Matthew 13:1-9; 18-23
Let us pray. To you, O God, the one who answers prayer,
the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the oceans far away, help us and
all flesh come to you. Amen.
The parable of the
sower is told in direct response to people being critical of Jesus. If we go
back to chapter 12, we will see the Pharisees directly challenging Jesus and
debating with him. In 12:14, the Pharisees start to plot Jesus’ death. At the
end of chapter 12, Jesus is interrupted by someone who says, “Look, your
mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” But…
Jesus replied, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And pointing to his
disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the
will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (12:47-50
NIV)
Just after that
conversation – that same day – Jesus
went out and spoke in parables to the crowd.
A sower
went out to sow…
OK, let’s
stop there for a second.
On Tuesday mornings I
go to text study with other pastors. Every week we discuss the passages that
are assigned for the following Sunday. This past Tuesday, Eva was with us. We
were talking about this Bible reading, and she had a hard time following along.
Now,
Eva’s English is very good.
She can’t always find the right word to say
in the moment, but she can understand conversations just fine.
We lost her when we
were talking about this parable.
Why is it that
sometimes our Bible stories and our prayers and other stuff in church uses words
that we don’t ever use in everyday conversation? And why is English so
confusing that words with totally different meanings sound like each other?
Unless you’re actually reading along, you might thing we’re talking about a
seamstress here, getting ready to hem up a pair of pants!
Let’s listen to another translation of this
parable for the sake of Eva, and anyone else who likes things to be in plain,
ordinary English.
“A farmer planted seed.
As he scattered the seed, some of
it fell on the road, and birds ate it.
Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn’t put
down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly.
Some fell in the weeds; as it
came up, it was strangled by the weeds.
Some fell on good earth, and produced a harvest beyond his
wildest dreams.
Are you listening to this? Really
listening?” (13:3-9
The Message)
That makes more sense now,
doesn’t it?
Our Gospel lesson for today continues
with an interpretation of the parable. It’s pretty predictable, actually, given
the context. Some people in the crowds were just challenging Jesus a few verses
ago. Some people came and listened to him for a while but still go about their days
largely unchanged. Some people have dedicated their entire lives to following Jesus.
We can connect the dots. We can figure out which people are
represented by which type of soil. Jesus’ message – the Word of God – is the
seed that is scattered, and some followers are more faithful than others.
That’s the interpretation.
But I don’t think that’s all that
the parable can teach us.
A farmer planted seed.
A sower went out to sow.
There is one character in this story, and that is the person who scatters
the seed. What can we learn from this character?
Or to look at things from a
different perspective, why should we care about the seed in this parable at
all? What does it matter whether the seed bears fruit or not? The only possible
answer to that is, the seed matters because of the sower. The farmer cares
enough to plant the seeds. That’s why we as the listeners of this story care
about what happens to them.
OK, obvious question.
Who does the farmer represent?
You could argue whether the sower is supposed to be Jesus or
God the Father, but certainly, this parable gives us an image of God as farmer.
This God-figure doesn’t say
anything, but actions speak louder than words. So we can learn from the actions
of the farmer in this parable.
When God sows seeds, they are scattered indiscriminately, generously,
extravagantly.
God’s blessings
are abundant.
When God sows seeds, spreads
grace, offers blessings, there is not a limit to the places those blessings
might reach.
One colleague of mine describes
the farmer we meet in this parable as
“an image of a
God who continues to shower mercy, grace and love to the world, knowing that
some will not bear fruit. This is not a calculated strategy to get a return,
but an amazing gift of grace, spread on the hard-hearted, the selfish, and
those who are searching for God.” (http://apearldownunder.blogspot.com)
God the farmer isn’t worried about
profits or expenses.
It appears that there is an
endless supply of seeds.
God plants everywhere – God shares
the Word with everyone – knowing that some places or some people won’t receive
it well. But that’s no reason not to give it a chance.
See, here’s the thing. When we
spend so much time on the interpretation of this parable – this kind of soil
refers to that kind of people, and so on – when we focus on solving the
equation, we become judgmental.
Some people are in, and some
people are out.
But when we remain focused on the farmer, we realize that God
isn’t as discriminating as we often can be. God throws seeds all over the
place, whether it’s a likely place for growth or not.
Extravagant.
Generous.
Abundant.
That’s the image that we get of
God today.
Does that match the image of the
God that you know?
Let’s do a little activity.
Think for a moment about some of the words that you would use
to describe God.
You can use adjectives like
extravagant, or nouns like farmer – you can even imagine a picture if you’re
feeling creative – any word or image that you think can reveal something about
God is fair game.
How
would you describe God?
[pause]
Got some ideas? We’re going to
write down these words and images, and I’m going to actually put together a
display for us to look at later. The ushers have some cards that they’re going
to pass out in just a moment.
But I’m going to ask you to stretch outside of your comfort
zone for a minute first.
In just a moment, I’d like you to
find someone else in the congregation – you can find a partner or do groups of
threes and fours – and share what some of those words for God are. See if any
of your words match. And then, as a group, write all the words you can think of
on the one card that the ushers will give you. Got it? OK, let’s find a
partner.
[pause
– ushers distribute cards of various colors, and pens/pencils]
Whenever you finish, the ushers
are going to collect the cards from you again. They will be brought forward
during the offering, later in the service. Today all of us are offering up
something to God – a piece of our faith, a way of understanding who God is.
[pause
– encourage writing]
I’ll keep talking here, and
whenever you’re done writing or drawing, flag down the ushers.
Biblical scholars categorize today’s
parable as a parable of the kingdom – meaning, it’s one of the stories that
Jesus tells that gives us a picture of the kingdom of God. One author calls
this category “the disciple’s life before God.”
(Hultgren, The Parables of Jesus,
p.180)
Focusing on the seeds or on the soil doesn’t really give us a
good picture of the kingdom of God. When we dwell there for too long, we think
only about the disciple’s life and forget that the life is meant to be lived in
the presence of God.
When we turn our attention to the
farmer – to God – then we are conscientious of every aspect of our lives taking
place in God’s presence.
Jesus’ parable today helps us learn more about God, and
hopefully helps us grow closer to God in our lives.
There’s a beautiful
blessing based on this parable in Sundays and Seasons, the resource that we use
for our worship prayers. Receive the blessing: (sundaysandseasons.com)
May God the sower
make you good and fertile
soil.
May Christ the seed
bloom and grow in your
words and actions.
May the fruitful Spirit
bring forth a bountiful
yield in your lives.
God the Father, + Son, and
Holy Spirit
bless you now and forever.
Amen.
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