Listen!

 

A Sermon for the 6^th Sunday after Pentecost                                                 July 12, 2020

The Rev. Robin Teasley

 

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.”

Matthew 13:1-9,18-23

The Sower, Vincent Van Gogh

 

 

This was the big weekend – the Hanover Tomato Festival drew thousands to celebrate the most famous tomato, the fruit of the vine in Hanover. I’m reminded of the saying, that knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad! The season of Pentecost coincides with that most wonderful season of fresh produce. Who doesn’t love the abundance of fresh vegetables and fruit in summer? 

 

All of this extravagance did not appear out of thin air. It was planted. The seeds were sown by farmers; farmers who know what makes soil good or bad, the best time and place to sow seeds, and how much fertilizer and rain is needed for growth. They know to watch the weather and when to harvest. Today’s Parable of the Sower is an opportunity for us to explore some farming techniques.

 

For the next few weeks we will hear parables in our Gospel readings, so it might be helpful to know something about how they work. Parables speak more to our hearts than to our heads. They teach us something different each time we hear them. We can place ourselves in these stories, seeing them from different perspectives, which can change with wisdom drawn from our life circumstances. Today’s parable is a good example. Some of us, in hearing the reading today, immediately began to think about where we are in the story. And, let’s be honest, some of us may even have thought about where we would place other people in this story!

 

Depending on where we are in life, as we listened this morning, we may have identified with the sower or the seed, the path or the birds, the rocky ground, the thorns, or the good soil. Which one are you right now? A parable is like a musical composition, a painting, or a poem in that it is not an illustration of one particular point (the right point) but rather it is a work of multiple meanings and layers. Parables begin in our familiar world, and then they surprise us with a different view of the world, usually challenging our assumptions and expectations. This is why a parable is timeless and can be told over and over.

 

Jesus talked about familiar things he knew his listeners could relate to, things they could understand, like soil and seeds, and weather. A good harvest depends on the quality of the soil, and rain, and lots of other variables, everyone knew that. But the parable is not really about soil and seeds. Jesus is saying something more in this parable, something that has to do with the kingdom, specifically about hearing the word of the kingdom. Perhaps Jesus is speaking, not to our heads, but to our hearts. Perhaps Jesus is speaking to us, right here this morning – speaking not only a word to our personal lives, but also the word of the kingdom to our parish.

The Sower, James Tissot

 

Hearing this story, the listeners and anyone who has ever done any serious gardening would have thought the sower was being ridiculous. No one sows seed like that. Seed was valuable and expensive. This guy was tossing handfuls of it in every direction, not discriminating about where it landed. You would have thought he had an endless supply of it. And perhaps that’s the point Jesus was making; the point that there is an endless supply, and there is possibility everywhere, and all types of soil are worthy of receiving the generosity of the Sower. And the seeds? Perhaps they are not literally seeds, but are the word of God, the good news of the kingdom.

 

Jesus has been preaching, teaching, feeding, and healing to reveal the coming of the kingdom and to invite people to follow him. But increasingly, Jesus met with some resistance, especially from the religious leaders and government authorities. There were beaten paths, rocky places, and thorny thickets everywhere and the kingdom harvest appeared to be in peril. Jesus noticed that people around him had started closing their ears, had stopped listening. They were afraid of what might happen next. They could not see the kingdom for the rocks and thorns. 

 

I wonder if Jesus might be saying, “Listen!” to us? I wonder where Jesus might be sowing seeds of the kingdom here and now? Maybe in red states and blue states, cities and small towns, rural areas and suburbs? Perhaps in America and in Russia, or in North Korea and China? Jesus scatters seeds on playgrounds and parking lots, food pantries and prisons, schools and housing projects. Jesus even scatters seeds at Immanuel, Old Church.

 

What might be choking out the seeds of the word of God’s kingdom in our world today?

The hard-worn path of selfish individualism and the lust for power, the rocky danger of disregard for the poor, the thorny places of racism? What are the troubles, persecutions, and cares of the world, that are snatching away what has been sown in the heart of the children of God? By telling this parable, Jesus invites us to do some self-reflection in our own lives about our response to the Word of God, and about our faith in the One who sows justice, mercy, and love in this world and who calls us to follow in the path of the Sower.

 

We may think the sower is being wasteful and foolish, but the Sower is extravagant and wise. And there is nothing impossible because wherever the seed lands, wherever the word of the kingdom is planted, is holy ground. This ground, right here where Immanuel sits, is holy ground. Take a moment to reflect on the faithful who have worshiped in these pews, on the kingdom growth that has happened here.

 

What if we trust that God has made all ground holy, and that God knows what God is doing? Can we trust even when we are afraid of all that is happening in the world around us? We are called to follow Jesus and to sow the seeds of the word of God, called to scatter it everywhere – generously, recklessly – and to allow God to give the growth.

 

What if we trust that God has made all ground holy, and that God, in God’s wisdom, is doing something here at Immanuel? Can we see our parish story as a parable of the kingdom? Can we hear it with our hearts more than our heads? Can we see the story from different perspectives and maybe even allow our assumptions and expectations to be challenged? What might God be teaching us in this moment? 

 

The world is changing in ways we never imagined. The Church is changing, and ministry looks differently now. What might God be calling each of us to do, in our own sphere of influence, with our particular spiritual gifts, talents, and financial resources? How might we faithfully follow the Sower into the next part of the Immanuel story, which is a chapter in the kingdom story?

 

Give thanks for the abundance of tomatoes and other favorite foods, give thanks for those who work to provide it, and give thanks for God’s wisdom and care, for this holy ground, and for the blessings which are to come. May we have ears to listen to the word of the kingdom.

Starlight Sower, Hai Knafo