I apologize for not having audio available for this sermon. Something happened while recording so the audio is not available.
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 is over simplifying the gospel. With our reading this morning not only are we blessed with the parable, we are also blessed with its interpretation from the mouth of the Lord himself. But if there is one thing we can say about the Lord, it’s that his words are never as simple as they first appear. Often the word of the Lord is laced with wisdom it takes a lifetime to discover.
There are several ways to look at parables. The most common way is to decipher them like a code. The parable is offered like a puzzle which is then solved.[1] It is also the easiest and most enduring way of interpreting parables.
This parable is actually built like a code. The first half of today’s reading is a word problem, and the second half is the solution.
There is nothing wrong with reading this parable like a code. But if this is all there is to the passage then we would be cheating ourselves and the One who gave it to us. It would not be a very deep or involved reading of the passage either. If this “code” was all there was to biblical interpretation we’d be singing hymns now, but there is so much more. So let’s go back over the reading and see how the parable deciphers itself:
“When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.”
This seems easy enough, what is sown is the message about the kingdom; this is the seed. The path is the heart of anyone who hears the message and does not understand. The bird is the evil one. The seed would have as much trouble penetrating and germinating on the hard and crusty path as it does being understood by someone who has become hardened, so it becomes bird food. So far so good? Let’s continue...
“The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.”
Without roots the plant cannot be nourished, it becomes scorched and withers away. All right, this is someone who hears and is excited about the word, but when they face obstacles because of the word they fall away. This is someone who starts living in the Word, but after facing abuse for the sake of the word they choose to rejoin the big bad world. Nice flowers, no roots, dust in the wind. Well, next...
“The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.”
There’s one big difference between the rocky soil and the thorny soil. It’s the difference between the soil itself and what pops up through it. It’s the difference between the world’s climate and the world’s worries and temptations.
Nothing grows in rocky soil for long. Everything on it withers and dies on a hot summer day. So where rocky soil represents the obstacles of the world, the thorny soil is like someone who has sprouted roots and is growing, but is overcome by the woe of the world or by 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 the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
In biblical times, one bushel seed could produce between seven-and-a-half and fifteen bushels at harvest.[2] Jesus tells them that compared to these harvests, the harvest of the kingdom can be between two and fourteen times greater than they could hope or imagine. Jesus tells his disciples that the word of the kingdom produces a bountiful harvest when it falls on good soil; this is the harvest of the heart that hears the word and understands it.
So much for my interpretation of the “Parable of the Sower,” I have just used around 500 words to say what Matthew did in fewer than 165; but it’s not much of an interpretation. It’s like waterskiing over the parable, fast and shallow.
In fact, there are other things worth considering this morning. Getting back to parables in general, one of the most common questions about any parable, especially when trying to decipher the code, is “who am I in this story?” To answer that, we need to review the elements of the story.
The bird is the evil one, the interpretation tells us this. Now what if the evil one is not the devil per se? There is much more evil in this world than what is directly perpetrated by “The Accuser.”[3] Minions pop up all around us to steel the seed from the soil, the voices of those who love us and even our own voices can become accusing. One well meant but ill-tempered warning can easily become a thorn that grows as big as a spike.
What is sown, the seed, is the word of the kingdom. According to the Swiss theologian Karl Barth, the Word of the kingdom is the word written, incarnate, and proclaimed. The Word sown in the field is the word of the scripture, and the word incarnate is the life of Jesus Christ, and the proclaimed word beginning with sermons and lessons. Of course it does not come in sermons and lessons alone, our personal proclamation is the witness of our lives.
As for the sower, the Lord is the one who sows the seed that began it all by spreading the seed of creation. This is obvious in scripture. But here’s something important, we are also called to be sowers with the Lord. What the Lord begins we are called to continue. This is what Mr. Al was talking about during today’s children’s sermon.[4]
This puts us in a precarious situation, we are the sower who shares the word of the kingdom with the world and our lives are the seed. This is the sort of interpretation that challenges us to dig deep to share the word of the kingdom with all the world. Didn’t I promise you there was more to this than a simple code?
Last week was a fun week to be Presbyterian. The largest assembly of Presbyterians outside of the General Assembly was held in Indianapolis
At one of the events, the Reverend Jill Hudson reported one of the biggest challenges facing churches is learning how to be effective in reaching new generations. She reported that in her opinion the church has missed the boat on people born between 1964 and 1981, the people collectively known as Generation X. She said because the church focused on baby-boomers rather than the emerging generations “we already have all the Gen Xers we are likely to have in church.” She continued “What we need to learn now…are skills in reaching the generations younger than Gen Xers.”
Reverend Hudson asks “How does the church get ahead of the curve, rather than behind it? The church will need to become multicultural, high tech, high sensory and high touch, interwoven with images and music. To become such a church requires that leaders blend a love of Jesus Christ with a desire to make faith relevant to the culture.”[5]
For those who wonder what’s wrong with the images Jesus used in scripture, it is important to remember that the people who heard the Parable of the Sower were familiar with agriculture, way more familiar than most of us are. The images of the seed and the soil were something they knew intimately. They knew the relative yield numbers that I shared with you; but for the most part, we don’t.
Further, the yield today of good hybrid seed in well prepared soil is 200 grains per seed.[6] If you know modern yield numbers and not the ancient it would seem the word of the kingdom would be limiting. We know better than that, but without proper reference it could be taken the wrong way. Jesus was culturally relevant and our call is to continue that today.
Writing for the Presbyterian News Service, Jessica Reid talked about a small group of folks who turned an old bus stop shelter into a greenhouse. The banner above the headline proclaimed “Faith meets action for Big Tent young adults.”
Jordan Akin, a college student from Little Rock , AR
There are neighborhoods like this in Marshall
Akin and four other young adults were taking part in a unique trip to Urban Mountain Farms in Indianapolis
The “field trip” was organized by Adrian McMullen as part of the Pathways Conference at Big Tent. The conference focused on discipleship exploration and leadership development for youth, young adults, and collegiate ministry leaders.
McMullen said “Through this work, [these young adults] are putting their faith into action physically, not just through spiritual acts. They care about eco-justice, and they care about social issues, so this program integrates the two. It meets them where they are in their faith journey.”[7]
Faith into action, it is as the book of James says, faith without works is dead.
There are dozens of other stories that can be shared about what happened at Big Tent but this is enough to say that these were just two types of seed scattered in Indianapolis kingdom of God
As much as we are the sower and the seed, the church is the soil. 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. 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 always the good soil.
The church should be the good soil, but it can also be hard and crusty like the path. It can be rocky. And it can be filled with thorns. For the church to become good soil, it must be cultivated. These days, 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 celebrate 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.
Spiritual disciplines including study, worship, prayer, fasting, stewardship, and celebrating the Sabbath 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 our lives are good seed, only when we are a generous sower, only when the ground is properly prepared, and only when we cooperate and participate in the tilling of the soil can we accept the word and participate in the work of the kingdom. When the people of God, are firmly rooted in the good soil of the church we are nourished.
So let us work the soil and prepare it for good seed; this is one of the responsibilities of the sower. We must be receptive and responsive to the call of God in our lives. Then we will be able to take root in the word in the soil of the church, and bear the fruit of the Spirit. Then we will have an abundance of seed to scatter on the world. This is what God wants for all of us. The word is sown, the gift is freely given, the soil is here. Let us thrive in it.
[1] Long, Thomas G., “Preaching and the Literary Forms of the Bible.” Philadelphia
[2] Hare, Douglas R. A., “Interpretation, A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, Matthew.” Louisville , KY
[3] “ha satan” is the Hebrew phrase for “the accuser”
[4] Today’s Children’s sermon was from Elder Al Key with the story of Johnny Appleseed.
[5] Cox-Holmes, Erin, “Is better ever enough?” http://www.pcusa.org/news/2011/7/1/better-ever-enough/, retrieved July 2, 2011
[6] “How many grains of wheat on a stalk,”http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080426145223AA6zCbE, retrieved July 6, 2011
[7] Reid, Jessica, “Faith meets action for Big Tent young adults.” http://www.pcusa.org/news/2011/7/2/faith-meets-action-big-tent-young-adults/, retrieved July 2, 2011
[8] We had just heard a Minute for Mission from the kids who went to Summer Camp at Camp Gilmont in Gilmer , Texas
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