The parable of the sower and the seed – a familiar parable, isn’t it.
Seems pretty straight forward.
The seed is the word of God.
The problems of what happens to the seed
when it falls on the road or among the stones or weeds is obvious.
The idea is to get that seed into good ground so that it can produce.
So a congregation can take this parable to heart
and make sure that it is a place of good soil for the seed to grow.
It can have worship that fosters participation.
It can have a way to welcome people that is encouraging for growth.
It can have a Christian education program for both children and adults
that fosters faith development.
It can have programs that reach out into the community in service.
And especially a congregation can have a church growth program
that increases membership,
and thus the seed will grow and produce even more.
Isn’t this what this parable is all about? Well, no.
These are all good ideas and fine goals,
but it isn’t really what the Gospel reading for today is all about.
Most of us are too familiar with these parables to catch the outlandishness.
I really sort of wanted to say to you all just before reading the Gospel
to listen to the reading in a different way.
Put aside what you know, and listen with you body,
that is, try to note where in your body
you are reacting to the words you are hearing read.
How are you reacting?
Where in the story, for example, do you feel
uncomfortable, anxious, angry, puzzled, joyful, confused, encouraged?
When in the parable do you feel
the sensation in the pit of the stomach,
the brows knit together,
the heart opening and expanding?
The parables are always about the truth that is in Jesus,
that he is living out for us.
And this parable is a story about a process at work in us.
It is about our relationship with Jesus,
the experience of the disciple in relationship to the Beloved.
The point of the parable is that
despite the inefficient method of broadcasting seed
and the seeds that therefore landed in places doomed to failure,
in the good soil the outcome was abundance
way beyond expectation or usual possibility.
We don’t have to be agricultural experts to get this.
One seed produces one stalk of wheat.
How many seeds of grain will appear on that one stalk of wheat?
100?! In your dreams.
Well then, how about 60? Still way too high.
30? That would still be an incredible yield,
even for today with genetic engineering.
Yes, the parable is about abundance – this is the outlandish part of the parable.
There was a section left out of the reading,
a section crucial to understanding:
Matt. 13:10-17 ¶ Then the disciples came and asked him,
“Why do you speak to them in parables?”
Matt. 13:11 He answered,
“To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.
Matt. 13:12 For to those who have, more will be given,
and they will have an abundance;
but from those who have nothing,
even what they have will be taken away.
Matt. 13:13 The reason I speak to them in parables is
that ‘seeing they do not perceive,
and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.’
Matt. 13:14 With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says:
‘You will indeed listen, but never understand,
and you will indeed look, but never perceive.
Matt. 13:15 For this people’s heart has grown dull,
and their ears are hard of hearing,
and they have shut their eyes;
so that they might not look with their eyes,
and listen with their ears,
and understand with their heart and turn—
and I would heal them.’
Matt. 13:16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see,
and your ears, for they hear.
Matt. 13:17 Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people
longed to see what you see, but did not see it,
and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”
Now how do you react to the parable when you hear these added verses?
The disciples ask Jesus,
Why do you speak in parables to everyone else?
But for us, we get more explanation and teaching.
They get parables full of paradoxes, riddles in place of explanation.
And Jesus replied,
Because to you it has been given to know
the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven,
but to them not.
Some are going to get it, and some not.
That’s why, Jesus said, the ones having ears, let them hear.
This is not about judgment or predestination.
This is stating the observation of their condition at the moment.
We can hear the words and understand them on one level,
and then hear them again and something inside of us shifts,
and we hear them in a whole new way
that opens awareness and comprehension of deeper spiritual reality.
So the parable is about Jesus,
and about his relationship with us,
and about grace.
The parable of the sower is a parable of grace.
The seed is the proclamation of the Gospel about the Kingdom of God
or the Kingdom of Heaven, this different reality.
Jesus, the sower, flings out the seed of the word, the proclamation,
in flamboyant abundance,
where it would be expected to grow
and where one would never expect much to come from it,
cast out in receptive ears and unreceptive ears.
And where it is received, it flourishes,
and the result is incredible abundance beyond logical expectation,
beyond what we are capable of on our own.
That is grace at work in our lives, for those who hear and perceive clearly.
The purpose of hearing and perceiving, “getting it,”
is to bear fruit,
but it is not those perceiving
who are producing the good outcome of their own,
but the seed growing in them.
You see, if we are hearing with ears that can get it,
we are the good soil, not the seed.
The soil is not increasing in abundance.
The seed produces the abundance.
It is the work of God, God’s Spirit, within us
that accomplishes the fruit bearing.
That is why the abundance of fruit is possible
way beyond our normal capacities
if we were to do this on our own.
In fact, even the process of listening and perceiving, of getting the message,
is part of the fruit that is born,
this arising and expanding awareness.
The disciples were getting the message.
That is why they were called to be disciples, and were following Jesus.
Now the Gospels are full of stories about the disciples not getting it,
being thick-headed and slow on the uptake.
So that is good news for the rest of us,
in case we’re worried that we might be among
those to whom were applied the words of Jesus:
‘seeing they do not perceive,
and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.’
The point is that this is a statement of observation
of their – or our – condition
at the moment.
I would ask you to remember that the parables are always about
the truth that the Teacher is living.
He broadcasts his seeds of words of Gospel good news everywhere,
flamboyantly, with great generosity and abandon,
in likely places and very unlikely places,
and the seeds of grace planted in our open and receptive hearts
bring with them their own abundance.
In some open hearts one hundredfold abundance,
and some 60 and some 30,
but in all abundance beyond our own capability.
The parable is about relationship with Jesus,
the experience of the disciple in relationship to the Beloved.
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