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First
Reading
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Psalm |
Epistle |
Gospel |
Ezekiel 17:22–24 |
Psalm 92:1–4, 11–14 |
2 Corinthians 5:6–10, 14–17 |
Mark 4:26–34
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This morning’s Gospel is one of Jesus’ parables about sowing seed. A common theme of most of these parables is that the planting of seed is inevitably worth it. In spite of all the obstructions to the contrary, some of the seed does germinate and overcomes numerous threats to its growth to produce a harvest, as well as enough seed for the following year. A person of faith has to have confidence in the ability of God’s grace to flourish as much as a farmer has to have confidence to go out and sow a barren field. If a farmer is afraid to plant because of draught, disease, gypsy moths, slugs, and poor soil, he will not be in the farming business next fall. A person of faith needs to sow faith in order to keep faith alive.
Jesus never knew about the game of baseball. Yet if he did, Jesus would be sure to remind us that every year at the start of batting practice, all good little league baseball coaches will remind the youngsters that just as the record for the greatest number of homeruns belonged to Babe Ruth, the Babe also held the record for the greatest number of strike outs. If a player is unwilling to swing hard, or keeps the bat on the shoulder hoping for a perfect pitch or praying for a walk, players on base will rarely get to touch home plate. Runs are never scored by those afraid of the pitcher’s fastball.
Long ago I once had a government professor who, with a twinkle in his eye, would suggest that some people look at the world and see all the dirt in it and seek to escape so as not to get their fingers dirty. Such people often become hermits or seek to enter seminary. There are others who look at the world and see all the mess and dirt in it and decide that they in some way want to clean it up and make the world a healthier place for others. They decide that they are willing to pitch in, to dig, and are willing to get dirt under their fingernails in the hope of leaving behind a better legacy than what they found. Such people, our professor would remind especially idealistic freshman, tend to run for public office and become politicians. Most of us would concur that many career politicians do not have a high reputation right now, but I am both pleased and surprised that young people still get some version of Potomac fever, not simply because they want to be where the action is, but because they want to be an instrument for improvement and believe that if no one tries, nothing will change.
In the same way, people of faith need to change the image of being aloof or making perpetual cleanliness into a fetish. People of faith are called to enter into the mess of this world and to use a shovel, broom, or if need be, our hands. Mail regulations don’t permit it, but every year I’ve always wanted to send out in our parish newsletter a small shovel reminding us that we are to be instruments of cleaning things up and planting seeds in the dirt, not holding our nose in haughty distain and running away from the challenge of a messy cleanup.
A simple exercise of prayer that was suggested to me many years ago and which I have tried to practice, is every morning when you first wake up, lie still, and say “Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord.” In saying that before we even move out of bed, we are reminding ourselves that we never have to run scared. God asks us to go out and swing hard at the pitches, and not be fearful of striking out and keeping the bat glued to our shoulders. We never have to be afraid of the muck that might be thrown at us that day or shirk the challenges of going out, digging deep, and planting seeds of God’s harvest.
I wasn’t able to obtain shovels for all of us, but on the table there is a pile of shovels and if you don’t have one, you are invited to take one home. But if you do, I want you to return next week with a note that we will post on one of our bulletin boards saying how you used it to plant a seed of God’s grace, or how you used it to clean up a part in God’s creation. You don’t have to sign the note, but I want you to make a commitment to use the gift of this small tool to face the world saying, “Thank you, Lord,” and then going out, planting the seed and preparing the world, in the hope for a bountiful harvest of God’s grace.
And I offer this to you in the name of the Living God, Amen.
