Year
A, Pentecost 5
One of the things we saw in Ireland were
the fields that were used for the potato farming. These fields were not on typical flat
farmland. They went up cliffs. Our
guide, who was also a farmer, explained that before and during the potato
famine, they were making the most of the land and they needed as much as
possible. So they dug the rock out of
the terrain and that allowed the land to become better soil. He said it would have required a tremendous
amount of work to remove all that rock.
We heard a fair amount about farming during that trip. I think that knowing more about farming and
agriculture would be helpful in understanding the Gospels because of the
imagery that Jesus used.
The people Jesus was talking to were
farmers or people who knew farmers. In
this time and this area, everyone knew where their food came from and generally
how it happened. It is likely that the
people he was talking to were not well off and were unaccustomed to having more
than they needed. Unlike today, they did not have food stored in their pantry
or their freezer. There were no canned
or frozen goods. If there was a bad crop
or a drought, they would very likely go hungry.
Because of that scarcity, I suspect that
this parable of the sower seemed a little ridiculous to them even though the
imagery was familiar. What kind of farmer
wastes ¾ of his seeds? If you only have
so many seeds, why throw some on hardened paths that might as well be concrete,
rocky ground, and ground covered with thorns? I don’t know a whole lot about
farming, but even I know that type of soil is not going to be conducive to a
good harvest. According to this parable,
there was good soil present. Why not use that?
Instead of spreading it willy-nilly, put all of the seeds in the good
soil. That would be the sensible approach.
As much as it pains me to admit this,
Jesus was rarely about the sensible approach.
Let’s face it, the virgin birth—not sensible, crucifixion—not sensible,
the resurrection—not sensible. This does
not make these things any less real, they were just extraordinary. Yet this is a parable. Parables are supposed to make sense. When Jesus spoke in parables, he would take a
fairly simple story that people would have been able to identify with and then
use that story to teach a lesson about God.
However, just because it was a simple story, did not necessarily mean it
was a simple lesson.
In fact, most of the time the lessons
were counterintuitive. If this was a
sensible and realistic story, the sower would have carefully spread the seeds
where he knew there was good soil. That
means all of the seeds would have had growth potential. As a result, there would have been an even
greater harvest and the seeds would not have been wasted. And this parable is about results, right?
Perhaps not. You might note that when Jesus explains the
parable he refers to it as the parable of the sower, not the parable of the
ground or the parable of the crop. It’s
about the sower; the person who is tossing seeds around with wild abandon. Jesus explains that the seeds are the word of
the kingdom or the word of God. He never
says who the sower is, but if the seeds are the word of God, it would be safe
to assume that the sower is Jesus. It
could also be whoever spreads the word of God, which means it could be any one
of us.
One of the things I cannot help but
wonder about is the amount of seeds. This
sower could not have had an unlimited number of seeds. At what point did he run out? I would think that at some point the bag
became light and he would have been more cautious with his seed placement. If we told this story today, it would be all
about how careful we are with what we have.
We might talk about the importance of good stewardship of
resources. In other words, how are we
using our limited resources as effectively as possible? Instead of talking about
the countless supply of seeds, we might talk about how we could get the most
out of every seed. We would discuss each
seed and its chance of success. Then in our modern day version of the story,
the careful and practical farmer would develop a machine that would distribute
each seed in fertile ground.
But this sower isn’t a farmer and the
seed is not something that will run out.
This seed is the word of God. The word of God isn’t just the Biblical
text; it’s also the experience of God.
It’s God’s love and grace. And
those things don’t come in packages of 100.
They are countless. The sack that
contains these things is bottomless. Because
of that, Jesus is not worried about wasting because there will always be more
as long as we keep giving. As long as we
keep reaching into that bag, there will always be more. But it’s tempting to be strategic in our
faith. We might talk to some people
about faith, but only the people we think would be receptive. We might invite a couple people to church, but
only the people who might say yes. We
take the safe road because we fear rejection and we fear failure.
Even Jesus realized that he would only
reach a portion of the people he was speaking to. When he taught this parable, the crowd was so
large he had to move out to a boat to address them. Yet in the end, the crowd that sat at the
foot of the cross was one or two people.
The crowd that condemned him to death was countless. He preached to them even when he knew they
would not stay with him to the end. Even
his disciples would abandon him in some shape or form. Yet he kept giving abundantly.
A lot of people read this parable and say
the point is that it’s all about God and how God provides. We can’t change the soil on our own. We can only pray that God will change
it. Therefore it is not about how we can
become better listeners, disciples who receive the word of God more
authentically. It’s about a God who is
so relentless with his love that he gives it to everyone, even people he knows
will reject it. I agree with that. This text is about God’s abundant love. But I also believe that soil can change. As followers of Christ, we can change. When the disciples heard this parable, they
were the rocky ground. We know this
because when Jesus was arrested, they fled.
Then, Jesus appeared to them in the resurrected form and they rejoiced.
They faced their fears and in the end they became that soil that could bear
much fruit. They were able to face
persecution without losing heart. The
soil changed.
This parable is not a perfect
analogy. I would have failed my creative
writing class with this parable. As
disciples of Christ we are the ground, we are the sower, and we are the
seed. We receive God’s love, we provide
God’s love and in some ways, we are God’s love.
God will love us regardless of what kind of soil we are. Of that, there is no doubt. But if we want to be vessels of God’s love…if
we want to provide God’s love to others, then we have to participate in the
Gospel. We have to dig the rock out of
our hearts. We have to fling the seeds
of love in places we know it will be ignored.
Sometimes we have to reject the sensible and safe approach and be a
little fearless with our love. After
all, it’s not our love. It is God’s love. God has been pretty clear in what we are to
do with that love.
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