Soils and Seeds

Still on vacation, this is the third sermon I preached here in Berryville. This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas three years ago (by the liturgical calendar) on Sunday July 10, 2005, the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time. This time frame is important since this sermon references events which are no longer current events. In my opinion, ignore the first few paragraphs and it's a better sermon.

This is the 100th sermon I have posted on line. Let there be rejoicing!

Genesis 25:19-34
Psalm 119:105-112
Romans 8:1-11
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen

When preaching the parables, the greatest danger for the newly ordained minister is thinking, “Ah, here's something I can sink my teeth into. Not only is this a famous story, but it explains itself.” The biggest problem with preaching the parables of Jesus is that when the preacher thinks there’s a handle on the lesson, there is a tendency to over simplify. Preaching simple meanings is sort of like water skiing over the passage like it’s a placid lake, all speed, no depth. But still, I hope this is not where I prove to you that fools go where angels fear to tread.

Let's go back over verses 19-23 and see how the parable deciphers itself:

"When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path."

This seems easy enough, the Word is what is sown, the seed, the path is a hard and crusty heart, and the bird is the evil one. Since the seed would have trouble germinating on the hard path, it becomes bird food. The word is snatched by the evil one without even penetrating the listener. So far so good. Let's continue...

"As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away."

Without roots the word cannot be nourished so it becomes scorched and withers away. All right, this is someone who is excited about the word, but when called a "Jesus Freak" or "Bible Thumper" they fall away. Someone who starts to move toward living in the Word, but after being mocked rejoins the big bad world. Nice flowers, no roots, dust in the wind. Well, next...

"As for what was sown among the thorns, this is one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the cares of the word, and it yields nothing."

On the high plains, you can see Russian thistle, tumbleweed, up to six feet around rolling across fields. When a plant becomes snared in tumbleweed, it cannot thrive. Shoots, leaves, and flowers become entangled and torn. And then when the stalk of the thistle snaps and the plant begins to tumble; it tears out any plant tangled in it. So this is like when someone is tempted by the ways of the world, because of the lure of riches and glory. And like leaves and flowers tangled in thorns, as they try to grow they are ripped and torn from the way of the word until they too fall away. Okay, finally...

"But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yield, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty."

Passing any well prepared row crop, you can imagine the bountiful harvest to come just by looking at it. So this is like someone who hears and responds to the Word and is faithful to it. They become fruitful. Soil like this is well prepared and receives what it needs in the way of tilling, feeding and tending.

There are several ways to look at parables. This way is called “code.” It is the easiest and most enduring way of interpreting parables. This particular parable is built like a code. The first half of today's reading is the word problem, and the second half is the solution. In this case, the parable is offered to us like a puzzle which is then solved for us.

There is nothing wrong with this reading. But if this is all there is to the passage then we would be cheating ourselves and the One who gave this to us. It would not be a very deep or involved reading of the passage. If that was all there was to biblical interpretation we'd be singing hymns now. But there is so much more…

This gives you an idea of where I was going with this sermon on Wednesday night. Then Thursday morning I woke up and I turned on the news; I knew this would have to change. Like so many, I awoke to the news of the bombings of the London Underground and Mass Transit System. (Again, I remind you, these attacks were a little over three years ago.--PAA) I woke to the confusion of the world. I woke hearing of up to seven explosions, an estimated 140 injured and dead.

I woke to British Prime Minister Tony Blair's steely condemnation of the events and their perpetrators. I saw the leaders of the G8 nations standing ramrod straight in support of the people Prime Minister Blair called "civilized persons." I woke to President Bush's denunciation of these events.

This brought me back to the Genesis passage. It brought me back to Esau and Jacob; how they came into this world; and into their own spheres of influence. Esau is called Edom, the “red man,” because of his skin complexion at birth. Jacob earns his nickname “ankle grabber” because of how he left the womb. The name Jacob even comes from the same Hebrew root as the word for heel.

One hunts and the other a farms. One loves the wilderness and the other lives in the tents. One is his father's son and the other is momma's boy. Later in Genesis, Jacob becomes Israel, the father a great nation, and Esau is the father of the Edomites, another great nation. It seems that the only thing these two ever shared was a womb, and that didn’t work out well. By the end of this passage, the only thing that they had in common was Esau’s birthright, and that was only when Jacob bought it from him.

The children struggled within her, they struggled against one another in their lifetimes, and the peoples they begat continue their struggle today. In a nationalistic way, this could describe what we are experiencing in the world right now. Looking at this historical piece as a coded parable, we could say that as the children of Jacob, we are still faced with struggles against the peoples of Esau.

Thursday night I was watching BBC World Report on PBS. The commentator was a young British man. He reflected on the events of the last couple of days. He talked about days when he felt like a Londoner. As a Londoner he was proud that the Olympics were coming to his city. He was proud that the city showed itself as a multicultural setting, a place of the world’s people for the world’s people. Then he said that after Thursday’s events, he felt like a Muslim.

In his eyes, as Tony Blair was shocked and blamed Muslims for the terror in London the commentator said Prime Minister Blair should not have been so shocked considering British foreign policy, especially in Afghanistan and Iraq. Perhaps the commentator’s point of view did not include the British Foreign Secretary’s office and Parliament as “civilized persons.”

As I was listing to him plugging variables into the code of the parable I had the very sharp realization that we did not share the same point of view. Considering the story of Esau and Jacob, he might remind us that Jacob stole what belonged to Esau, buying his birthright at an unjust price. Where is brotherly love? Where is there any love in this story? Esau looks at his birthright with contempt, after being forced to sell it so that he may eat, so that he may live.

If we use this as a sort of code to describe the world today we would be taking a very limited look at both this scripture and our global political setting. Only a pessimistic, depressing turn of events will follow this horrid event. This spiral will continue downward until all that is left is chaos and someone saying, “We should have seen this coming; it’s been this way since the beginning of time.” This is an attitude we are not allowed to have as long as there is hope.

One of the most common questions about any parable is “who am I in this story?” In this Old Testament story I assigned us the role of Jacob, or at least the offspring of Jacob in the Genesis passage. Historically this is who we are, the children of Jesus, a child of the tribe of Judah, son of Israel. In the context of this section, it is not a flattering image. As horrid as Thursday’s destruction is, as children of Jacob we are not the image of perfection, purity and light.

In the Gospel, there are two roles in the story left uncast. Reviewing the elements of the story, the bird is the evil one, the story tells us this. The sower is obviously the Lord. I think that’s a gimme. What is sown is the Word of the Lord. But this is a little trickier. According to the Swiss theologian Karl Barth, the Word of God is the word written, incarnate, and proclaimed. The Word sown in the field is the word of the scripture, and the word in the body and life of Jesus Christ, and the word in the proclamation of the word. But proclamation does not come only in sermons and lessons. It is in our very lives.

So I offer this possibility; we are the plants. We grow from the seed of the Word of the Lord. It is through our words and works that fruit that is produced as we proclaim Christ in our lives. Our lives bear fruit of the Spirit.

But part of this doesn’t set well with me. From this parable, it would seem that as long as the seed is sown in good soil we will be able to bear a hundred fold of fruit. It can’t be this easy; it seems that being a fruitful Christian comes from the good fortune of falling into good soil. This cannot be true. It cannot be true. And I don’t think it is.

As God sows the seed of the word into the soils of creation; I ask you to consider this, let the soil represent the church. Through the Holy Spirit, the church has now and forever been ordained to bear the fruit of the word in the world. We are called to act with love and peace and compassion in a sinful and broken world. The church belongs to the Lord. As a seed is not able to sprout in mid air, only when we are planted in the soil of church can we possibly bear fruit.

But the church is not just the good soil, the church can be the good soil, but it can also be hard and crusty like the road. It can be rocky. And it can be filled with thorns. For the church to become good soil, it must be cultivated. Preparing a garden takes more than simply throwing seed. The ground must be tilled and tended to be productive. A garden becomes fruitful when prudently fertilized and watered.

We participate in cultivating the soil as we participate in the sacraments. In remembering the waters of our baptism and receiving the spiritual food of the Lord’s Supper we are prepared by God. Through this work of God, the fields are cleared of rocks and thorns.

We participate in cultivating the soil through the work of the church. Project Self Esteem[1] will soon need people to help fill and distribute backpacks for local school children. As this work is done, children will be better prepared to learn. This mission is a valuable outreach to the community of Berryville and toward the kingdom of God. Our contributions to the Presbytery through the annual per capita contribution and the Two-Cents-a-Meal offering are other mission responses which prepare the soil of the church for the seed of the word.

Spiritual disciplines including worship, prayer, fasting, celebrating the Sabbath and stewardship are other things we do to clear the fields of rocks and thistles so that we may grow. These are some of the disciplines which help us become more fertile and fortify the soil so that we may bear fruit.

Only when the ground is properly prepared, only when we cooperate and participate in the tilling of the soil can we accept the word and participate in the work. When the people of God, are firmly rooted in the good soil of the church we are nourished. When we respond to the word, freely given as the sower scatters seed, we can bear the fruit of the Spirit; the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.

In the story of Esau and Jacob, I asked “where is the love?” None of the fruit of the Spirit is present in this story. The soil these men walk on is hard and crusty. Jacob is lost seeking the riches of his father’s estate, Esau’s birthright. He would rather starve his brother to death for land, livestock, and riches than lift a single finger. This is a sad story.

We must work the soil; we must be receptive and responsive to the call of God in our lives. Only then will we be able to forgive and be forgiven. With this attitude of hope, through God we will be able to overwhelm the rage and be able to mourn the events of last Thursday. As the seed is sown on the good soil, we will be able to take root in the word in the soil of the church, and bear the fruit of the Spirit. This is what God wants for all of us. The word is sown, the gift is freely given, the soil is here. The seeds and soils of God are good. Let us thrive in it.

[1] Project Self-Esteem is a mission project of this church which provides school supplies to needy children in Carroll County, Arkansas.