Disciples of the Kingdom: Seed Bearing Disciples
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
Today, we will continue to explore what it means to be a disciple of God's Kingdom as we hear the teachings of Jesus. A few weeks ago, we talked about what it meant to take up our cross and follow Jesus. Then last week, we reflected on what it meant to take Jesus' yoke upon us and to learn from him. And today, we will listen to the words of a very familiar parable and see what they have to say to us as disciples called to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.
As most of you know, Jesus often taught using parables-those stories of ordinary things that give us a glimpse into extraordinary truths. And many scholars refer to Jesus' parables as subversive because they would have lulled his audience into a false sense of thinking they knew what he was going to say only to give a twist at the end-a surprise ending that forced his hearers to rethink the way they understood God and the world.
Now the problem for us today is that often we have heard these parables so many times that they no longer surprise us. Or we've heard them preached on so many times; we think we know the point before we even get started. Or we are so unfamiliar with the world Jesus is describing that we don't understand. For instance, we've never farmed or never baked bread or fished on the Sea of Galilee using a dragnet. Things which were familiar to those who gathered that day long ago on the banks of the Sea of Galilee have little meaning for those of us who buy our produce, bread, and fish from Foodland or Wal-Mart. So it is harder for us to experience the parable as Jesus intended, but I would like you to give it a try.
In a moment when I read our scripture, I would like you to try to hear the parable as if for the first time. Follow along in your bible if you like or sit back, relax, close your eyes and see the scripture unfold in your mind's eye. Better yet, imagine that you are one of the disciples of Jesus.
It's actually been a pretty rough few days. As usual, the Pharisees have been on Jesus' back, questioning his authority and testing everything he says. John the Baptist's disciples have been questioning Jesus' methods. The crowds are very interested but you are not too sure if they really understand. Then Jesus, as usual, calls you to follow him.
1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: "Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 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. 6 But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 Let anyone with ears listen!"
This is the word of God for the people of God! Let anyone with ears listen!
The truth is that there are surprises in both this short parable and in Jesus' explanation of the parable that we will hear in a few moments. But there are two things that struck me in the parable itself: the behavior of the sower and the productivity of the good soil.
A few years back a church in Australia had a stained glass window of the Parable of the Sower installed in their church. After the dedication and a celebration of Holy Communion, members of the church walked up to admire the beautiful window ohhing and ahhing. But the pastor happened to notice two young boys, around 9 or 10, examining the window closely. One of the boys remarked, "Hasn't he got a sad face!" And the other boy quickly responded, "So would you if you had lost as much of your crop as he has!"
I don't know how you imagined the sower a few moments ago, but one thing for sure, he wasn't an efficiency expert!
Much to the chagrin of my West Virginia born and raised grandparents I have never been much of a gardener. But the few times, I've attempted to grow a garden I worked hard at it. I prepared the soil. I tried valiantly (and in my case unsuccessfully) to rid the garden of rocks and weeds. I put in fertilizer and I dug holes or furrows for my seeds. So this sower throwing seed willy nilly without any regard for where it falls just amazes me. And it would have seemed all the more amazing in Jesus' day when most farmers were dirt poor and seed was precious.
Yet here we have this sower throwing it on the road, on shallow soil, in the briar patch and occasionally hitting a fertile patch of land. Not very efficient at all-wasteful, in fact. Furthermore, as soon as Jesus gets through explaining this parable, he'll tell another about a farmer who plants some grain, then an enemy plants weeds in the midst of the grain, but the farmer lets them both grow up together. These are the messiest, most inefficient farmers I have ever heard of.
Which leads to the other surprise, despite all that the harvest is large-thirty, sixty, a hundredfold!
Go figure. Appears the seed wasn't wasted after all-but who would have guessed!
Now let's hear what Jesus has to say about the parable.
18 "Hear then the parable of the sower. 19 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. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 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. 22 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. 23 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."
So here is the explanation of the parable-God or God's representative is the sower. That is not an unimportant point-in fact some would say it is THE point of the parable. God is so gracious and loving and so wants to be in relationship with us that he behaves extravagantly throwing his grace here, there and yonder without making distinctions between the types of soil. In fact, God acts in a way that is counter-intuitive. He doesn't make distinctions about who is worthy or unworthy. He simply throws his grace and love in our direction and waits to see what happens.
What's more, since we are talking about what it means to be a disciple of the Kingdom, then this parable has an important message to us about how we should behave as God's representatives. We too are called to throw love and grace willy nilly wherever we go! Those that follow and learn from this sower know that they are not called to judge others before they reach out to them. Those that follow this sower know that even though they are risking rejection they are called to spread God's word and God's love to everyone and then leave the harvest to God.
This is important to hear and to remember, because often what we want to do is to test the ground before we risk the seed. Here is what it might look like, we know that we are called to forgive-even your enemies-but the person who hurt you is not in the least bit repentant so we don't forgive. After all they don't deserve it. We know that we are called to feed the hungry, but we want to find some way of determining if they are worthy of our help. We know that God calls sinners, yet we know that sinful neighbor of ours is a hard case and not even God could crack that shell of sin so we don't invite him to church-or perhaps her sin is one of those which we think is somehow worse than others so we wait for her to get her act together before we invite her.
Our job is not to judge the quality of the soil or the receptiveness of the heart. The truth is we can't tell. Sometimes the most receptive soil comes in the form of the meanest, orneriest person you know. And sometimes the sweetest, kindest, best behaved person is most resistant. But that is not our problem, because disciples of the Kingdom know that we are called to sow the seed and God will provide the growth and the fruit. And in the end, we will apparently be judged not by whether the seed we sowed took root but by how fruitful our own lives were!
Which brings us to the soil and the question this parable should ask of each of us every time we hear it: what kind of soil are you? How well is the seed of the kingdom growing in your life?
Notice, the seed of the kingdom which comes from God is freely given to all types of soil-to everyone. One soil rejects it outright, but the other three types of soil receive the gift-in fact, according to Jesus, receives it with joy. But then sometimes something happens and that person falls away.
Perhaps it is because the soil is shallow and it doesn't take root. I believe this happens when a person hears the good news of Jesus Christ, accepts him as their savior, but then does nothing to nurture the grace that is within. They don't study the Bible to learn more about Jesus. They don't attend worship regularly nor do they pray to him both privately and with others. They don't trust God with their money or their time, let alone their lives. They can give you the day and the hour they fell on their knees and gave their heart to God, but then they got busy with other things and that moment meant less and less to them and they slowly (and sometime quickly) fall away.
Or perhaps it is because the soil is thorny. I bet you've seen this happen. In fact, if you've been a Christian for any length of time, I bet you know the temptation of the thorns. You accept Christ as your savior, give your life to him, study his word, serve his people, but then life interferes. There is an illness in the family. Your company is threatening to lay you off. Your marriage falls apart. You are raising a difficult teenager. Or maybe you are just so busy pursuing the American dream of more stuff. And you get so caught up in your problems and your attempts to control your life that you quit relying on God. And your worry and your fears and your busyness and your things choke the word of God out of you.
Notice in both these cases, the word is joyfully received. There is no indication that they were double-minded or less than sincere in receiving the world. God's word was faithful-they were not.
But the good news is that God never quits reaching out to us, throwing grace and love in our direction until the time we are willing to open our heart, clean out the stones and the thorns and become the kind of soil that not only receives but nurtures the word.
What kind of soil are you?
Rocky . . . shallow . . . thorny . . . or good productive soil?
I'm sure most of you are familiar with the story of Adam-the first man. Did you know that the name Adam comes from the Hebrew adamah which means dirt, soil, earth? Then the word Adam came to mean mankind-not just males but men and women-in other words, humanity? And actually the word humanity comes from the word humus which means soil. In fact, humus refers to the dark, organically rich soil that is needed to grow crops.
Before Adam and Eve took a bite of the apple apparently all the soil was humus because one of the consequences of their sin was that the soil would be full of thorns and thistles.
We live in a fallen world and our hearts are often full of thorns and thistles. Some of our hearts are shallow and rocky. As any farmer will tell you, in this world good soil takes a lot of work!
Those who wish their hearts to be receptive to the seed of the kingdom and who wish to bear that seed to others have to be willing to take the time to keep their hearts fertile. We have to worship together. We have to study the Bible. We have to serve God and God's people. We have to regularly weed the thorns of worry and busyness out of our lives and remove not only the huge boulders of sin-such as addictions, hatred, selfishness-but also those many little stones that harden within us-resentment, impatience, fear.
And when we do so, we become the thing we were actually created to be-human. Isn't it funny that when we mess us, we often say, "Well, I'm only human!" But if we take the word seriously to only be human means to be the kind of soil in which God's kingdom takes root and which produces a harvest that draws other people to Christ!
So what kind of soil are you? And what kind of soil do you want to be?
Whether your heart is good, rocky, thorny, or shallow, the invitation is the same: God is casting his seed in your direction. Will you accept it? Will you nurture it? Will you allow God to weed, prune, and remove all that stands in the way of your being the human he calls you to be? And will you join him in the work of spreading that seed in the world he so loves?
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