Sowing Seeds

Matthew tells the story this way: All in the same day, Jesus and his disciples get criticized by the Pharisees for picking grain on the Sabbath because they are hungry. They go to the synagogue and Jesus heals a man with at withered hand and the Pharisees call a council meeting to figure out how to destroy him. Jesus knows it, and withdraws, continuing to heal. He heals a demoniac who cannot see or speak and the Pharisees call him the prince of demons. Then, they ask for a sign from him. And he responds that no sign will be given except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. With all these things weighing on him, Jesus goes to sit by the sea. Listen now for the word of the Lord, “Matthew 13:1-9”

The meaning seems straightforward. Jesus, as he speaks to his followers says, “Today has been hard, but it’s ok. Some will get it, some won’t. Don’t be discouraged,” in an allegory so the followers don’t realize he is talking about them. God is the sower, the Word of God is the seed, people are different kinds of soil. Just as simply, we can decipher the moral of the story – Be good soil!

There are a lot of sermons preached on how to be good soil. Good preachers preach good sermons on how to be good soil. It is important to prepare yourself to receive the Word of God. To attend church regularly, to be part of a community of people who make you better than you are when you are alone, to study God’s Word and live it in your relationships and decisions, to be generous with others, to care for the least and last…

One preacher comes to the conclusion that we can’t make ourselves into good soil. We are unworthy soil, with hard places, some rocks and some shallow places, plenty of thorns, and we have some good soil too, and God never gives up on planting seeds in us.

I even read a good sermon this week by Ellsworth Kalas titled “The Seasons of the Soil.” He told about glancing through an old magazine on way downtown on the bus. An article caught his attention, and he began underlining passages at length, page after page, until he turned to page 4 and saw that years before he had read the same article, but not found anything worth underlining in the first 3 pages. His point is that at different times in our lives, our soil changes. Sometimes, we have seasons of not understanding, sometimes we choose not to understand, other times our soil is shallow, and at times worries and conflicting priorities choke out the seeds of God planted in our lives. But there are times when our soil is fertile, ready for God’s Will to be done through us. And during these times, our lives are fruitful.

Still, it seems simple. Too simple. Jesus taught in parables, the Greek word literally means “set side by side.” But Jesus didn’t speak Greek. Jesus spoke Aramaic, a language closely related to Hebrew. So, what Matthew and the Gospel writers call parables, with Jesus’ experience of Hebrew Scriptures and figurative language, Jesus called mashal. In Ezekiel the prophet is instructed by God, “Propound a riddle and speak a mashal to the house of Israel.” A mashal is a riddle, designed to, “tease the mind into insight.” (Dr. Douglas Hare, Interpretation)

Dr. Amy Jill Levine, in writing about the disciples’ question, “Why do you speak in parables?” says “We should not be too hard on the disciples. They were looking for something within their comfort zone and, like many, resisted what the parables might convey. Moreover, Jesus was requiring that they do more than listen; he was asking them to think as well. He tells the Twelve, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables; in order that ‘they may indeed look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand;”. ‘Mystery’ is here not indicative of something arcane or in need of a special key to inlock a singular meaning. What makes the parables mysterious, or difficult, is that they challenge us to look into the hidden aspects of our own values, our own lives. They bring to the surface unasked questions, and they reveal the answers we have always known, but refuse to acknowledge. Our reaction to them should be one of resistance rather than acceptance….Therefore, if we hear a parable and think, “I really like that” or worse, fail to take any challenge, we are not listening well enough.”

So, I read and re-read the parable. I doubt that I have solved the riddle, either. But I read commentary after commentary about how the crowds around Jesus would have known that no farmer plants this way. Dr. Tom Long writes, “…notice how the farmer in the parable sows the seed! This is no careful, prudent planter. Far from cautious, this farmer throw seed around with abandon. It flies in all directions and lands everywhere – on the hard path, all over a rock-littered patch, into the thorn bushes, as well as onto the good, rich topsoil.” This parable is about a farmer who doesn’t do what farmers are expected to do. Some would call this farmer wasteful, haphazard, impractical, or idealistic. How foolish to broadcast your seeds where they aren’t likely to grow! But that is exactly what God does! This parable is about God’s lavish, extravagant love – a love that is scattered as seeds of grace and mercy without regard for the probability that they will take root and grow.

The disciples didn’t want to hear this message. God’s grace and mercy fall on those Pharisees that are giving us such a hard time, too? God loves them, too? The Pharisees didn’t want to hear this message. God’s grace and mercy fall on the demoniac too? On the blind? On the sick, the lame, the one with the withered hand? God loves them too?

If we are honest, it is a hard message for us too. God’s grace and mercy fall on all, and those seeds might just take root. God plants them in the person who is least like you, and the person you like least. And they just might take root.

Several years ago, I attended a service that I afterward I could only describe as a gathering of the Kingdom of God. The only thing we had in common was that God had gathered us together. A sweet older lady from the neighborhood on her walker, a young woman still in her Church’s Fried Chicken uniform, an older inebriated man, a professor, a hippie, a parolee, a pastor, a mentally ill woman, a young kid on his bike…diverse in background, skin color, experiences, life situations…we gathered because the sower had gone out to sow some seeds, and in all these very different people they had sprouted. We gathered and the minister invited us to greet one another, not with a handshake or word of peace, with a hug. And he turned on a CD, and I cannot remember what the music was, or what it was like. What I remember is that we all moved to the rhythm. And we went from person to person, hugging. Some seeds had been scattered in love without regard for probability, for past, for situation…and they were sprouting.

May those who have ears to hear, let them hear.