some learn through repetition. Some learn by reading alone. Some learn through lively debate in a group. And Jesus was banking on many learning through stories that could help the hearer arrive at a conclusion on their own.
The parable we heard this morning was the first one that Jesus offered in Matthew’s Gospel. It’s interesting that he chose a farming metaphor. Jesus was a carpenter’s son. He would not have grown up understanding what it would mean to sow seeds. But he knew his audience and he knew that many of them would understand exactly what he was talking about.
And so he began….Listen! A sower went out to sow.
Fortunately, this is a pretty easy metaphor to deconstruct and understand. The seed being sown is the Word of God….the truth of God’s undying love for us….the wideness of the mercy God shows to all of us…..the way that God calls us to show and share that same love and mercy toward one another. The sower, at least in this case, is Jesus. Jesus who is both fully human, sitting there in the boat teaching them. Jesus who is son of Mary and Joseph. Jesus who is teacher and leader and perhaps to some, friend. And yet Jesus who is fully God, one with the sower.
The story becomes more complex, though not complicated, when Jesus begins to describe the many different kinds of soil the seed lands on. He says that some seed falls on the path, which would mean it would not become planted and so the birds came and ate it. Other seeds fell on rocky ground and sprouted, but because they had no roots, they were scorched and withered as soon as the sun was high in the sky. Other seeds fell among thorns and were choked out. And finally, other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth abundant grain.
Apparently Jesus then decided that he needed to explain this particular parable. Remember, it was his first parable, so maybe he’d forgotten that parables are usually best left for people to draw their own conclusions. So, he lays it out there for those who had gathered to be taught and for us:
When we hear the word of the kingdom, but we don’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches it away, just like the bird with that seed on the path.
When we hear the word of God and rejoice, but then fall away and doubt when trouble arises, we are like the seed without roots.
When we are lured away by what the world has to offer and turn to it instead of the word of God, we are like the seed choked out by thorns.
Finally, Jesus concludes, when we hear the word of God and understand it, we are like that seed that bears fruit and yields a hundredfold, sixty fold, and thirty fold.
Here’s a little side note. It’s unclear whether Jesus’ lack of knowledge around agriculture was showing or whether he was exaggerating to make a point (which he often did), but seeds are not expected to yield a great deal more than the sower anticipates. It’s been noted that a wildly fruitful crop might yield seven times more. So, a hundred or sixty or even thirty would be unheard of!
Every time I hear or read this parable, I start trying to figure out what kind of soil I am. Rocky? Thorny? Just right? And then, truth be told, I can think of other people who fit into the other categories too. And I get caught up by my own need to figure out who I am among the seed people.
But this is what I know to be true: At some time or another, we are all of the above. We are all of the types of soil Jesus describes. And I’d venture to say that we can be all of them in pretty rapid succession. I don’t think we necessarily progress from stage to stage….beginning with the path and ending with the good soil. I’d kind of like it to be that way; it would certainly be simpler and more orderly if we knew what to expect as our spiritual lives unfold.
But the reality is that we can be and in truth, we are, all of what Jesus describes.
How often do we find ourselves struggling to understand the word of God? And this isn’t just limited to the word of God as we find it in Scripture, this also includes the Word of God as found in the person of Jesus. Sometimes we get stuck trying to figure out what this all means. Or why Jesus matters. Or how it all fits into our lives. Or how it fits into the narrative of our world in 2017. Sometimes we don’t understand and it feels as though the evil one has taken away our faith, snatched it right off of the path, where such a generous and loving God had sown it.
And who among us, when troubles overwhelm us, do not question whether faith in God is enough in those times? Do not wonder where God has retreated when we were in need or even, if God was there to begin with? Of course we wonder and question and retreat in such rocky times. And yet, the sower is there….patiently planting the seed.
And who among us has not preferred the things that the world has to offer over the things that God offers instead? This can be as simple as believing that we can rely on our own understanding, our own resilience, our own resources to find peace and joy. Or that we will find meaning in the things we create and collect and amass in our lives. Or that we will find true satisfaction and contentment in what we can achieve and accomplish. None of these things are bad on their own, but when we turn to them and rely on them over and above the things of the kingdom, then kingdom living and the peace that passes our ability to understand it is choked out in the process. And yet, the sower must have seen those thorns there when sowing the seeds.
The key to unlocking this parable is not in figuring out the soil. It’s not necessarily even in knowing what the seed is made of, because the seed is the love of God that does not change. The key to this parable, the important point, is written between the lines. Here is the Gospel:
The sower keeps sowing. God does not give up on us. Whether we are shallow, rocky, or thorny, the sower continues to plant the seed in us with wild abandon. The sower does not give up. The sower does not move on, never to return. Because the sower loves the soil. The sower will tend it and nurture it in whatever state it’s in, returning again and again to check the progress….to plant more when needed. To fling out seed with generosity and love that has no beginning or end. The sower keeps sowing.
And when our time on this earth has come to its end….the soil will be so rich and so deep that we will finally enjoy all understanding. We will no longer see through a glass darkly…and the yield of our lives as all of God’s children….as all of God’s people….will be beyond imagining…..a hundredfold, sixty or thirty. For then, as now, we will be fully known by this patient sower whose love for us is known in the faithful, ongoing scattering of the seed.
Thanks be to God and let the church say…Amen.