Rector's Sermon - Sunday, July 14, 2002

First Reading	Psalm	Epistle	Gospel
Isaiah 55:10-13	65:9-14	Romans 8:1-11	Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

    The parable of the sower is a pivotal story in the Gospels of Luke and Mark, as well as Matthew. In Mark and Matthew it introduces the largest collection of Jesus' parables. The Greek word for parable is from the verb meaning "to set side by side". Hence it is reasonable to think that one can compare every detail of Jesus' story with a deeper meaning. However, in Jesus' culture and in the wider Biblical tradition, the word parable was also used for a story whose meaning was not readily apparent. The story was intended as an intellectual riddle that was to tease the mind into a much broader insight. Just as Jesus' teaching of how God operated in the world has many dimensions to it, so too the story of the sower stimulates our mind to comprehend more than one meaning and to respond to the Good News in all its complexity.

    People of the early church quickly realized that not all people accepted Jesus' ministry. Some were enthusiastic followers until they needed to make a real commitment, and then they fell away. People had at least as many excuses why they didn't go to church or why they were mad at the minister or upset at the vestry in the first century as they do now. The one course that doesn't need to be taught in seminary is "The reasons why people don't go to church". The seed of God's word does not always take. Jesus would later tell another parable about the wheat and tare weeds growing together until the harvest. Just as it was difficult to tell the difference when the plants were growing in a field, the early church was to be very careful not to hastily root out of its community what appeared to be developing into weeds, lest the good plants be uprooted at the same time. The parable assured the early church not to be upset when people didn't live up to their calling. Let the growth of God's word develop and grow and let God do the rooting.

    There is a seemingly basic mystery of the harvest. We can't always anticipate how God works and what will take root. We are also cautioned not to assume that God's grace is not already working in the world long before we arrived on the scene. God's grace germinates in spite of or despite our efforts, and we would be wise to guard against falling into the prideful trap of thinking the world's salvation all depends on us. After the field was sown, the process of germination, growth, and results of the harvest were more than what was a result of our control.

    The universality of God's love is stressed when the field is compared to the world. The seed is sown over all, no matter what the soil. To people everywhere the seed is sown. God does not only sow on what might be thought of as good soil. Moreover, what we might consider good soil might still not produce God's harvest because of the birds, or the sun, or the thorns. The universality of God's love and the rejection of a narrow parochialism is further confirmed as an unmistakable aspect of Jesus message.

    The sower was identified with both God and Jesus. In one sense the Word was already in the world and Jesus was making it clear. In another sense Jesus became the fullest revelation of the Word of God. Just as the sower flung the seed over all the field, flinging as much seed here as there, hoping for the seed to geminate and sprout where it might, so does the Gospel. The Gospel is generous, not stingy, just as the sower is extravagantly generous almost to the point of being profligate with the seed.

    Lastly, and perhaps more importantly, the story continues to tease us to reflect and probe further. Sometimes what begins as small measure of selfishness and greed can grow exponentially and a large measure of our reality becomes gobbled up by expediency. Sometimes when we choose easy answers over struggling with deeper questions, our roots are not grounded enough to withstand the heated challenges of our secular culture. Sometimes we do have good intentions, but we let all sorts of agendas fill our schedule and these agendas choke off our spiritual life. Then, not because we necessarily deserve it or because we have been piously intentional, but somehow, God's Word takes root in us. It is hardly the story's intention to suggest that only those who are lucky enough never to have faced temptations or challenges are the blessed ones in whose lives the word of God flourishes! Regardless of appearances to the contrary, the efforts of God working among us are not futile. Rather, God's grace is multiplied in us by astonishing proportions. The normal yield on a farmer's field in Jesus time was a seven or eight fold yield, yet Jesus talks about a thirty or sixty or hundred fold yield. Amazing! Maybe when all is said and done, that's the real wonder and puzzle of the parable.

     And I offer this to you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.