The Sower and the Seeds
Matthew 13: 1-9
Introduction:
Everyone likes an interesting story, and Jesus was unparalleled as a
storyteller. Like any good storyteller he told stories for a purpose - to make a
point. Jesus taught in parables. He was always being asked: "What’s it
like?" In other words, "relate what you are talking about to something
I already know." What is the kingdom of God like? What is the love of God
like? What’s it like to be a Christian? What’s it like to bear fruit in the
kingdom? It’s like a woman baking bread. It’s like a lost sheep or a lost
coin. It’s like a net thrown into the sea. It’s like a sower who sows seeds.
Today, I want us to think together about the parable of the Sower and the Seeds.
This is a peculiar story to most people. Let’s give it a second look.
1. The Sower.
The central character of today’s story is the Sower. We often jump to conclusions in the story to the seeds and liken ourselves and others to this seed or that one. But look first at the Sower, who sows the seed. The sower sows many seeds. The sower is the one who spreads the seeds around almost indiscriminately-- everywhere. The sower provides seed to many kinds of soil in the hope that they will grow even in unlikely places. The sower is generous with the seed. The sower sows in strange places -- in good soil and bad. No ground is without the potential to grow seed. Get the point? God spreads the word around not just in church, not just in Sunday school, not just in Bible School -- the likely places -- especially there. But also God sows in the market place, in the bars, in the homeless shelter, in the middle of business dea1s, in the smoke filled back rooms. God spreads the word at (potential toxic wastes dumps) in the middle of a war zone – political rallies -- anywhere and everywhere. Get the point?
I I. The Sower Sows Seeds!
"The seed," one Biblical commentator tells us in no uncertain terms,
is the Word of God. The germ of life to our ears. If we are going to have ears
to hear, then we must hear the Word! This is precisely why Jesus taught
in parables - - little words, plain words so all could hear. I spoke with a very
effective Methodist preacher once about his strategy for preaching. He told me
he put the cookies always on the bottom shelf so all could reach them. Not
always in the plowed and fertilized and irrigated fields for planting like any
wise and prudent farmer, but everywhere so they can reach the soil -- even the
unlikely soils in hopes that there will be growth and that some seed will bear
fruit.
III. The Soils.
Some commentators on this
story call it the Parable of the Soils because of the delineation of the kind of
soils described in the story. The inhospitable soils -- the hard beaten paths;
the rocky soil, the thorn infested ground -- those places where seed (the word)
will be choked out, or smothered 4MC by the other growth. Or the rootless soil
where growth is not possible. Then there is the coveted "good ground"
where the seed can grow and flourish and bear fruit 30 times, 60 times, 100
times -- abundant harvest.
What is the point of all this? The point is that God wants us to bear fruit! The
temptation for all of us is to wonder what kind of soil we are. Do we hear the
Word gladly and then turn to other cares and duties and forget the Word? Do we
smother the Word out with thorny cares and worldly concerns? Do we beat the Word
down on our carefully traveled habits of life, leaving no room for the Word to
grow and bear fruit? Or are we much more likely to figure why the Word does not
bear fruit in others? If only, they ... If only, this ... If only, that ... What
if ... this; what if ... that. What if folks come to church every time the Word
is taught and proclaimed? If only, every member of the church were enrolled in a
Bible class ... and attended? If only, we loved and cared for each other and
bore one another’s burdens? If ... If . .. If …
People, please don’t run
down every rabbit trail of the story and miss the point ... the point ... the
point ... the point ... is bear fruit!!!
The real question is how
to bear fruit, for the proof of the pudding is the fruit. Jeremiah the prophet
gives us the clue. "I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon
their hearts, and I will be their God and they shall be my people." 1
It’s a matter of the heart! How many times when you have failed to do something good or right, have you said: "We1l, I just didn’t have my heart in it!" Or "I did it half-heartedly?" In order to bear fruit you must put your whole heart into it!
One of my favorite writers and in many ways my spiritual guide is Father Henri Nouwen. One of his many books is a little monograph called: "The Way of the Heart." 2
1
Cf. Jeremiah 31:33The message of Fr. Nouwen’s book is that the Word of God (the Seed) must seep down through your mind to your heart. Bearing fruit, my dear Presbyterian friends, is not just a head-trip; it is a matter of the heart. This is a message people of the Reformed/Presbyterian persuasion need to hear. We are inclined to keep it all in our head, making it a matter of the mind rather than a matter of the heart, a matter of passion, a matter of compassion, a matter of action rather than just to think about it. We need to do something about the Word in order for the Word to bear fruit in our lives.
Conclusion:
Over and over again I hear stories of people who are good at what they do, and
attribute it to the fact that they love what they are doing. A friend of mine,
who had been on a long journey, trying to discover what he is meant to do in his
professional life, confessed that the most effective book he had read was Martha
Sinetar’s book entitled: "Do what you Love -- the Money will
Follow." I haven’t read it, but the title makes me want to: Do what you
love ….
That message is a paradigm of the message this morning. If you want to bear
fruit, then learn to love, feast on God’s Word, write it upon your heart.
Stick with God1s Word until it becomes a matter of the heart and you will bear
fruit!
A sermon given by Dr. E. Thomas Miller at Georgetown Presbyterian Church on July 10, 2005.