Listen and Sow
Genesis 25: 19-34
Psalm 119: 105-112
Matthew 13: 1-9, 18-23
Homily by Deb Lockhart
Let us begin with a prayer of invitation to the Holy Spirit, by John Henry Newman:
Come, Holy Spirit.
Come as Holy Fire and burn in us,
Come as Holy Wind and cleanse us,
Come as Holy Light and lead us,
Come as Holy Life and dwell within us.
Convict us, convert us, consecrate us,
Until we are set free from the service of ourselves,
To be your servants to the world. AMEN.
Spoiler alert: Today’s sermon will not be about gardening…. It is about hearing or listening.
To give us some context before dropping into Matthew 13, Jesus has had a series of disappointments as he is teaching about the kingdom of heaven. By the time we arrive here, crowds are forming wherever he is, and many of his own people, in their misunderstanding of what he is trying to teach, that this kingdom of heaven is here on earth, right now for the taking, are responding negatively, pushing back or turning away. To enter this kingdom of heaven, there is a catch. You must obey the new commandments of which Jesus is teaching: The first, to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, followed by the 2nd, to love your neighbor as yourself.
Seeing Jesus perform healing and other miracles was a real crowd pleaser, but his teaching of this kingdom of heaven wasn’t easily understood and not at all as sexy as witnessing the blind get their vision or a child raised from the dead, and a paralytic picking up his mat and walking home. They just didn’t get it and are turning away. Likewise, the authorities are losing patience and are fearful of his perceived power.
Today, Jesus begins with the parable of the sower. He simply says, “Listen! A sower went out to sow.” He goes on to describe the soil upon which the seeds land as well as the likelihood of the seeds’ survival.
This soil, our soil (or our very being) is described by Jesus as compacted, rocky, thorny, or good. We are left to wonder what kind of soil we are—-are we mostly good soil with a few rocks or weeds thrown in? And how many of us are trying to determine where our own soil stacks up against another’s?
Soil isn’t static—-it changes as conditions around it (us) change. If we are being honest here, we can probably agree we may change often, even daily as we all are on different journeys at any given time.
Life happens and our soil reflects it.
Soil isn’t just yours or mine, but ours. We work together in our community of faith to keep our soil good, without the toxins that can seep in when we are not vigilant. Temptation to let down our guard happens because we become complacent believing ours soil to be “premium” soil. Societal issues can arise and seep in, polluting our premium good soil. Sometimes pollution of our good soil comes about because of who we are—people of privilege, be it money or opportunity and the comfort it brings to our lives. We must always be at the ready to make the needed adjustments, to take action, to once again, be listening for God’s Word, for it contains the clarity we lack. It is not an easy solution, but an opener of our hearts for ways to improve our soil, being better stewards of the Word for others and ourselves.
Hearing God’s Word—though it sounds simple, beginning with those new commandments, in reality it is hard and it is work. Have you felt that as much as you try to listen to and for God’s Word, there’s so much around you that makes more sense? That sometimes our God belief feels fleeting? To be receptive to the Word of God, we have to be in a healthy way, without obstacles or excuses.
It can be as direct as getting out of our own way in order to receive what God is giving us. It can be painful letting go of old ways, of making changes in our lives that will leave room for God, and not the other gods (small “g”) we bring into our lives, like greed, self-interest, worldly busyness, or pettiness. Our soil, once healthy is able to bear the seed of God’s Word and flourish with new life. In the end it is about how God’s Word has taken hold in us—it isn’t a competition about who hears God’s Word better, but about what the hearing creates in all of us.
The disciples, in their very human way, don’t always hear Jesus’ messages—this is no exception. In the passage between our two readings, they question Jesus about his use of parables, as if to ask, why can’t you just say what you mean? Jesus, uncharacteristically, speaks up in answer to his disciples’ question…… perhaps out of his own frustration at the negativity brewing with his teaching of the kingdom of heaven, we can only speculate … but Jesus explains to his disciples the four different types of soil they may encounter and is once again, hoping to help them understand what their role, that of a sower, is all about.
Despite their lack of true understanding, Jesus does not give up on them and assures them that he will be with them to the end of the earth.
This brings us back to the parable at hand, the Sower. The sower sows, scattering the seed everywhere—call it reckless, careless or even wasteful. There is nothing certain with this method of sowing—there is only the uncertainty of whether the seed will produce a fruitful harvest. Nothing about this makes good sense in our earthly realm—-if this were a business, we would shake our heads wondering about the foolhardiness of scattering seed without a plan. There seems to be nothing strategic about flinging seed everywhere….but then again, could we entertain that the sower throwing seed “any old place” might actually be part of God’s plan to include not only good soil, but also the places that are broken, barren, or abandoned by others? Could we go so far as to suggest that God’s vision of the world includes all those down and out spots? Jesus does not say that the sower is to sow here and not there—-to people deserving to hear good news and not to others less deserving. No, we inherently know the answer to this, but it is hard and it is work.
This is where I’d like to stop and wonder with you aloud, what is our role as sower, that Jesus speaks of? Are we ready to be sowers? Do we have what it takes—the answer is an unequivocal yes! We were seeded by the seeds first planted in us when we heard the Word of God from a sower who may have been a parent, grandparent, a coach or Sunday school teacher. These early seeds were nurtured in us through our baptism and enriched by coming together in community to strengthen and be renewed. This place in us, in our good soil, is to be maintained and will continually change in order for us to grow and mature the fruits of God’s Word—-as love, joy, peace, kindness gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. But what of scattering seed, God’s Word, everywhere, thinking little of what kind of soil you are seeding? Jesus never calls himself a sower, he just says the sower sows the Word, wherever the sower goes. Sometimes the Word will get snatched away when the recipient isn’t ready to receive it but there will be more seed, always more seed where that comes from. God’s Word, the seed, is so precious, we can’t be concerned about keeping it for just the right places, remember soil (we humans) changes, and continued seeding may bring about the fruitful harvest and more sowers! As we will see, the next several weeks finds Jesus continuing to sow, spreading God’s Word.
The message is clear, God’s seed is to be shared far and wide, even within the pews of this church. We, as faithful disciples of the disciples of Jesus are called to continue to sow so that our great grandchildren’s grandchildren and generations after that may continue to tend to their soil as well as be the future sowers of God’s Word, grounding us all in the kingdom of heaven. There is no shortage, only God’s abundance of seed, of God’s love— this is the hundredfold harvest that Jesus spoke of that day on the lake. We, as today’s disciples, are to proclaim this promise of God’s abundance of love again and again by our sowing. It is in the hearing of God’s Word that has created us today……
So go and be a sower! There is so much seed to be sown. Fling and scatter God’s Word willy-nilly, far and wide, out into the world of God’s care. There is no strategic plan. Get our there. Sow.