"Sow"
Sermon Presented July 13, 2008
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
My son Gary recently purchased a farm in NW Missouri. He doesn't plan to farm the land, but intends to use it for bird hunting. I asked him what it would take to get the land ready for planting. He replied that first he would need to get rid of the small trees that have shot up, and then eliminate the tall weeds, thorn bushes and grasses. After plowing the ground, rocks that worked to the surface would need to be removed. After running a disk to smooth the roughness, he would need to put nutrients back into the soil, followed by a weed killer to keep the weeds from returning. Then the land would be ready for planting a crop.
Our text this morning is a parable told by Jesus about one who sows seeds in different kinds of soil - some of it growing, and others dying. As you know, a parable both reveals and conceals. When we have ears to hear, a parable offers insight. To those with no desire to hear, it remains a story. Hear Jesus' parable and its interpretation from Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23.
I imagine that many of you have seen farms with fence posts made from rocks contained within a wire frame. Some of these posts have had concrete added, but not all of them. The rocky land around Lake of the Ozarks is a great place to find such fence posts. Instead of carrying the rocks off the land, the farmers use them right where they are. They eliminate the rocks from the field by making them into fence posts so that the field can be used for farming.
The parable in today's text is about a farmer who goes out to sow seeds. He isn't very discriminating about where he throws the seeds, and he doesn't remove the rocks first. He scatters the seeds liberally knowing that even though many seeds won't grow, he can expect a good harvest.
What happens to the farmer's seeds? Well crows swoop down and snatch the seeds that land on the path; weeds and thorns crowd out other seeds; and some of the seeds sprout but shrivel where the sun hits them because there is only a thin layer of soil over a rocky base. However, some of the seeds fall into good soil giving a tremendous yield - some 100 to one, some 60 to one and others 30 to one.
Where a gospel writer places a parable is significant, and Matthew places this parable right after instances where the religious leaders reject Jesus. What connection does this parable have to that context? Well, the seeds are thrown out randomly. The religious leaders - who should have provided fertile ground for Jesus' teachings - instead of flourishing, are represented by soil where nothing takes root! The fertile soil is in the unexpected people.
The sower represents God and the condition of the soil is the condition of the hearts of the people. God in Jesus sows seeds among the first century people. Some respond positively and the seeds take root; some initially respond positively and then shrivel up and die; and others fail to take root at all. But for those who provide the fertile ground, the yield is great!
Now let's broaden the scope of this parable to include our hearts as the soil in which the seeds are distributed. Some Christians, who have been faithful in the past, now refuse to open their lives - their hearts - to a deepening spirituality. Sometimes we are fertile and embrace newness in the area of spirituality, and other times we fall away and bear no fruit. Each individual's heart can be both fertile and rocky - depending on our openness at the moment. Sometimes we allow God to plant seeds in our hearts so that our love for God and people grows exponentially, and other times we close ourselves off and God meets rocky and thorny soil. The Christ of the harvest is alive and at work but we often fail to allow him to penetrate our hearts.
When Jesus came, he brought the reign of God to the world. The world is alive with the reign of God and the Church is a field alive and growing with the presence of Jesus. However, the Church has both good and bad growing conditions, and so do are individual lives. This parable is about the power of God to grow a harvest. We don't know why seeds grow in one place and not another. The miracle is that God can bring a harvest of mercy and justice, of compassion and forgiveness when our hearts are open. When our hearts are open and searching, God will bring a harvest.
When I was in Spain, I was introduced to the Camino de Santiago - the Way of St. James. It is a path across Northern Spain where pilgrims walk from the foot of the Pyrenees Mountains on the East to the place where the remains of the apostle James are buried on the West. This pilgrimage began in the 11th Century as a way to honor St. James, but now it is a way to deepen a person's faith. When we were in Burgos, we saw a statue of a pilgrim sitting on a bench resting before continuing his journey. Just as this pilgrimage is valuable to some on their faith journey, others flock to the Taize community in France or the Iona Community in Scotland in search of a deepening faith. Learning new ways to meditate is important to many in their search for a deepening spirituality. Taking time with God on a daily basis prepares our hearts to accept the seed God wants to plant in us.
Our inner terrain is much like the patchwork terrain of the field of the sower - a mixture of good and bad soil. We often hesitate to open our lives to new growth for fear we may need to build a whole new path. Weeds of fear and doubt can choke out God's message. We try many different faith practices, only to abandon them because they weren't right for us at that time in our lives.
Yet it is the weeds of our struggling faith that help us to relate to others on the journey. The times we are willing to share our own struggles are the moments we connect with others who are also struggling. When we allow God to turn our weaknesses into strengths, we can see that the Christ of the harvest is at work within the fields of our own spirits. We can see the church as a place alive and growing with the presence of Jesus - alive with both good and bad soil. (Bradley Schmeling, Christian Century, July 1, 2008)
A week ago I received an e-mail message from Jan and Larry Koll, friends in Marysville, KS. Larry drives huge farm machinery and listens to classical music in his air conditioned cabs as he plows, plants and harvests his wheat, corn and milo. Jan said that the wheat harvest is extremely late this year because of all of the rain they have had. The grain is still wet and there is an abundance of weeds in the wheat and the fall crops. The wheat also has some mildew disease.
You see, the harvest isn't only dependent upon the condition of the soil! It is also affected by rain, hail, frost, weeds, heat, insects and disease. After the seed is sown, there is still much to contend with. There is still much work to do. We try to control the harvest - to increase the yield - but no matter how good the seeds are, other factors affect the crop's yield. Negative conditions also affect our spiritual lives - sometimes negatively and other times positively.
Because each individual life consists of different kinds of soil, we must continue to listen to God and be receptive to the seed God wants to plant in us. Over time, if our field is cared for, it will eventually yield a great harvest. Sometimes we don't understand a new spiritual truth - or we aren't ready for what we hear. This seed may be washed away, but the next time it is introduced to the soil, it may take root. Our job is to continue to prepare our soil. Then when the seed finds fertile ground, the yield will be tremendous. What may not take root today may take root two or ten years from now.
Our background may affect the condition of our soil. God wants us to wrestle with our prejudices, unforgiveness, a desire for luxury or an unwillingness to go out of our way to confront injustice. Part of being a fertile field for God's word is to know ourselves. God will continue to sow seeds, and when the weeds and rocks are eliminated, the seed will take root.
Jesus says: "Let anyone with ears listen!" Are you listening?
07/13/2008
