The Parable of the Sower
Rev. Lee Ann Bryce
Community Christian Church
July 10, 2011
Matthew 13:1-9
We remember Jesus as a great teacher, but how did he communicate his message? Think about it, he rarely preached sermons. He didn’t teach Bible studies. No structured classes for his listeners. Much of the time, he told stories, he told parables. His parables were little fictional stories whose characters were in situations that were familiar to his listeners. He told parables about farmers, or people who were concerned with money, or family member interacting with one another.
Something else characterized his parables – they always had a surprising twist to them. They might start out predictable enough, but at some point they’d veer off into some strange, often shocking direction. This was a technique he used. It made his stories memorable because they were surprising to his audience.
Often we read the parables and they become familiar to us so we don’t really listen to them anymore. They become these nice little stories and we end up completely missing the edge. Also, because we are in such a different context than his original listeners, we may not really get what the story says. We’ve never seen a mustard seed or tended sheep or been so concerned with a lost coin that we’d turn the house upside down looking for it.
The parable of the sower would have been a surprising story to those who heard it from his mouth. Jesus told this story (along with several other short little parables in the 13th chapter of Matthew) in order to put forth a picture of the kingdom of God. That’s what Jesus taught about – the kingdom of God. He was concerned with a different reality than they knew and almost everything he did was in order to put forth an idea of the kind of world that God wanted, God’s kingdom, on earth as it is in heaven.
What was shocking about the parable of the sower? I don’t believe many of us are farmers, however, I know we have a fair amount of gardeners among us, people who understand the principles of seed and ideal conditions and working toward an orderly and abundant harvest. Let’s say you have some vegetables in your garden, even a few tomatoes or peppers, maybe some herbs. When you went to put your garden in, did you go about it in the same way as the sower in Jesus’ parable did? Did you just go outside with a handful of seed and start throwing it everywhere? On the sidewalk, over in the weed patch, maybe a little bit in the street just for good measure?
I doubt it. If you started from seed at all, it was probably carefully sewn in tiny pots with perfect soil, started inside, maybe under artificial light, so that the little seedlings would be protected from the cold until they were hearty enough to thrive outside. It’s probably more likely you started with small plants, and before you put them in the ground, you carefully considered where would be the perfect spot, where they’d get the right amount of sun and water, where the dog wouldn’t stomp all over them. These are the things that sensible, responsible gardeners (and farmers) do. Seed is precious and you don’t want to waste it where it won’t do well, right?
We’re different from Jesus’ listeners. We do gardening for a hobby. We enjoy beautiful flowers or it appeals to us to add some cherry tomatoes or strawberries fresh from our garden into our meals. Our lives don’t depend upon a good crop. Remember Jesus’ followers were peasants, many of them farmers whose very lives depended on a good harvest. What would their response have been to this story? This story in which the crazy, irresponsible farmer just threw the seed everywhere? Seed was like gold! It was treated with utmost care, never squandered.
In Jesus’ story, the seed falls everywhere. Sometimes it gets snatched away. Sometimes it dies in shallow soil or gets choked out by thorns. Sometimes it grows, and when it does, the harvest is more plentiful than anyone could imagine.
Listen to what Jesus does not say. Never once does he mention soil analysis. His farmer is not concerned with viability. There is not the faintest hint that the sower considers the nature of the soil as he flings the seed, letting it fly scattershot in every direction.
Beneath this story of the crazy farmer is an assumption of abundance that must have been so foreign to Jesus’ listeners, just as it is foreign to us. In the Parable of the Sower, there is seed enough to lose. Grace is flung and wasted everywhere. Is this story an invitation to carelessness? Or might Jesus be saying something about the kingdom of God is about a radical trust in the abundance that God provides? That the joyful farmer is free to sow and share, trusting that the harvest is assured?
Our job may be simply to scatter the seeds we have in our hands, those seeds entrusted to us as our gifts, letting go of our desire to control the outcome, without carefully judging whether the result will be favorable or not.
For me, a minister, it means bringing my best to my work, day after day, despite the times it’s difficult for me to see if my work really makes any difference. For teachers, it means caring about investing in those students who don’t seem like they care or are getting it. For parents, it’s about the realization that your words and actions make a difference to your kids even if it appears they’re not paying attention.
The kingdom of God is a place where all of us keep doing our little piece of what we do in the world to continue the work of Christ. We keep flinging that seed even if it seems that the harvest won’t ever get here. The harvest, the result of our effort isn’t up to us at all. Jesus has put before us the kingdom of God. A kingdom of abundance and radical trust. God has invited each of us to be partners in bringing about this kingdom.
What seeds do you hold in your hand? How is God calling you to sow them?
(Responsive Psalm 65)
Soil Analysis
I am not a knowledgeable gardener, like many here. But there’s one thing I have learned – things go better when I have invested time in preparing the soil, turning it over, adding some material to loosen and nourish it.
As we prepare our hearts to gather around the table of Christ, to offer ourselves and to share in the bread and cup, the sustenance that Christ offers us, take a moment to reflect on yourself. How open are you to the presence of God? As the seeds of God’s unconditional love and acceptance and hope and peace are cast toward you, how will you receive them?
We hunger today for truth, for authenticity, for the deeper meaning of life. We move toward these things as we tend to your connection with God. Just as the gardener prepares the soil, so we do well to take time to examine ourselves, to prepare our hearts to receive all that God offers to us. No matter the circumstances of our lives, we may trust that seeds of wellbeing and love and peace are always headed our way.
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