May 3, 2009 Sermon

The Sower and the Seed
Luke 8:4-15

John Calvin wrote that you can pour all the oil onto a vessel you want, but unless you open it the oil will drain onto the ground. The outside may become moist, but the inside will remain bone dry. In the same way, Calvin continued, the Bible pours the Word of God upon us, but unless we open ourselves up to it, we remain spiritually parched. Nowhere does the Bible make this clearer than in the parable of the Sower and the Seed. With it, Jesus tells us to receive the Word. How we can do that will take up the latter half of this sermon. First, we will dig (so to speak) into the meaning of the parable.

At the opening of this chapter Luke tells us Jesus made a preaching tour. He walked through the towns of Galilee “proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.” People responded. They mobbed him. He used the opportunity to teach through the use of parables. Either He started with the parable of the Sower and the Seeds, or Luke arranged his narrative to show this, or both. Regardless, this “leadoff hitter” story is one of the most important Jesus ever told. Like all parables, it works on multiple levels. On the surface it tells a simple story using everyday settings and recognizable characters. Of course, few of us literally have sown seeds. Even those who have planted something have done so mechanically or by placing seeds in the soil one-by-one. But Jesus' audience that day instantly identified with the setting and the actors in his story. This surface simplicity is important. It makes the parable memorable and easy to retell accurately. It also allows its hearers to ponder what it means on a deeper level if they are so inclined.

Charles Schultz drew a Peanuts cartoon strip that shows Charlie Brown, Lucy and Linus lying on their backs on a hillside. Lucy asks what Linus sees in the clouds. Linus replies, “Well, those clouds up there look to me like the map of the British Honduras on the Caribbean. That cloud up there looks a little like the profile of Thomas Eakins, the famous painter and sculptor; and that group of clouds over there gives me the impression of the Stoning of Stephen. I can see the Apostle Paul standing there to one side." Lucy then asks Charlie Brown the same question. He answers, “Well, I was going to say a duckie and a horsie but I changed my mind.” When we read the parables we can look but not see. Jesus makes this point emphatically. Today we start a series of sermons based on parables of Jesus. With every parable we must ask what we can see in them on the deepest possible level.

Jesus pictures a sower sowing seed. Imagine a man walking through a field. Over one shoulder he carries a sling bag filled with seed. Every few steps he reaches into the bag, fills his hand with seed and flings it out in a half-circle before him. While an experienced sower grew quite accurate, even the best missed the target a certain percentage of the time. Think of a man pushing a lawn spreader today. I put weed and feed on my yard this week. I often joke about how cheap I am, but I genuinely am. It pained me that despite my best efforts a little wedge of the weed and feed ended up on the driveway at each turn-around. When I finished I got my broom and swept it all onto the lawn. The sower had no such remedy. Most of his seed landed on good soil, but some of it did not.

Jesus uses this outcome of sowing, known to all his hearers, to teach a spiritual truth. Some seeds fell on trodden paths, where the earth had grown too hard to allow the seeds to penetrate. Some seeds fell on rocks. Some fell among thorns, which overwhelmed whatever shoots managed to emerge. But some fell on good soil. His hearers could just see the birds pecking away at the seed on the hard path. They could see the rock, the thorns, the open, soft, good soil. And they knew exactly how seeds would respond to each. What they perhaps did not immediately perceive was that Jesus meant to convey a deeper truth. When his disciples asked him to explain he quoted the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah, who predicted that the Chosen People would persist in not getting God. God would never stop speaking to them, but they would not really hear.

Does it surprise you that Jesus seemed content with the idea that some people will never hear him, never understand him, never receive him? It should not. The Bible tells us as much from cover to cover. God always has—and apparently always will—told us all we need to know and then left it up to us to receive the message. We have free will. We are not God's slaves, nor God's robots. God allows us to choose to receive Jesus. Or not. God longs for us to receive Jesus. God longs for us to be good soil that nurtures the seeds of the Gospel.

This once Jesus carefully explained his parable. The seed is the Word of God. Whenever and however God speaks to us is become the seed. That seed comes to us in many ways. Most obviously it comes to us in the printed words of the Bible. It comes to us also in prayer, as the Holy Spirit of God communicates with us. It comes to us through the traditions and teachings of the church. The word of God can come to us through the example of mature Christians, the prick of conscience, memories, dreams and God alone knows how else. The point of it all is this: however God speaks to you, hear God. Receive the seed. Be good soil. Receive the Word.

Jesus draws direct parallels between the types of soil in his parable and the varying levels of receptivity of the word people have. Some have become so hardened by the Enemy the word cannot penetrate their outer defenses. Others receive it gladly but briefly. Still others allow their cares and fears to choke out the word. But some of us receive the seed of the word and nurture it. It grows within us and produces a bountiful harvest. It brings us peace, joy, hope, purpose. The message, again, is clear: be good soil. Receive the seed of the Word.

I believe I have always interpreted the parable of the Sower and the Seed a certain way. At Tuesday morning's Bible study Sue Messner related how a children's sermon opened her eyes to a different take on it. It happened at a Methodist church she visits once or twice a year. The preacher got down on the floor with the children and pointed out that we all act like the different kinds of soil in the parable at different times in our lives. I had always thought that we tend to function consistently as one kind of soil or another. You might tend to be good soil that receives the Word. I might tend to be thorns that receive it but choke it out. But this pastor pointed out that we can and do change our soil. For this reason the point of the parable has even greater power. Because we can behave like different types of soil it becomes even more important for us to work on acting like good soil all the time. We do have free will. Within certain limitations, we can choose which type of soil we will be.

A man has an anger problem. Nobody seems to respect him: not his wife, not his children, not his boss, not his neighbors. Everything frustrates him: traffic, his customers, his lawn mower, his dog. A feeling of pointlessness grows within him. Nothing he says or does seems to make a difference. He takes it out, first, on himself. He drinks too much. He takes it out on others. He grows more sarcastic. He flies off the handle faster. He shuts out the few who try to reach out to him. This describes almost every man I know at one time or another. Nothing unique about it at all.

What can set some men apart, however, is how they respond to the daily grind. Many never rise above it. But some men receive the word and grow the seed of the Word of God even amidst the greatest frustration and the deepest provocations. These men confess to their Lord that they need help. These men pray for the Spirit of God to take away their anger. These men hang around with their brothers at church and—usually without any of them saying a word about it—they find the Lord Jesus in the group and follow him. These men become good soil.

A woman has a self-image problem. Other women look younger, thinner, happier. Nobody seems to value her: not her husband, not their children, not her mother, not her boss. Everything depresses her: her wardrobe, her hair, her own mouth, the things she thinks others think about her. A feeling of shame grows within her. Nothing she says or does seems good enough. She takes it out, first, on herself. She drinks too much. She takes it out on others. She nags more, then hates herself for doing it. She grows ever more clingy and feels the rejections others give her ever more deeply. This describes a great many women. Nothing unique about it at all.

What can set some women apart, however, is how they respond to the crushing burden of guilt. Many women never break free from it. But some women receive the word and grow the seed of the Word of God even amidst the greatest fear and self-hatred. These women confess to their Lord that they need help. These women pray for the Spirit of God to take away their shame. These women hang around with their sisters at church and—usually while talking a fair amount about it—they find the Lord Jesus in the group and follow him. These women become good soil.

Jesus sends us a clear message with his parable of the Sower and the Seed: be good soil. We become good soil through receiving the word of God. We receive the word of God through Bible reading, worshiping Jesus together, prayer and fellowship, though hanging out with Christian brothers and sisters, with people just as broken as we are, yet also just as hopeful. And why should we not hope? We have received the seed, the word of God. Be good soil. Grow that seed.