“The Good Earth” – Sermon on July 10, 2011
July 10, 2011
Scripture: Matthew 13: 1-9, 18-23
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!”
“Hear then the parable of the sower. 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. 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. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. 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 yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”
Sermon: The Good Earth
by Rev. Doreen Oughton
I am struck by the connection of these words I pray each week before I preach, and the parable we heard in today’s gospel reading, which talks about shallow ground, rocky ground, thorn-choked ground and finally the good soil. God as the ground of my being, and so many descriptions of different types of ground. Is this passage familiar to people? Have you heard it preached before? I ask because it is very familiar to me, appearing in three of the gospels, not only the parable Jesus shares, but also the unpacking and interpretation of it that he gives. I confess that I worried about whether I could find anything fresh in the message.
I think the most obvious place to go with this is to wonder what kind of soil we are. Are we the type that don’t really even understand the word of the kingdom, so have it snatched away by the “evil one” before it can settle and grow in us? The parable says this is the seed that fell on the path and was eaten by the birds. Who is the “evil one” that snatches the word from us? The devil? That is not likely what gospel writer Matthew meant, as he did not use the word diabolos, which means devil. Instead he used the Greek word ponerou, which could be translated as hardships or troubles. Perhaps it means that we have trouble making any connection at all between our difficulties in life, and scripture. We can’t see what the word of the kingdom has to do with our real lives, our difficult lives, our daily grind, and so we dismiss it. We certainly don’t look to it for guidance or comfort. We think its message of love and mercy, of loving enemies and sharing all we have as out of touch, as unrealistic pie in the sky. Nothing we can really let grow in our hearts and souls.
Or are we rocky soil? Even in our real lives, our imperfect lives, we can hear that there is something to this word of the kingdom. We consider the possibilities of what it would be like for people to live the way Christ taught. We are taken with the amazing love of Christ, of God, that we learn about. We start treating people with loving kindness, we reach out and share, we give of our time, talent and treasure. But then we are taken advantage of. The people we’ve reached out to are doing nothing to help themselves, they just take, take, take. And no matter how kindly and respectfully we’ve treated people, some are nothing but rude, or even hostile in return. Turn the other cheek? Let someone have not only my coat but my shirt too? Love my enemy instead of fighting back, instead of getting revenge? That’s ridiculous. The cynicism seeps in. Religion is just a way to manipulate people, the church just wants my money. They’re just a bunch of hypocrites.
Or are we thorn-choked soil, lured away from faith by our cares of the world, and by wealth, which sounds a lot like the other problems described that keep the word from taking root. Or are we that good soil, deep and moist and full of nutrients, that the word can take root in and bear fruit up to a hundredfold. Is this how you’ve heard it preached? A focus on how to make yourself good soil, to not be too shallow, too caught up in the cares of the world, too obsessed with personal gain and success, but to focus instead on bring the word to fruition? It certainly is one way to think about it, but it also occurs to me that soil can’t help the type it is. It is what it is. And you can’t really change your own soil.
Another problem with this is it can lead to a lot of judgment about what type of soil someone else is. And we make ourselves too important to the process of bearing fruit. One commentator pointed out that this is not called the parable of the soils, but the parable of the sower. The focus, perhaps, ought not be upon ourselves, on what type of soil we are, but upon Jesus, and how indiscriminate, how incredibly lavish he is with where he sows the Word.
I always like to put the daily scripture passage into context of what came just before it, and sometimes, what comes after. Chapter twelve is full of action. Jesus and his disciples pluck and eat grain on the Sabbath, so Jesus gets into a major debate with the Pharisees. He provokes them further by healing a man with a withered hand, then, when he hears they are conspiring against him, slips away. He continues preaching and teaching and healing, but tells people to keep quiet about it. But they must not keep quiet, because he again goes head to head with Pharisees. So extravagant with his words, with his healings. He keeps teaching his disciples and other followers, keeps trying to make the religious leader see the light, keeps widening his circle, keeps broadening his understanding of his mission, of who he is here for. Perhaps that is the lesson we are to learn from this parable. We are to emulate Jesus in our indiscriminate sowing of the seed, sharing the good news of God’s love everywhere, whether or not people seem receptive. Keep giving to those people who only take, take, take. Keep showing loving kindness to people who are rude or even hostile. Jesus didn’t worry about making the conditions just so before he would sow the seeds, and neither should we.
I do like this message, to worry less about the results of our actions, and just focus on our actions. Well at least to some degree. Because I do think that accountability matters. It matters that we work on finding ways to spread the good news that people can hear and engage. While we ought not blame the soil, or become stingy in our efforts to show God’s love, we can and ought to pay attention to what really makes a positive difference in people’s lives.
But I was really intrigued by the ideas of John Petty in his blog on this passage. He suggests that this interpretation gets some very important metaphors wrong. He says that Jesus is not the sower, and his teachings are not the seed. Jesus himself is the seed. Jesus is the Word that is sown by God, who is the sower. And Jesus is sown everywhere. The Word became flesh that all might be saved. All. The sowing has been done without any participation on our part. God did it. The Word is bearing fruit 30, 60, even 100 fold no matter what we do. It’s already done, and it’s done everywhere. The seed was not just for the Israelites, it was not just for the religious authorities and those who did what they were told. It is not just for America, or Christian nations, or particular faiths or denominations. The Word has been sown everywhere.
And the soil, well all types of soil are everywhere also. All types of soil are within us, each one of us. Petty says the four types of soil are meant to signify all conditions of life. Jesus has already been sown in good soil and bad, among rocks and among thorns, into all conditions of life. The seed is sown not only on Sunday mornings when we worship, not only when we say grace and give thanks, not only when we make sandwiches for Worcester Fellowship or help with tornado relief. The seed is sown when we struggle with our fears about not having enough, when we want to hold back, when we feel angry or resentful or judgmental. Jesus is everywhere.
I also appreciate Petty’s point about the seeming insignificance of a seed. They are tiny and fragile. It is hidden, it does its work out of sight, mysteriously. It even has to die to its form in order to do its work. Such a perfect metaphor for Christ. Even if a seed is eaten by a bird, that doesn’t stop it from doing its work. Think about it. That seed will be dropped somewhere else. Okay, maybe on a windshield, but still, things can grow in the strangest places due to seeds dropped by birds. A seed is not a powerful, triumphal image. It is so counter-intuitive. The people of Israel have been awaiting their Savior, their Messiah. They have prayed for him to come, perhaps with his armies, but certainly with power and might. And instead God gives them but a seed.
But the thing is, it works. This fragile, tiny mysterious, hidden, dying seed bears fruit throughout the world. We can’t control it, we can’t stop it, we can’t even, on our own, change the type of soil that is us. But we can see it, we can recognize the rocky, shallow, thorn-choked areas of our lives that are none-the-less sown with God’s grace and love. And we can see the good soil, the potential of it, within us, the beautiful earth that bears such good and plentiful fruit. This fruit has nothing to do with following the rules, with being pious, with spiritual feelings. It has to do with imitating Christ as best we can. Let’s not worry about the soil. God will tend it and God will so the seed. Let’s just focus on being and sharing the wonderful fruit. Let it be so.
