Westwood Presbyterian Church

February 17th, 2008

197 Browning  Boulevard, Winnipeg, Manitoba  R3K 0L1

REV. PETER BUSH's SERMONS

Matthew 13: 1-9; 18-23

 

Parable of the Sower

This morning we begin a look at what are often called "The Parables of the Kingdom" that appear in Matthew 13 - and this morning we are going to explore the Parable of the Sower. But before we do that it is important to get a handle on parables themselves - and some interpretative tools that are helpful in thinking about parables.

Parables are stories -- and every good story has a twist or a surprise in it. A story that we know the end to before it gets started is a very uninteresting story - it is the twist, or the surprise that makes the story interesting. So with the parables it is important to ask ­"Where is the surprise? What is the unexpected twist?"

The second thing about stories is that they work because they take us outside the give and take of debate, outside the plodding of laying out an argument, and instead give a very different frame to the whole exercise - they are a story. They come at the point they are making from a very different angle - they as one Biblical scholar has said, "tell it slant."

And third because they are a story they stick in our heads and run around in our brains, and we have time to meditate, to reflect, to let our subconscious work on the story and then wham - we see something in the story we never saw before - it grabs us by the throat and says - "Look" "Listen"

So we can turn to the parable of the Sower - this parable appears in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It may surprise you to know that there are only two parables that appear in all three of these gospels - the parable of the Sower and the Parable of the Tenants. The parables that we love like The Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son are not in all three. That means that there is something important that we are to get out of the Parable of the Sower - if it was so important that all three of the gospel writers made a point of including it in their stories of Jesus.

The other thing to notice right at the start is that this parable is given a title by Jesus ­The parable of the Sower. Again it is unusual for Jesus to give a parable a name - He does not often do that - but in this case He does and it is important that we remember that as we go through our exploration. This is not the Parable of the Soils - as some people want to call it. Nor is it the Parable of the Seed which is another suggestion that has been offered. Jesus calls this the parable of the Sower.

So question 1: Where is the surprise in this parable?

It is no surprise that there are different kinds of soil, that we know. It is no surprise that good soil produces a crop and poor soil does not produce a crop - that any farmer or gardener can tell you. No, the surprise lies in how the Sower sows the seed.

The farmers in the congregation at Knox, Mitchell thought this Sower was completely crazy. Farmers today have their fields mapped so they know where the best soil is - and they make sure that they seed those areas well - and those parts of the field that are not as good they hold back a bit. And with the hi-tech seeders they never end up with seeds flying all over the place. No, this sower was completely crazy.

Now we could argue, well that is comparing today's farmers to farmers back then ­people scattered seed willy-nilly back then, they did not have good control on where the seed landed. I remember in Iran watching a farmer in his field sowing seed by throwing it. And he was careful - he made sure that the precious seed feel on good soil - soil that would produce a crop. Even for Jesus' hearers this sower is crazy - and wasteful. This sower does not care that some of the seed falls on the path and gets eaten by the birds ­he does not care that some seed will produce no crop - he is still there seeding - sowing ­doing His thing.

Jesus did say this was the parable of the sower. And who is the sower - God. And what is God sowing - the seed of the news of the kingdom of God - the good news that God's kingdom is coming.

I know this is about the sower and not the soils - but Jesus talks about the four types of soil- so it is worth spending a bit of time talking about the soils.

1. There is the path way. These are people who are hard of hearing people - by that I mean they are not people who are prepared to listen to the good news of the gospel. It just bounces off of them - it gets no hold in their lives. As we might say, "In one ear and out the other."

But notice, the Sower still sows the seed there - in crazy hope - in illogical faith the sower sows the seed in their lives. That they are hard hearing people does not stop Him from sowing the seed.

There is the rocky soil. Farmers are always pulling rocks out of their fields - every spring they go through and rock pick so that the soil will be ready to produce a crop. And certainly they would not waste any seed on the rock pile that they collect. But this sower - he does not think in those terms - he lets the seed go - on rocky soil - in the rock pile ­and miraculously the seed finds a little bit of soil and begins to put down roots - begins to sprout - the good news of the Kingdom of God beings to work in the life of the hearer.

Jesus says the plants growing in the rocky soil have no roots and when believing in the kingdom gets tough - when there is persecution -- when there begins to be a cost to this following the Kingdom of God - well at that point people get off the boat. The roots have not gone deep enough into the lives of the hearers to make this change a permanent one. They plants get burned up --:- and produce no crop - no fruit.

There is the weedy soil. When we moved to Mitchell in 1996, we decided to plant a vegetable garden. No vegetables had been grown in the garden patch for 10 years. People from the congregation came and roto-tilled the garden patch - and then we planted it with all manner of things. And then began the war. Because over 10 years the weeds had become well established and while the roto-tilled garden looked like it was ready to plant and grow wonderful beans and beets and carrots - there were other seeds in that soil that we had not put there. And the weeds grew alongside the crop we wanted.

Every gardener knows this challenge, some soil has many weeds in it and they will grow up and choke off the good crop - so that no crop - no fruit is produced.

Jesus says that worrying about life and the power of things get in the way - they prevent people from seeing the big goal -- the real thing they need to be striving for. The worries of this life, making sure that there is enough protection for the things owned ­they get in the way of radically pursuing the kingdom of God. They become a distraction from the purpose of the seed - producing a crop - bearing fruit.

And finally there is the good soil - which produces a crop - some 30 fold - some 60 fold - some 100 fold. Those who bear fruit - who produce a crop - are those who hear the good news and understand it. We have done some funny things to the word understand. We have turned it into an intellectual think - a mental exercise - I grasp the concept. In fact, if we want to get at what Jesus is saying here we should flip to the two parts of the compound word - to stand under. To understand the good news of the Kingdom of God is to stand under the good news - it is, in short, to submit to the kingdom. To be good soil is to let the good news of God's kingdom govern our lives - to make it the number one reality in our lives. The good soil is loyal to the seed - the news of the kingdom. Look back at what Jesus says about the weedy soil - worries of life and concern about riches compete with the gospel - and the weedy soil is loyal to the worries of life and concerns about things. Look back at the rocky soil - there is issue of loyalty is clear - loyal to the seed of the good news - or loyal to the pressures of persecution. The good soil stands under the seed of the Kingdom letting it grow and flourish and produce a crop.

One more thing to notice. Jesus does not care how much crop is produced - what he cares about is that a crop is produced. The goal of the seed in the life of people is that those people produce fruit. We are not saved by the good news of Jesus Christ for our benefit - we are saved by the good news of Jesus Christ so that we can benefit others. The primary reason to let the gospel grow in us - is not so that we get to go to heaven ­but rather that we might live lives that match up with the Kingdom God is building in the world.

James put this point very starkly when he said, "Faith without works is dead." In the parable of the sower the sign that the good news has really done its thing in the life of people is that they bear fruit. We have been blessed so that we might be a blessing. We have been converted by God's great grace so that that conversion might spread.

While the discussion of the soil is important - we must never forget that this is the Parable of the Sower. The sower is still out there sowing. Throwing the seed - getting the word out - and it is falling everywhere - in places where we think - "What a waste - no one there will ever respond - it is going to go in one ear and out the other." But the sower keeps sowing - and miraculously because the seed is the word of God - it produces fruit and unexpected people hear the good news and stand under it and bear fruit.

There are other places where we think, "Ah, the seed will grow well here - it is going to take off - because these are the kinds of people who will listen" - and they do - but after a while things happen the initial reaction does not lead anywhere - no fruit is produced. But that does not discourage the sower - He does not take the seed and go home. No, the sower has only one purpose to keep sowing - because He knows that there will be soil that will stand under the seed - will let it grow in them - will let it bear fruit in them.

I was at a conference where the speaker had recently become a grandfather - he had some handouts that he wanted to pass out. He asked, "Do you know the difference between how parents and grandparents pass things out? - Parents pass one out per child making sure that there is enough to get to each child - Grandparents on the other hand just take the stuff and throw it up in the air and enjoy the fun as the stuff comes down and the grandkids scramble for it." And with that he took the handouts and threw them into the audience and they flew everywhere including in the aisle, and over everyone's heads and in people's laps and some people caught them. Every time I read this parable of the Sower I am challenged about how parent like we are about the seed of the good news ­"One seed for you, and one seed for you ... and so on." Whereas the Sower is just throwing the seed and rejoicing in the impact it creates when it comes down. Rejoicing in those times and places where people stand under the seed and it bears fruit.

I hear things like - "Those people aren't Presbyterian so I can't talk to them about church" - the seed is not Presbyterian seed - it is God's seed of the good news and we need to sow it as crazily as the sower in the parable does. I hear - "Those people come from another country - so I can't talk to them about the good news of God's kingdom."­the seed is not Canadian - not North American - God is sowing the seed everywhere. Through us - God is sowing the seed. If the sower sows as crazily as God does - we should be no less crazy in how we sow the seed. If God is willing to risk sowing the precious seed in unlikely places - we should be no less prepared to sow the seed in unlikely places. We are invited to imitate the sower in graciously - abundantly sowing the seed.