Reflection: " The Parable of the Sower"The Parable of the Sower is found in all three Synoptic Gospels.
Mark ‘s account was written first and then Matthew and Luke had access to his writings when they wrote their own accounts of the story. The way we hear these parables in today’s reading from the Gospel of Matthew, tells us how receptive we really are to the gospel of Jesus Christ, because Jesus uses this first parable to set us up for the seven parables that will follow. They are all about the Kingdom of God and this one is about the character of God and how God reveals that character to those who recognize it. Throughout this 13th chapter, Jesus keeps saying, “those who have ears, let them hear; anyone with ears, listen!” In other words, these stories will seek out people who can understand them. As you listen to the stories, they will attempt to identify which kind of recipient you are by the way you hear it. The depth of our understanding depends on our willingness to be changed by what we hear. Yes, you can take the story at face value: seeds get sown, and where they land determines how well they will grow. Or you can try to assign meaning to the parts of the parable, treating it strictly as an allegory. The Sower is God, the Word is the gospel of Jesus Christ and the soil is our hearts. Using this interpretation, and the explanation Jesus gives of this story, we might think the point is to do everything we can to become good soil. However, there’s a problem with this approach as we can’t change the kind of soil we are – only God can do that. The bigger problem with this kind of interpretation is that it makes the story be about us, about the soil. But the story is not about you (be good dirt); the story is for you. This parable, like all scripture, is really about God and God’s extravagant generosity. God is the Sower, scattering seed liberally, even wastefully, everywhere. It’s what God does and keeps on doing. God keeps throwing seeds, regardless of where the seed might land. God is love, and love is generous, lavish, abundant, eager to share what is good. God will not withhold the Word from anyone or deny anyone access to the Good News. This parable tells of a sower who is ridiculously generous with the amount of seed he scatters, throwing it not only on the good soil, but on soil that even non-farmers can recognise wasn’t a good bet: on thorny soil, rocks and even a beaten path. God doesn’t use a GPS-driven tractor to plot out perfectly spaced rows, carefully inserting each seed at the exact depth of carefully prepared soil for optimum germination. God scatters the Good News of the Kingdom liberally, even in places where it’s not likely to grow or bear fruit. God sows everywhere. Wherever it’s sown, the Good News cannot be contained. God doesn’t discriminate between good soil and bad soil. God throws the seed of the Kingdom everywhere! It goes out into all the world, to transform any who will accept it. You see, seed can only become fruitful when it stops being a seed. Seed must change to become a plant. It breaks open, just as God has broken into the world in the person of Jesus Christ. As it grows, it becomes something that is not a seed anymore – it becomes a plant, bearing more seeds! The parables read us – where the seed lands, how we understand the Word and absorb it into our lives, how well our ears are tuned to listen to it, determine the extent to which it can change us, transforming us into fruitful plants that bear abundantly. As we listen to the parables of Jesus over the next few weeks, how will they change us? How will our ears hear them? How will we be changed, as we find ourselves drawn into God’s story, as God invites us to become part of it? How willing are we to be transformed by that story, becoming something we’ve not been before? Each week, preachers cast the gospel as broadly as possible, with no guarantee where it will land. Preachers know that people listen to the word for all kinds of reasons. Maybe as a newcomer, checking out a new church - a place to call their spiritual home. Maybe they’re experiencing a crisis in their life. Maybe they come out of habit, or to see friends they hope will also be there. This is their social network And maybe they come because they’re hungry for God’s Word; eager to bring their praise and gifts to worship the Lord in the spirit of holiness But every preacher knows that no matter how carefully crafted the sermon may be, no matter how much prayer and study have been poured into sharing the Word of the Lord, the chances of something taking root doesn’t depend on the sower. Yet that’s what we’ve all been called to do. To sow the seed and to bear the heartache and frustration when it falls on rocky, weed-infested ground. And, chances are that you’ve been there! Each of you have probably experienced the hard truths of this parable at some level. Every parent whose words of loving concern have fallen on a teenager’s deaf ears knows about hard-packed ground Everyone who has operated a business with integrity, only to see clients go to where prices are cheaper, understands shallow roots Every person who has been overwhelmed with worry or caught in the trap of loving money has experienced the chokehold of thorny weeds. This parable reminds us that we are not alone in these struggles. The parable also reminds us where to keep our focus. As a church, we invest time, energy, and hope in trying to coax growth among people. We shouldn’t despair when the seeds we sow do not take root. The sower accepts the reality that a good chunk of seed will fall on bad soil - yet he keeps sowing. Jesus wants us to keep spreading the word. He calls us to hope, challenging us to believe in God’s abundance. This story could have ended with a normal harvest from good soil, but it is filled with the promise of lavish abundance, even in the face of rejection and the hard realities of living in this world. God wants our hearts to be good soil, but nevertheless he also hurls huge amounts of seed even on dry, thorny, or beaten soil. Similarly, God doesn’t want us to hold back - because there is enough seed, grace and love for everyone. The story isn’t about what the dirt is like - the story is about God, and the way God breaks into our lives in the person of Jesus Christ - to change us and accept his extravagant love. It’s about God’s abundant generosity, and God’s desire to draw us into the kind of transformation that bears abundantly more than a “normal” crop could possibly bear. Hear God’s love for you and be broken like the shell of a seed. Let the Word of God grow in you and produce an abundance in you, becoming something new and a part of God’s story in the world. Let these parables take root in you and change you. All who have ears, listen! Blessings on you and your Christian sowing endeavours. Pastor Rick
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