“SEEDS OF HEAVEN AND EARTH”
Text: Matthew 13:1-9
Faith United
July 13, 2008
Growing up in New Jersey
these stories and parables made absolutely no sense to me
I had no point of reference
Our lives were so far removed from growing and planting
and sowing and reaping
It was as other-worldly as all the Bible stories
that took place in deserts of the Middle East
stories of people who wore robes and sandals
whose houses were made out of mud
and whose streets were all dirt
I couldn’t relate much to Jesus’ stories at all
but I liked all the Flannel graph pictures in Sunday School
and maps of far-off places
that I could only imagine
Places far removed from my blacktop streets
and concrete sidewalks
and the highway in front of my house
` that was always busy
A lot of people are far removed from Jesus’ stories
they have no clue
but now, in Nebraska
I know a little more about planting and reaping
I know that the idea of a farmer going out
with a sack of seeds
and just throwing them all over the place
on dirt and sand and rock
and occasionally good, rich soil
was an incredible waste of seed
I mean, now I don’t know a lot about farming
but I do know that we have machines
that plants seeds in a particular place
in a particular row of soil
that has been fertilized and treated with nutrients
to help the seeds grow
One afternoon, Jesus walked out his front door
and looked out over the sea
He sat there for awhile
until people discovered him
and disrupted his peace
So much so, that he climbed into a boat
and pushed out into the water
to keep them from invading his personal space
He sat in the back of the boat
looking out over the crowds that had followed him
to the shore
the boat occasionally rocked on the small waves of the water
that were made by other boats
And he just talked
He talked their language
language that they understood
He didn’t give a theological lecture
on practical theology and doctrines of the faith
Instead, he gave them dreams and poems
He gave them images of God’s Kingdom
something far beyond their comprehension
but he described it with images as familiar to them
as the crops in their own fields
"Look out your back window,"
he could have said
"at the things you see everyday
and yet, do you really see them?"
We look out now at the fields of corn growing
maybe the farmers of those fields see the hard work
the worry and the sweat and the re-planting
and all the stress of sowing seeds
in tornado country
but I love to see the corn
it seems so magnificent
beautiful,
waving in the wind
growing visibly day by day
It looks like a miracle
Yeah, you know more than I do
all the work and sweat and hard labor
that went into making those plants grow
but even with that,
it is a miracle
that we can plant seeds in the ground
and they something happens down in that invisible place
in the darkness of soil
that is miraculous
It gets beaten down by hail
and by wind
farmers worry about too much rain or too little
Sowing seeds is a vulnerable thing
we can’t control what happens to those seeds
when we put them in the ground
Maybe those of you who are farmers
often ask yourselves,
why do we do this?
It’s a hard life,
and there’s so much beyond your control
You can fertilize, prepare the ground,
irrigate, do everything you’re supposed to do
and one storm, as you well know,
can ruin all your hard work
Anybody sitting on the beach that day
might have poked his or her neighbor
and said, 'this guy doesn’t know anything about planting
any fool knows you don’t just go out there
and haphazardly throw seeds here and there
and expect a respectable harvest
Anybody would know that you have to find the good soil
you don’t plant on rocks
you make sure there’s enough water
What is this guy talking about?'
I’ve read a lot of sermons on this passage
that say this parable is all about soil
good soil or bad soil
dry and rocky soil
or good, fresh, moist soil
that is good for planting
And I know that sometimes I’m better than at other times
Some days I’m dry
and nothing seems to get through to me
sometimes anything good that comes at me
bumps up against hard and sharp things
in my spirit
that keep the good from growing
Other times I am rich and receptive
to good things
and they blossom and grow and expand
Other days start out good
and hopeful and beautiful
but then something or someone comes along
and chokes the goodness out of it
ruins it
stomps on it, tears it out of the soil
or just sprays toxic chemicals onto it
and I can feel it disintegrate
It’s easy to assume that it’s all about me and you
But Jesus wasn’t talking to individual people
There were all kinds of people in that crowd on that beach
They didn’t have a single mentality
they were coming with their different
frames of reference
and therefore getting something different
out of all that Jesus said
Jesus had a tendency not to speak directly
or just get right to the point
and I hate it when people read his parables
and say, ok, now the POINT of this parable is
this and this and this
because if Jesus only had one point
he could have just stated it
but instead, he told them stories that were rich and full
so that people could come away with all different perspectives
getting out of it what they needed to know and learn
depending on who they were
Jesus’ parables were not just boring, yawning lectures
he used words to tease his audience to think
his words sparked other words
his images gave birth to all kinds of other images
He made you think
he made you participate in the lesson
He threw those stories out there
and let them, lets us, chew on them
think about them
and watch them unfold again and again
He threw out words into the gathering crowds
like a sower throwing seeds onto the ground
some couldn’t care less who he was, what he said
others came, thirsty, open, empty, receptive
to the quenching nature of his voice
Some came angry and all tied up
and like weeds in a garden or field
their anger and bitterness and brokenness
choked the life out of Jesus words before they could even land
But that didn’t stop him
He just kept giving, and talking, and pouring out
words—generous, life-giving words
knowing that a lot of the words would fall on deaf ears
or some would shrivel up in the heat of the community
or be crushed underfoot
The parable of the sower
is not about good or bad soil
but it’s a story about the generosity
the extravagant generosity of the sower himself
He scatters seeds to the winds,
trusting those winds to take those seeds where they need to go
He knows, as Jesus describes it,
that some of the seed will be wasted
but that doesn’t keep him from planting them and sharing them
He knows some of the seed will shrivel up in the heat
and die of thirst
but still he scatters them
According to Jesus’ story, only about ¼ of all those seeds
will take root,
blossom into something worthwhile
and rich and beautiful
and they will grow and produce fruits
and become something much bigger
that the tiny seeds that left the sower’s hands
The seed goes everywhere
The sower doesn’t worry about who will receive it,
how many will truly get it,
or even if all of them in the crowd
are qualified to receive the gift
He just throws it out there for all everywhere
Because it’s not about us,
it’s about him
The sower is always confidant that there will be enough
and more to go around
Which makes me think of how so much of our lives
are governed by the fear
that there won’t be enough
Don’t we sometimes act and live as though
we are afraid that we won’t have enough?
Isn’t that why we sometimes hoard our stash?
Why we sometimes fight to keep others from having the blessings
that we have?
Because if THEY have it, maybe there won’t be enough
for us, too?
We take so much for granted
We’re so used to things being available to us
that we don’t pay attention to the whole process
of how things came to be
If you take a seed, and look at it
any kind of seed
it’s beyond comprehension
how that little tiny seed
is so full of life
Hidden away in its tininess
yet something so tiny will someday
with the right conditions and nurture,
grow into something beautiful
something nourishing and filling
something life-giving
A tiny seed is a very powerful thing
I think Jesus told parables
and stories
to sow seeds in us
If he just gave us everything we needed
and we didn’t have to participate in its growth and nurture
pretty soon we’d just put it on the shelf
and let it die
But he just gives us what we need to get started
he gives us the opportunity
to know the absolute joy and satisfaction
of helping to make something grow
Of working with HIM to create beautiful things
Jesus himself is a parable
We can’t sum him up in a bunch of words
God knows we’ve tried
For centuries, people would convene to try to reduce
the wonder and majesty of all that Jesus is
into a set of principles that we can carry in our pockets
and recite without thinking
But Jesus won’t be confined
I’m learning a lot
call it midlife, whatever
Most of my life has been contained in the world of the church
as a kid, teenager, young adult and whatever I am now
I’ve seen most of the world all those years
within the confines of the church
and sometimes, because I’m a pastor
people tend to want to keep me there
they’ll only talk about certain things
and avoid other subjects
but over the last few years
I’ve learned how important it is to see the rest of the picture
To step outside my box
and think, and see, and imagine from another angle
It’s easy, not just for me, but for anyone
who has spent any amount of years in the church
to use the church as sanctuary from the world
but really, the church is supposed to be a big seed-sowing machine
we’re not supposed to hoard our treasures and gifts here
among ourselves
we’re not supposed to set all those boundaries
between who’s in and who’s out
who’s allowed, and who’s not
We’re supposed to get out there into the world
and sow seeds
scatter them all over the place
Seeds that will blossom and grow
with the Spirit of God
in ways that are beyond our comprehension
We come here to get stocked up on supplies
to be filled up
not to keep our church life
separate from the rest of our lives
but to give the food we need
to get out there and share our resources, our blessings
with the world
with people who don’t speak our language
who don’t know all the code words
or secret handshakes and manners of church life
What seeds do we sow?
If we’re empty, we can’t sow anything
if we’re bitter and stuck in anger and resentment
and spend all our energy on hoarding
than we will only shrivel up and die
in the heat of the sun
But if we open our hands, our hearts,
our arms
to receive the extravagant generosity of God
so that we can leave here
and spread it around wherever we go
there will be more light out there
We all know that when one or two people
get a bug up their butt
and pick fights or arguments
or find everything to complain about
that sows abundant seeds of pain, of discord,
and misery
that is as powerful as any relentless,
life sucking weed
but then we know there’s those people
who can light up a room when they enter
who can share a word of grace
who can exude peace
who can bring people together again
who were previously at each other’s throats
and it spreads like a sweet aroma through the room
and seeps out into the hallways
If we as a church hoard all of good stuff to ourselves
and focus on self-preservation
we won’t be any good to anyone
much less to God
We live in a world
that is always trying to intensify our fears
trying to convince us that we can lose everything
if we don’t hoard it
If we don’t fight
if we don’t shut others out
if we don’t build walls
We are too often motivated by fear of never having enough
when the Sower himself tells us
there is more than enough for everyone
and God chooses to scatter it all over, with reckless abandonment
so that everyone gets a chance to participate
To give light, to give warmth,
to nurture growing life and love and God’s extravagant generosity
Look out your back window
pay attention when you walk out the door
everywhere there are signs of the divine at work
images of God’s overwhelming generosity
And all of it can speak to us of our purpose on this earth
Look at Jesus
look at him again and again
don’t ever think that you have the story down
because Jesus is always moving on ahead of us
opening new doors, making new pathways
planting seeds of new miracles
that he wants us to water and feed
Look again, ask another question,
look at Jesus from another angle
he won’t stay where we can sum him up
but keeps laying a trail of seeds behind him
for us to follow
so that we may discover
the unending beauty and
potential of the life he gives us...
No comments:
Post a Comment