Year A, Pentecost 5 Matthew 13: 1-9, 18-23
Growing up, my
father liked to extol the virtues of two foods—potatoes and peanut butter. He
told us a story of a man who lived on a jar of peanut butter for 30 days when
lost at sea…so we ate a lot of peanut butter. When he was trying to get my
older brothers to eat their potatoes (before a 2nd helping of
steak), he talked about the Irish who survived on nothing but potatoes. Consequently, when I took a pilgrimage to
Ireland about 10 years ago, I found myself intrigued by the stories our guide
told about the potato famine that led to mass starvation in Ireland in the mid
19th century.
Our guide, who
was also a farmer, explained that during the potato famine, they had to make
the most of the land and they needed as much as possible. They couldn’t just rely on the good soil;
they had to dig the rock out of the terrain that was considered bad soil...so
it could become good soil. He said it required
a tremendous amount of work to remove all that rock. It was fascinating to hear
the stories while seeing the land that they transformed.
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. 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, rocky ground, and ground covered with thorns? According
to this parable, there was good soil available. Why not stick with that? Instead of spreading it all over, 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,
the 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 told a story that people would have been able to identify with and
then used 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, often,
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. I mean this sower could not have had an
unlimited number of seeds. At what point
did he run out? 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. Because of that, Jesus is not worried about
wasting because there will always be enough.
But it’s
tempting to be strategic in our faith.
We might talk to some people about faith, but only the people we think
will 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. We also
wonder if we are capable of being the fertile ground? How can we share with
others when we don’t understand everything as well as we should?
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 or disciples.
It’s about a God who is so relentless with the love that God gives even
to those who might have trouble receiving it.
I agree with that, to an extent. This
text is about God’s abundant love.
But I also
believe it’s about the soil and how that soil can change. As followers of Christ, we can change. Some days we are the hardened path. Some days we are the rocky ground. Some days we are the good soil. We might go back and forth. At times, we
might even convince ourselves that we are too far gone, we can’t possibly receive
God’s word. That is when it’s important
to remember that this is the parable of the sower. The sower has already thrown the seed
everywhere. God’s loves has been spread
to every crevice of this world. You
might feel like you are rocky ground, but God still shared God’s love. God didn’t wait for you to be in a good place.
The sower knows that every type of soil has potential.
No matter what
kind of soil your soul might be feeling like right now, God has already shared God’s
love with you. God is like those Irish
farmers, doing that hard work of digging rocks out of the soil that was once
considered totally useless. Not one of
you is too far gone to receive God’s love…not just to receive it, but to help
others with their own receptivity to God’s love and compassion. Because if you have been the hardened path,
you know how to talk to other people who are experiencing hardened hearts and
thorny spirits. You are not going to
say, “Hey, it’s actually really easy and straightforward.” You might even say, I know what that’s like,
and I am still trying to figure it out.
Let’s figure it out together.
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