Pentecost IV - Lynn Campbell

Isaiah 55:10-13, Mt 13: 1-9, 18-23

Today’s Gospel reading is a familiar one to many of us. So familiar, in fact, that it’s easy to tune out. It’s easy to sit back and passively let the words fall on us with little active engagement with them. We might be tempted to start thinking about the grocery list or what we are going to do after church this morning. That is the danger with familiar stories. But it also goes against the very words and message of Jesus’ parable. This story from the Gospel of Matthew is often referred to as the Parable of the Sower. But it also seems to me to be the Parable of the Soil. The soil and the sower. The one who receives and the one who shares. It is a call to hear and understand the word of God and to share it abundantly with others.

On Friday I was at my aunt’s house in New Hampshire. I was outside admiring her beautiful garden filled with wonderfully alive plants and flowers. I pointed out my favorite- a blue hydrangea tucked back in the corner. She explained to me, who knows nothing about gardening, that she has been trying to get it to flower for years with no success. She finally determined it must be because of poor soil. So she took her hoe and started to do the slow work of breaking up the soil. Then she bought some cow manure and mixed into the soil. Now, the hydrangea is blooming beautifully for all to appreciate.

It took some hard work before the soil was ready to bear fruit. But in time, it did. And the same goes with each of us. I imagine that we all have some hardness in us, maybe from past hurts or present pain, that needs to be broken open. Maybe “the cares of the world and the lure of wealth” threaten to strangle the word of God in us, just as it did with the followers of Jesus 2000 years ago. If so, it is time to open our hearts to the life-giving power of God in our midst- to seek some “fertilizer” to add into the mix of our lives. It might be some time of quiet reflection, a walk along the beach, reflection on the weekly scripture, or looking with wonder at creation through the eyes of our children. All of this allows the seeds of God to sink deeper into us, so that it will take root and grow abundantly.

God’s word sowed in each of us is active. It doesn’t just come to us to rest passively. It is a creative force within us and the world. Isaiah in today’s first reading compares the word of God to the rain and snow that falls to the earth and does not return to the heavens until it has watered the ground allowing new growth to come about. Like the waters from heaven, the word of God does not return to God empty. In the words of Isaiah, “it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” We need to trust that these words are true. The seeds of God, the word of God, are at work in us and the world. The seeds of God, taking root in us, require us to act with urgency and with love. Hearing leads to understanding and to action. We are called to join God is the life-giving work of being a sower.

At first glance the sower in today’s Gospel doesn’t appear to be a very good farmer or example to us. What kind of farmer flings seeds carelessly, without concern for where it will fall? It seems wasteful to throw seeds into soil that is hardened, thorny or shallow. The gardeners in our midst this morning, I’m sure, would tell us this isn’t the way to produce a fruitful harvest. But our ways are not God’s ways. We are finite; God is infinite. We act with fear; God acts with hope. We see scarcity; God sees abundance.

It is not our responsibility to judge the worthiness of the soil before throwing the seeds of God. We share the seeds of God’s love and mercy as freely as they were shared with us. Even if it seems like a lost cause. It might be these “lost causes” that end up truly hearing and living out God’s word. I think of Oscar Romero a man who served as the Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Salvador in the late 1970s. Romero was caught up in the “lures of wealth.” He enjoyed the comfort and influence that came with being friends with the rich and powerful. It wasn’t until the assassination of a fellow priest, who worked tirelessly for the rights of the poor, that Romero began to both hear AND UNDERSTAND the Gospel message of justice and peace for the first time. The seeds that had been planted in Romero began to bear fruit in his advocacy for the poor of El Salvador. The people around Romero hoped and prayed the seeds of God would take root in what appeared to be thorny soil and they did. Many came to see themselves as beloved children of God who deserve to be treated with dignity because of Romero’s work. Romero heard and lived out the word of God and shared it with others. Sadly, in 1980, Romero was also assassinated for his decision to stand with the poor.

The seeds of God are not given for our personal benefit. They are shared with the world for the benefit of the world. They are the seeds of the Kingdom of God that is in our midst. So, not only do we take care of the word of God within us, we work to share it with others. By doing this we participate in the creative, live-giving mission of God. We help to bring God’s work of building the kingdom of justice and peace to fruition. And, ultimately, that is what the work of sowing seeds is all about. It is about God’s vision for the world. In the words of today’s collect I pray that we “may know and understand what things we ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Amen.