Gone to Seed

Scripture: Matthew 13:1-9 & 13:18-23; Eric Vogt, Senior Pastor

The Lord be with you.

Let us pray. Lord, you know what we bring this morning, the rocks and thorny places that surround us and the state of the soil of our hearts. Make us good soil right now, that the seed of your word would take root in our lives and yield an abundant crop. May your word bear fruit in our lives, and may that fruit extend the depth and breadth of your reign to bring flourishing in our families and neighborhoods and workplaces, across San Antonio and beyond. We need your presence and your power, and so we pray expectantly in Jesus’ name. AMEN.

 

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            Remember science fair projects, the whole trifold board and all? I think some students and parents are groaning already. When I was in high school, I did a science fair project about growing grass under artificial light for use in athletic competitions. Some folks at Texas A&M were kind enough to take me under their wing and give me space and guidance for the project. (Don’t worry, I worked at UT-Austin for 4 years and Texas Tech for 1 year, so you won’t hear me dwelling on the Aggies.) My report was published in the Texas Turfgrass Journal – who knew there was such a thing? – and I advanced to the international Science Fair competition.

           

            I’m not trying to brag here, because here’s how my whole science fair run came to an end. One of the judges came up to me and asked simply, “Tell me about your soil.” I must have stared at him blankly, because he continued, “What’s in it? How did you care for it? What method did you use to fertilize it?” And I confessed, the researchers at A&M must have known more, because I had just run with whatever soil they gave me. I didn’t know what was in the soil, or how it affected the experiment’s results. I had paid attention to the seeds, and the light, and the grass that sprouted, but I hadn’t really thought about the soil. Clearly it mattered. And clearly the fact that I didn’t know how it mattered, that mattered, to this judge. I think almost everyone at the international level competition got some sort of “honorable mention” award, but I received no mention.

            That was the end of my scientific exploits. But the lesson stuck with me – the soil matters. Over the next 3 weeks, we’re going to be looking at parables Jesus tells in Matthew chapter 13. Parables are these stories where Jesus puts the truth of the gospel in everyday terms people can understand, and yet there’s a surprising, even shocking, sometimes hidden or unexpected, spiritual meaning to these very common physical elements in the story. It’s a short allegory around a single metaphor, comparing truths about God and how God works in the world to ways we understand things we observe every day. Someone has said that a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. And we see here in our parable today, the meaning Jesus wants to convey is that if the word about God’s reign is going to bear fruit in our lives, it’s going to need good soil. The soil matters.

 

            I may not know much about soil, but Jesus’s audience did. Here’s this huge crowd, so big he has to teach from a boat while they listen from the shore. They’re hungry for some teaching about the hope and justice of God’s coming reign, and he’s telling them what they already know about farming. This farmer seems to lack discretion in where he puts his seeds, just throwing it around haphazardly, randomly. But OK. Of course, some on the path won’t grow because of birds, some among rocks won’t grow because there isn’t deep soil and there will be times the crops need good roots, some among thorns won’t grow because they’ll be choked out. And the seed on good soil will multiply itself even 100 times, bearing fruit and most of all bearing more seeds. Right, got it. We know all this. What does that tell us about God? Jesus stops before the punch line. He simply says these truisms, and then says, “Let those who have ears to hear, hear this!” Wait, what? Hear what? Tell us the punchline!

 

            When he doesn’t, it seems that much of the crowd wanders away. But the disciples hang back and show what kind of soil they are by asking questions, by drawing close to Jesus and seeking more information. Why do you speak in parables?, they ask. And I think Jesus basically says, because people couldn’t take it if I gave them the answers directly. If what I want to give people is not simply information but an embodied relationship, recruit them into a movement, then I have to give them a story that leaves them wanting a little more, and pursuing me to get it. In the words of Emily Dickinson, Jesus will “tell all the truth but tell it slant.” There’s a little intrigue, a little mystery, a little art and poetry to how these heavenly truths get expressed and take root. The hearers have to dig in a little, or the words seem simply irrelevant or so commonplace as to be easily dismissed. And the disciples do dig in, and so as they seek him out, Jesus says, “let me break this one down for you.”

 

            I used to worry about which kind of soil I was. Maybe God couldn’t move in my life, maybe I was stuck spiritually simply because of the soil I was and always would be. But I don’t think that we’re consigned to being one kind of soil always.

 

In fact, one of the reasons the farmer in the story seems to be so haphazard in the story is because he doesn’t want to pre-judge which soil will be fertile and which won’t. What looks like rocky ground now might later be good soil. And what appears to be fertile places now might later become path, or thorns.

 

We’ve all been all these kinds of soil at one time or another. I’ve been on the well-worn path, where we don’t even let the word sit with us, we don’t understand what God’s trying to plant in us and so we just keep on moving. I’ve been in a rocky place, where what seemed like faith in the good times turned out to be pretty shallow when hard times hit. Unfortunately, I think we’ve often spread a kind of faith, a kind of following Jesus, that didn’t have good roots for people, that didn’t provide some depth and resistance when challenges inevitably come. There’s a lot of bubble gum, fast food, pop theology out there, prosperity gospel and oppressive gospel, shallow messages that get exposed as not-good-news at all when they’re impotent against all the bad news around us. That kind of faith isn’t the discipleship we need in our world filled with internal and external struggles. And finally, I’ve been thorny soil at times. Here, it’s not the hard times but the allure of other goods that impedes the growth of God’s fruit in our lives. We easily get too busy worrying about other things, chasing wealth or fame, image or power, control or security. And yet. Everyone who has ears, everyone who gets a seed – and that’s everyone – listen, because you have a chance to be good soil, and grow something that not only bears good fruit in your life but multiplies itself to grow something that blesses those around you. You can be good soil.

 

Which kind of soil are you right now? Which kind of soil am I? And how can we help each other cultivate and fertilize our soil, creating the kind of environment most conducive to God growing something new in our midst?

 

No matter where you’ve been, the question is where are you going to go next. How can you start right here, right now, today, toward cultivating better soil in your life? Maybe you’ve heard this contemporary parable, which may or may not come from the Cherokee or other indigenous people.

 

A grandpa is teaching his grandson about life, and he says to the boy, “There’s a fight going on inside me.”

 

"It’s a terrible fight between two wolves. One wolf is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego." He continued, "The other wolf is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."

 

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?" The grandfather simply replied, "The one you feed."

 

Which wolf will win? Which soil will you choose to be today? It’s all about the one you feed, the one you tend to and fertilize and cultivate. How do we cultivate fertile soil in our lives? How can we feed the good soil, and starve off the soil that won’t bear good fruit?

 

We talked about this passage downstairs in the Thursday lunch Bible study with Corazon ministries, and I like how one brother said it, “sometimes you have to change playgrounds, playthings, and playmates.” A lot of tilling the soil of our lives comes down to the community we put ourselves in. I hope we as Travis Park can work at supporting each other in lives following Jesus and sharing God’s unconditional love and justice. We all need those companions on the journey who will encourage us and keep us headed in the right direction, keep us tending to what God is planting in our midst. As we said last week, Valerie and I will be meeting in various homes and here at the church space to dream with you about what that might look like in this next season of our church. If you’re interested in helping to host one of those conversations, would you let me or Pastor Valerie know?

 

So we have to seek community that will help us go deep. We have to turn away from the distractions and temptations that would choke out God’s work in our soil, sometimes because they’re harmful and sometimes just because they’re taking up all our energy, attention, resources. We have to make room in our lives for what God wants to do. We do that in prayer. We do that by getting into Scripture together. We do that by being here in worship and tasting God’s grace in communion. We do that by volunteering and serving with people we don’t know yet. We do that by talking with our kids about God, who often have ears to hear attuned to God’s rhythms in ways we’ve long forgotten. We do that by asking questions, like the disciples do, by persisting at going back to God and saying, help me understand. Help me connect my everyday experience and the ways of your reign, your work in the world, which often seems so foreign or distant or counter-intuitive.

 

            How can we work toward being good soil, not soil on the path or stuck among the rocks and thorns? That’s one take away from today’s passage. But another way of looking at this passage is to ask, “how can I be like this sower?” God sows the word everywhere, but I don’t think Jesus is the only sower – we are meant to produce and sow seeds that multiply and extend God’s reign, God’s kingdom.

 

            Where are we planting seeds of good news? I’m relieved that this passage reminds me that it’s not my job to worry about what the results will be, that’s between the soil and the God who gives the growth. I don’t have to worry about finding the worthy people, the good soil. I know because seeds came to me when I wasn’t good soil, and God’s been faithful even in the times I wasn’t ready. Here’s my job - I can simply try to sow good news seeds everywhere. Do your co-workers seem like path people? Don’t worry about it, sow seeds that plant a word about the good news reign of God. Do your neighbors seem like rocky ground shallow people? Don’t worry about it, plant something that you know from experience has the potential to go deeper, to resist and last through the coming trials and storms. Are your friends stuck chasing wealth and prestige, consumed with other things? Plant unconditional love and justice that you know can bear real fruit in the long run. Don’t assume you’ll know the outcome of the seed planting, because you think you know the soil. The soil might just change, and surprise you.

 

            As we think about being the sower, and not just the soil, we can ask ourselves, “what kind of story are we telling with our lives?” How does my life point people to God’s good news? We can see that the yield of God’s work in our lives is fruit with many seeds – how are you spreading the good things God has grown and changed in you? How are you telling that story, with both your words and your actions? What difference has God’s word had in shifting the story of your life? Why do you ask the questions you do? Why do you have a depth and peace that have seen you through real challenges? Why do you seem to chase something more than wealth or popularity or control, the things we can all get worried about?

 

            Friends, with our actions and our words, we can tell a parable with our lives. We can live lives that pique people’s interest, sharing the nature of God’s reign, God’s kindom - if they have ears to ear and eyes to see. We can get people asking questions for which God’s good news is the answer. Our generosity can tell a story pointing to our generous God. Our radical hospitality and inclusive invitations can point to our inviting God. Our forgiveness points to God’s mercy, our perseverance to God’s faithfulness, our hope to God’s purpose and presence and power. How will your story, my story, our story together, be a parable that invites our neighbors to know and share God’s story?

 

            We need to keep asking, what kind of metaphors will be timely and relevant to our hearers? Even the metaphor of “kingdom” for the realm where God is in control and making all things right can feel out of touch for us, which is why the Inclusive Bible translation we use often calls it the “kindom,” thereby emphasizing God’s space and community as a family in healthy connection with one another. I’ve heard others say a good translation for us today might be the “network” of God, or the “economy” of God, instead of the kingdom of God. But more than simply finding the right language, we have to keep helping one another ask and answer, “how is my life, how is our shared life together, both showing and telling the story of God’s reign?”

 

            I’ll close with this. Maybe you saw this in the news this week, this was a great lived parable for those with ears to hear. A week ago, 25 year old Sarah Cummins called off the wedding that was supposed to happen yesterday, a wedding she had planned with 2 years and $30,000. But instead of canceling all her orders for the reception, she started calling homeless shelters around her hometown of Indianapolis. She made a plan for buses to pick people up and bring them to the reception at the Ritz. Jesus told a similar parable, that God wants to throw a lavish party for us, not because we were the worthy or expected guests but because God wants the party to be full, and somehow we were hungry or desperate or crazy enough to say yes. Somehow the invitation came when God had cultivated some good soil in us, when we’d been feeding the good soil and open to God’s unexpected message. If we’ve known what it is to receive that kind of invitation, to be guests at such an amazing dinner party, how will we multiply and extend that table of grace to others? And if we haven’t known that good news yet, how can we tend to the soil of our lives?

 

            There’s a term, “gone to seed,” which refers to the time that a plant has stopped flowering, leaves are falling off, it’s dying. But it’s precisely at this point, which looks like it’s all falling apart, like Sarah’s canceled wedding must have felt, when seeds of something new get planted. God will use even the places of our lives that feel like brokenness not flourishing, like death and not life, and multiply something new. Gone to seed times are not the end, they are just the beginning. May we share those beginnings together here as a people, and extend those good news second chances in many new fields as we follow the example of our sower.

Let’s pray.

Gardening God, help us tend to and feed the good soil in our own lives and the lives of those around us. Make us a cultivating community, unwilling to settle for the easy ways we can all find ourselves on the path or among the rocks and thorns. Make us a sowing community, not worrying about who qualifies or deserves our attention, not placing conditions or strings attached to the ways we extend your love and justice, but simply spreading the seeds you’ve given us with everyone we meet.

 

Oscar Romero prayer

 

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(338 words below)

*SCRIPTURE READING                    Matthew 13:1-9 & 13:18-23 IB                           Sarah Weynand

Later that day, Jesus left the house and sat down by the lake shore. Such great crowds gathered that he went and took a seat in a boat, while the crowd stood along the shore. He addressed them at length in parables:

“One day, a farmer went out sowing seed. Some of the seed landed on a footpath, where birds came and ate it up. Some of the seed fell on rocky ground, where there was little soil. This seed sprouted at once since the soil had no depth. But when the sun rose and scorched it, it withered away for lack of roots. Again, some of the seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. And some of it landed on good soil, and yielded a crop thirty, sixty, even a hundred times what was sown. Let those who have ears to hear, hear this!

“Now listen to the parable of the sower. When people hear the message about the kindom of God without understanding it, the Evil One comes along and snatches away what was sown in their hearts. This is the seed sown along the path. Those who received the seed that fell on rocky ground are the ones who hear the word and at first welcome it with joy. But they have no roots, so they last only for a while. When some setback or persecution comes because of the message, they quickly fall away. Those who receive the message that fell among the thorns are the ones who hear the word, but then worldly anxieties and the lure of wealth choke it off, and the message produces no fruit. But those who receive the seed that fell on rich soil are those who hear the message and understand it. They produce a crop that yields a hundred, or sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

One: Hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.

All: Thanks be to God.