God Wastes Seed on Purpose

Transcript

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[0:01] Thank you for having me. So, today's passage, which is assigned by the lectionary, is probably very familiar for most of you. It is the parable of the sower. And this version is from the Gospel of Matthew. Our kids in our Sunday school have gotten a play of where we encountered the parable of the sower. It's one of the ones they look at. It's a very wonderful presentation, and for them to look at. You may be familiar with the parable from church or Sunday school yourself.

[0:36] And the revised common lectionary revisits this parable every three years. And so today, this is the assigned passage. Now, if you happen to be hearing the parable for the very first time, or you haven't remembered the parable because it's been a long time, that might be to your advantage.

[0:55] Because your understanding may not be swayed by familiarity. You may be able to understand the parable without having to deal with the centuries of interpretation as to what this parable means. So, the parable of the sower is actually found in three gospels. Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And in those three gospels, which we are calling the synoptic gospels. Synoptic means seen together. Those three gospels resemble each other fairly well. They contain the sayings of Jesus and his life. And pretty much the chronology of events are very similar. They seem similar. They sort of look like each other.

[1:32] And in these three gospels, the parable of the sower is the very first parable that introduces a collection of parables that Jesus had told. And that's the same in all three gospels. And these collections of parables are sometimes called the parables by the sea, the Sea of Galilee. Because Jesus told parables in his collection while he was by the Sea of Galilee to a crowd.

[1:59] And so, in some ways, this parable is a lead-off parable. It is kind of the foundation for all the parables that would follow in this collection. And it also seems to have a disproportionate amount of verses attached to it. It's a very long parable, more than the others.

[2:18] And so, in some ways, it takes top billing. Matthew has, there was 20 words to the parable. Mark devotes 25 verses to the parable. And Luke devotes 15 verses to the parable. And so, it is kind of the backbone of the parable collection that is in these three gospels.

[2:40] So, now for some background. What is a parable? You know, it's common to think that a parable is a story that Jesus told to help clarify or explain or illustrate a deeper truth. And there's a truth to that. Amen.

[2:56] And yet, in the history of an interpretation, of Jesus' parables over 2,000 years ago, that he spoke them, there doesn't seem to be a consensus on exactly what that deeper truth is. It once was thought that parables always had one main point. And that was very fashionable back, maybe several decades ago, that all parables have one main point. The only problem with that is that no one seems to agree what that one main point is for these parables, for each parable.

[3:28] The parables that Jesus tells are not straightforward stories, as it turns out. There is no moral at the end of the story, like in some of Aesop's fables. There's no necessarily any worldly wisdom or words of advice. You don't hear things like, God helps those that help themselves, which doesn't have to be in any of the Bibles. But you don't have that here. Rather, parables are meant to be confusing or at least intriguing, and perhaps even disorienting.

[3:59] These are stories about the kingdom of God, or as Matthew uses the term, the kingdom of heaven. They mean the same thing. Matthew was preaching or writing to mainly a Jewish audience who felt using the name of God was somewhat sacred, so he would substitute the word God with heaven, which in the Jewish tradition means the same thing as a way of getting around saying God's actual name. So in Matthew, the kingdom of heaven is how he uses the term which in the other Gospels, Mark and Luke, is the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of God.

[4:30] And there may be a twist or unexpected surprise at the end of the story. So when you think of some of the parables, probably the most popular one is the prodigal son. The twist is that there's no worth son who decides that he wants to live on his own. He considers, he asks for half of his inheritance, inheritance that would have been split between himself and his brother, be given to him so he could take it and do what he wants with it. And so the father, you know, cashes out half of his 401k and gives him half of that for the age of 59 and a half. And so he goes off and spends that money. And yet at the very end when he decides to go back because he doesn't like living a life where he has nothing and he realizes the workmen for his father live better than he does, he says, well, maybe I should just go back and sort of, you know, be one of the workmen. His father welcomes him instead. That would have been scandalous for Jesus' Jewish audience. You just don't simply do that. You've shamed your father, you've shamed the family name, and yet, and you come back, and yet the father welcomes him.

[5:49] We often use the term prodigal. It sounds negative. It means extravagant, excessive, spend whatever you want. In this term, it could mean positive as well. And I think one has written that the prodigal son should be really renamed the parable of the prodigal father. The father is extravagant in his grace to welcome his wayward son back. The father is extravagant in killing the fatted calf. The fatted calf was saved for special occasions, like for a wedding banquet or something like that. You just, you raise this one calf for this very special occasion, and on this occasion, his father kills the fatted calf.

[6:33] The father puts a ring on his hand and a robe on his shoulders, welcomes him back into the family as if nothing has happened. He doesn't even say, go inside and make it up to your mom. He just welcomes him back. And that's the prodigal father. So maybe the prodigal father should be the name of the parable. The names of these parables are often given in church history. They don't come in the text. You don't read that name of the parable in the text itself, in Luke itself.

[7:04] So one does not simply read a parable or listen to the one read. One must dwell with the parable until its meaning or significance opens like a flower to us. Sometimes the story remains closed to us. We don't know quite what it means.

[7:22] Or we may have to come back repeatedly to the story. To revisit it on many occasions to find what it means to us. Other times it is the word of God to us. We do know what it says. As one preacher puts it, parables are meant to leave us scratching our heads until God says what God wants to say.

[7:43] So sometimes when it comes to a parable, we shouldn't expect to understand it right away. It will take a little time to sit there and listen to it or read it. So listen now to the parable of the sower. From Matthew.

[7:58] That same day, Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such a great crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. 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.

[8:28] Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they didn't have much soil, and they sprang up quickly. And since he had no depth of soil, when the sun rose, they were scorched. And since he had no root, they withered away.

[8:46] Other seeds fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on the ground, on the good soil, and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let everyone with ears listen.

[9:06] Now I grew up on the central coast of California in the city of Santa Maria, which was and still is a predominately agricultural community. In the house I grew up, my father had devoted the majority of our backyard to growing fruits and vegetables. We had no lawn in the backyard. It was all fruits and vegetables. I recall my father hand-sowing string bean seeds carefully into cleaned-out yogurt containers filled with potting mix. He replaced two seeds per each container to guarantee that at least one of the two seeds would germinate.

[9:43] And when grown sufficiently, the young bean plant would be later transplanted into the garden row. Now if both seeds germinate, you are supposed to cut one down, cut the weaker one out, or, you know, so that you have only one plant.

[10:00] But instead, my father would carefully dig out the smaller, weaker plant, and we'd pot it in his own yogurt cup. See, my father was very frugal with his seeds, no wasting any growing plants, no matter how small.

[10:17] By contrast, the sower in our parable remains nameless. He's not frugal with his seeds. The sower in this parable broadcasts, he just flings out the seeds willy-nilly, this way and that across the field. The sower in our story is not concerned about planting the seeds in nice rows. He does not poke holes in the ground with a stick and drops one seed, one individual grain, before tamping over it carefully with soil.

[10:48] And keep in mind that the sower did not purchase these seeds from the feed and seed store. He just did not order his certified organic, non-GMO seeds from the Brookings online catalog. Instead, this precious seed was retained from the previous year's harvest. Some of last year's harvest grain would have been serried and set aside for this season's planting.

[11:12] So the sower does not care where this precious seed lands. Of the four soil types named in the parable, three proved to be unproductive in the end. The seeds that fell in the path lie exposed and are eaten by birds. Other seeds fall on rocky ground, whereas the thin soil grows up quickly because the soil is thin and warm, but is unable to root deeply and are scorched by the rising sun.

[11:39] Other seeds fall among the thorns, and the thorns grow up together and they end up choking out the new growth. Only the seed that falls on the good soil brings forth grain. Hundredfold, hundred times worth, sixtyfold times worth, or thirtyfold times worth.

[11:59] Jesus ends the telling of his prayer with the words, let everyone with ears listen. Now the crowd that was listening to Jesus was so large that Jesus had to sit on a boat and push off from the shore to address them. How would this large crowd have heard and received this parable?

[12:20] There's no introduction to this parable. Jesus just sits on the boat and starts right into it. In other parables he will say, the kingdom of heaven can be compared to this, and then he tells this parable.

[12:35] Or there will be some introduction, comment about that, some context. Instead, oddly enough, he's sitting in a boat talking about agriculture, about farming. And then he tells this parable. And Jesus just launches right into the parable.

[12:52] For one, his hearers would have understood the story. They were very familiar with farming. This is an agricultural community. And it wouldn't surprise them that the farmer would have done this broadcasting of the seeds willy-nilly without any concern about planting it carefully. Because that's how it was done back then. You just threw the seeds out there. And usually you would follow with a plow. And the plow would turn to the other side. And you would put the seeds into the soil. And that's how you protect the seeds.

[13:24] But that the plow may not reach the path before the birds ate it, or the uncovered seed, or that the rich, the rocky ground would not be turned under to provide deeper soil, or that the plowing may encourage the weed seeds to germinate as well, was simply part of doing business.

[13:44] One of the risks, many risks of farming during the first century in Palestine. It was accepted. This is the way you did it. And they didn't know any more, any fancier ways of doing it than just to throw the seed out there, plow it into the ground, and hope for the best.

[14:02] But what would have surprised the crowd about this parable was that the size of the harvest. On a good year, a seven-fold harvest meant a good year. Seven times. The parable starts at 30. A 30-fold harvest would feed a village for a year.

[14:23] And with a hundred-fold harvest, the farmer could retire for life. He could buy his villa by the Sea of Galilee, and that would be it. He would live the life of luxury from there on. So the shocking twist of this parable that Jesus told is the miraculous abundance of the harvest.

[14:41] What starts out as a familiar farming story finishes with this surprise ending. The sower is unconcerned where the seed lands. He's unconcerned about wasting seed. And this is what God is like. That's what Jesus may be communicating to us. God is like the sower who flings a seed regardless of the receptivity of the soil.

[15:03] Jesus himself went from place to place, offering freely God's grace and forgiveness, without concern for the type of people receiving it. And that was one of the scandals, is that the people he spoke to, he associated with, were not your people you would think are upright citizens. They were the tax collector, the prostitute, the people who could not live life religiously like the Pharisees because they had their own life and struggles to deal with as well.

[15:37] These are the people that Jesus went to. And the sower himself, accepted some types he would never produce mature grain, and yet he keeps sowing anyway in anticipation of the abundant harvest. You know, this story could just as well have been the story of the prodigal sower.

[15:57] Prodigal means extravagant again. Now in the second portion of today's lesson, and I will read it here to you, Jesus offers an explanation to the parable. Because the disciples ask him, why do you always speak in parables? And Jesus says, well, let me explain.

[16:21] Hear then the parable of the sower, Jesus says. 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 is sown on the path.

[16:37] As far as what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and merely receives it with joy. Yet such a person has no root but endures only for a while. And when trouble and persecution arises on account of the word, that person merely falls away.

[16:58] As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of this age 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, another sixty, and another thirty.

[17:30] So, in many ways, Silicon Valley is like the soil that has the thorns. Because for the Christians, the concern of wealth is often very much present in our age and our society here. So, when I first heard this parable, what I primarily heard, and maybe you too as well, is the question for listeners of the parable to reflect on what type of soil am I? Or what type of soil are you?

[18:05] And where is that, and the question you may ask is, where is the beaten path in our own lives? Can we locate the rocky soil in ourselves? Where are the thorns in our lives? Or what are the thorns in our lives? Do we know the good soil in each of us that produces abundance?

[18:26] And while these may be helpful reflective questions, and perhaps there are times when we should be asking these questions when we read this parable, to place the entire focus of the parable on our own soil, on our own dirt, so to speak, is to come away from this parable missing the major emphasis.

[18:47] We leave feeling guilty that we would never, and if we're truly honest, we would never quite measure up to being the good soil. Or flip it around. Maybe we are spreading the message, the gospel, to someone we love, or to a coworker, or people on the street, for example, or whatever.

[19:09] And we encounter that barren soil, the soil that seems to resist our message. And we feel that we may have to dig deeper, we may have to work harder to get that message across. Yet we sort of miss the fact that the sower himself doesn't seem that concerned. He simply throws the seed out there and allows the seed to do the work. The message itself is what breaks through that hard passage, not our own effort at trying to convince someone.

[19:43] Parable is not primarily about us. The title of the parable is not the parable of the four soils. It's not the parable of the four soils. Rather, it's the parable of the sower. And this is one of the few parables, actually, I think there's only two, where the actual name is given in the text, in the scripture itself. Jesus himself in verse 18 says, here, the parable of the sower. He gives us the name of the sower. He gives it the name.

[20:12] The sower trusts the harvest will be bountiful, even one hundredfold, despite the obstacles presented by the poor soil. Now, throughout the scriptures, God is often portrayed as a gardener, a vine dresser, a farmer. That's the image that we hear.

[20:36] In an essay that Brian Zahn who was a pastor in Missouri, he said that, in commenting on the story that Jesus' tomb was in a garden. We call it the garden tomb. And the first person to see him on Easter morn is Mary Magdalene. She turns around and saw Jesus standing there. And she didn't know it was Jesus, supposing him to be the gardener.

[21:04] Brian Zahn goes on to say that on Good Friday, Jesus was buried in a garden. A garden is a place that cultivates and grows living things. An appropriate place for Jesus to be buried. A few days before the crucifixion, Jesus had said, unless a seed falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. That's from John 12, 24.

[21:30] On Holy Saturday, the Son of God was holy seed sown into the peaceful garden. On Easter Sunday, the garden brought forth the first fruits of the Holy Spirit. The first seed was the garden of the resurrection. Jesus Christ is declared to be the Son of God by resurrection from the dead, according to Romans 1, 4.

[21:47] The first seed raised by God in the garden of resurrection became the gardener. When Mary Magdalene supposed him to be the gardener, she was exactly right. Jesus now is the gardener of the resurrection, cultivating new life in all who believe. The first Adam was a gardener. He was in a garden that God had planted in Eden. But he failed at his task.

[22:12] And the world became a wasteland of war and sin. But the second Adam will succeed in his task. Christ will restore the ruined garden. With Christ as a gardener of new creation, we have a hopeful future. That's what Brian Zahn wrote.

[22:31] And so, may God, who throughout the scriptures, the gardener, the farmer, the sower, we don't know the identity of the sower. Jesus himself in the explanation doesn't tell the sower who it is. We can imagine it's God, who is sowing the word of God, which according to John is Jesus. Jesus is the word of God. He may be Jesus, sowing God's word. He may be God's forgiveness and grace to people.

[23:06] Sowing himself in a sense. He may be us, as we sow the word to those around us and to our society and our communities. But may God, the sower, the farmer, the gardener, who cultivates, prunes, and nourishes us, be the one who cultivates our lives to be ever more receptive to his word.

[23:34] Amen. Let's pray. Father, we ask that our hard lives, wherever they may be, that you be the gardener in our lives, cultivating us, bringing us so that we be more receptive of your word, that we allow the seed to grow in us.

[23:56] We ask all these things in your son's name. Amen.