Sunday
– July 13, 2014
Cathedral
Church of the Nativity
Elizabeth
Yale
Matthew's
Parable of the Sower
You
are sitting on the dark rocky shoreline of the Galilee, some of you standing in
the edge of the water, not really watching the little children playing in the
water, but definitely watching the small, rocking, wooden fishing boat, pulling
the hair from your faces as the wind carries Jesus' voice to you as he teaches
about the kingdom of heaven. Interestingly, no one asked Jesus what the kingdom
of heaven is like. Jesus has a burning desire to talk about it though, because
talk about it he does. At length. The kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God
are phrases used more than ninety times in the New Testament. We have a number
of parables which talk about the kingdom of heaven, but we do not have record
of anyone asking the question. But because Jesus tells us without anyone having
asked, I assume it’s important. Why do we need to know about the kingdom of
heaven? It seems that God cares about us, and in doing so, wants to share with
us what home is really like. God seems to share with us the vision here, so we
know where we are looking for. We are looking for the kingdom of heaven. So,
what is the kingdom of heaven like?
I can be very metaphorically literal minded and parables are one place
where this can be problematic. If I were to read a poem about being a bee and
the bee did something un-bee-like, it would ruin the poem for me. The metaphor
does not work. Once in the metaphor, I feel bound by the parameters of whatever
I have been turned into. If I am a seed, I can only do what a seed does. If the
seed tries to send an email, I am out. Sorry, perhaps seeds do have email
accounts, but I don't know about that. If we understand ourselves in this
passage as the different types of soil as Matthew would have us, then we cannot
tend to ourselves. Without being able to change, we have no freedom. If I am
rocky soil and the seed falls on me, then there is no way for me to grow good
crop, there is no way for me to produce well. We can learn much from this
interpretation, but it is mostly focused on judgment. Let’s go a little bit
farther, I think there is more to this parable. I do not think the parable is
just about the different soil types. The soil is only one part of the parable.
It is, after all, called the parable of the Sower. I think there are two other
parts of this parable that need to be looked at to get a whole picture. The
community and the Sower.
Gardening is always a communal activity, even when you are the only
person involved, there is still the sun, the rain, the birds, the bugs, and the
plant itself. Without all these community players, there will be no flowers, no
beans, no roots, no fruits, no garden. The birds eat the seeds on the path, yes. However, then those seeds return from the bird to nourish the
soil. The energy and life of the seed isn't wasted, it is used differently.
Jesus was preaching in a culture where life was in community. We have different
kinds of communities now, different understandings about how we are dependent
on the people around us. But we still are in community, we still are dependent,
and we need to face that fact with grace and love. Without the community's
involvement we would not be able to grow. We each bring different gifts to the
ministry of the church, of our families, and of our work places. We have people
who want to throw sun and rain on ministries that are growing, through their
resources of money, time, and effort. There are people who are gifted at
weeding: seeing, calling, and pulling out the issues so that the idea can grow.
Bugs, worms, and birds lead to a dynamic interplay that gives air to the roots
of plants, nourishes the soil, and tends to weeds. Even rocks add stability to
the soil so it does not wash away. Are
you sunshine, rain, a rock, a bird, or a bug? Perhaps you are gifted at weeding
and tending. Community is an integral part of the kingdom of heaven. We affirm
this every week when we say the Nicene Creed and say that we believe in the
communion of saints. The kingdom of heaven gathers the whole community, both
dead and alive.
Many sermons about this parable ask us what kind of ground we are, they
ask us what kind of preparation have we done for the seeds that God is throwing
at us. But the sower does not prepare the ground in this parable - at least we
do not hear or see of it. We assume that some preparation has been done. But
this sower seems to be wandering all over creation quite literally, throwing
seeds without care. What kind of sower does that? How could this sower waste
good seed throwing them where they land among rocks or weeds? The sower
displays an amazing amount of faith that some of the seed will fall on good
soil and will grow. I was in Israel in May, as many of you know, in the
Galilean area, and I think it would be really hard to throw seeds into pure
soil. There are a lot of rocks. It is a really, really, really, rocky
landscape. But the region is really fertile and so even the rocky soil produces
plants and trees. And the sower throws the seeds everywhere anyway. There is an
abundance here. The sower must have a great abundance of seeds. If God is the
sower, sowing the seeds of the kingdom of Heaven, then it shows that the
kingdom of God is abundantly given. There is enough to be spread into even
those areas where we do not expect it to grow. The kingdom of heaven is more
wildly abundant than we can ever imagine, growing up in places where we might
not expect it. We have been given this abundance from God and we can be sowers
of dignity, joy, and love in the world, even in places where we do not expect
it to grow. If the plant grows up and then withers quickly, that leaves more
soil layer in which the next seed can try to grow. The kingdom of heaven is
abundant. We have been given of it so freely.
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