July 21, 2019 Luke 8:1-21

 Our gospel reading is a collection of teachings and I’m guessing your mind was drawn to the Parable of the Sower at the center of the reading.  And within the Parable of the Sower many people are drawn to the types of soil.  Many people find themselves wondering if they are the category of good soil which is productive.  This parable engages us because we know the temptations of the other types of soil. 

We all know the feeling of being the path where the seed is snatched away by the birds.  Indeed in our own lives we can probably remember times when we’ve chosen to ignore a truth that is inconvenient for us.  Preferring instead to believe a lie that we like.

We also know the feeling of being the rocky soil, where we may have a moment of joy in faith but it fades away in time.  I think of those who come to church when their lives are in crises, but then when they feel like they’re back in control they slip away.

Similarly we know what it is to be among the thorns.  Our lives are full of competing interests.  We don’t have time to do everything we want to do; even if everything is a good thing.  It is easy to let faith slip to the side and other things take over.  God just isn’t loud enough in the midst of all the rest of the world’s noise.  Even though we know we need God ultimately for salvation, we can just let the other demands control our lives.

And then there is the good soil – what we want to be.  It sounds simple enough, but seems all too hard.  We think it is the rare type of person who is super-religious, perfect; far too good for our failing lives.

But I’ve deliberately led you down a false path.  There’s an absurdity to this parable that we miss in our lives of abundance.  The absurdity is the actions of the sower.  And if we are the soil types, then the sower is God.  How strange indeed does this sower act!

I doubt any of us have actually gone out and sown seed by hand in a field.  However, many of us have sown grass seed in our yards.  We get the image.  If you have a small area you reach into the bag of seed with your hand, grab a handful; and it immediately starts trickling through your fingers.  It’s hard to keep a fist full.  And as it’s trickling out we pull our hand out of the bag and scatter it to the left or to the right.  Then we reach in for another handful. 

Or maybe if we have a big area to cover we’ll have one of those fun little broadcaster contraptions that you pour the bag of seed into.  Just start pushing, open the little door at the bottom, the seed starts falling on the spinner underneath and it does the broadcasting for you.

I don’t consider grass seed to be all that cheap, but you could hardly consider it to be expensive either.  And it isn’t hard to come by.  Just drive over to The Home Depot, or any number of other stores, and buy a bag… or several.

Here’s something I’m almost sure you’ve never done.  You’ve never harvested your own grass seed!  Imagine what it would be like if that’s how you had to get grass seed.  You’d have to let part of your lawn grow tall and go to seed – or you’re starting a new lawn from bare earth you’d have to have a friend or neighbor let some of their lawn grow tall and go to seed.  You’d have to let it die off and dry.  It would probably fall over and get pushed down in a tangle.  Then somehow you’d have to cut it gently.  It’s no job for a weed whacker, which would scatter the seeds everywhere.  No, it would be a job for scissors, or more likely a sickle or scythe.  I doubt you have either of those in the pile of unused junk that’s in your garage.  Unless, of course, you have one for your Grim Reaper Halloween Costume.

You would have to carefully slice off the dried grass, keeping the seed attached.  Then you’d have to gather it and carry it somewhere for threshing.  How often do you come across a threshing machine when you’re shopping for bargains at yard sales? 

So you’d have thresh the seed by hand- either literally by rubbing the grass stalks in your hands to loosen the seeds, or by attaching strips of leather to sticks and beating the grass to loosen the seed.

Now you have to separate the seed from the grass stalks.  That’s another laborious process.  Ever seen someone do that in your neighborhood?  Nope.  With a combination of rakes and fans you could scratch and blow to get the grass stalks and chaff separated.

And after all that work you’d have a couple handfuls of seed.

Now it’s time to sow it in your lawn!

How are you going to handle that seed?  Like it’s gold!  You’re not going to just throw it around willy-nilly.  You’re not going to scatter it such that it scatters over onto the sidewalk or the street.  You’re not going to scatter it on rocks thinking, “Well, what grows will grow and what doesn’t, doesn’t.”  And you’re not going to throw those seeds in a thistle filled patch of grass.  Before you put the precious seed in that area you’re going to get rid of those weeds!  You’re only going to put that seed where the soil is good and it is likely to grow and grow well!

That’s the part of the parable that we miss.  This seed is valuable!  You don’t scatter it willy-nilly everywhere.  Jesus does not have the sower in the parable go to The Home Depot and buy a bag of seed on sale.  This is valuable seed that came about through hours and hours of labor.

God the Sower is throwing the valuable seed of his love here there and everywhere.  God throws it where it is likely to grow and where it has no chance whatsoever, but God sows.

If possible, as a follower of Christ put yourself in the role of the sower from time to time too.  Consider it from God’s perspective of sharing goodness and hope in places where it is likely to flourish and places where it has no hope whatsoever.  Sowing grass seed in the street has almost no chance of growing.  But God sows it anyway, and we do too.

As you think about what kind of soil you are, keep in mind God’s perspective of sowing anyway.  Whatever soil you think you are, God is putting value into you whether it is likely to grow or not.

That’s easier to say than to believe.  Sometimes you want, want, want to be good soil.  You want to be productive.  You want to do good things.  But you just don’t feel like God is sowing seed at all.  The path, the rocks, the thorns can feel like all too likely.  But God is sowing anyway.

There’s something we have to remember about growing things.  It takes time.  A seed planted today does not produce tomorrow.  It takes weeks, months, maybe even years for a seed planted to become productive.

Perhaps a good example for us are the apple trees we planted I think it was four years ago.  They weren’t planted from seed.  They came as trees a few feet high and we put them in the ground.  Even so they grew the first year but didn’t produce anything.  They grew the second year and didn’t produce anything.  They grew last year and a couple of them gave a couple apples, but still not much.

This year they were fully in blossom and there are some apples.  There won’t be a lot, but there will be some.  Next year there will be more.  And it will continue to take time, but the produce will come.

Let us not put God’s growing schedule on our schedule.  Be patient with God.  Or perhaps I should say, be patient with yourself.  God does not sow bad seed.  God sows only good seed.  And God is sowing it into you constantly.  Give it time to root.  Give it time to grow.  Give it time to ripen for the harvest.  Some trees take over a decade to produce fruit.  We are far more complex than trees, why should we demand faster results. 

Don’t forget Jesus’ final words in the Parable of the Sower, “But as for the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance.” 

God’s not usually into quick fixes.  God is into lasting growth and productivity.  May you find the patience and endurance to see your life bear a harvest of abundance from God’s good seed.