Sermon: Sixth Sunday after Pentecost: July 12, 2020

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” 2nd Corinthians 13:13

Uncle Joe was a farmer. He spent his whole life on a farm. So did his wife, brother, and sister. He knew farmers and farming. One Sunday, when the preacher used the parable of the sower and seed, he told the preacher, “You know, Jesus may have known a little about farming, but he sure didn’t practice it. You don’t throw expensive seed around, all over the place like that.”

Jesus told many stories, or parables, and that’s probably what made him so popular with the crowds. They loved to hear his stories. This Sunday and the next two Sundays we will continue in this 13th chapter of Matthew looking at more parables.

This 13th chapter is a turning point in Matthew’s gospel. Prior to this reading in Matthew, Jesus had been preaching and teaching in the synagogues of the various towns and villages he visited in Galilee. The official leaders of the Jewish synagogues and the temple itself were now in open opposition to Jesus. When he entered a synagogue now, he would not find an eager crowd of listeners. Instead he would find a company of Scribes and Pharisees and elders waiting for him to make a mistake, weighing and sifting every word to find a charge against him, and watching every action to turn it into an accusation.

The parable, which is also found in Mark and Luke, begins with Jesus getting in and sitting down in a boat and talking to the crowd around. In the culture of the day a teacher (or preacher) would sit while the audience would stand—the opposite of what is normally does today. In all three versions of the stories in the three synoptic gospels and as translated in the New Revised Standard Version, Jesus is quoted as saying, “A sower…”. However, in the Greek, and in all three gospels, the word used means the. Now this doesn’t make much difference in the meaning of the parable, except that while talking to the crowd he may have happened to look up and saw a man sowing seed in a field near the shore. In all likelihood, he would have said, “Look over there where the sower is sowing seed.” And that’s how the parable begins. It may very well have been an impromptu moment.

In those days the primary way of sowing grain (and that was main crop that was sown) was broadcasting by hand. Corn came from the Americas, some 1500 years later. And if the wind was blowing, you know what happens; the seed would be blown into all kinds of places, and sometimes out of the field altogether. In Palestine, the were usually in long narrow strips and the ground between the strips was a common path used by people and donkeys with carts; it was a common right of way used by anybody. That ground was packed as hard as pavement and if any seed fell there, they became a feast for the birds.

The rocky ground was probably not like the ground filled with stones, although there is land like it. The soil was most probably a layer over limestone rock. So the seeds would germinate but could not develop any kind of root system.

The seed that was sown in the ground that were choked out by thorns were probably sown in ground that looked good but had a lot of weeds and thorns that came up when the ground with the grain as it rained.

Then there was the good soil where the seed fell on deep soil, clean soil and was able to produce abundantly.

The parable is aimed two sets of people. The first are the hearers of the word. “Let anyone with ears listen!”, Jesus said. The seed that was sown on the path where the birds ate them are like people who hear the word and does not understand it and the evil one comes along and snatches them away.

The seed sown on rocky ground sprouts and begins to grow and soon dies because it has no roots. Jesus compares this to someone who hears the word with great joy but when trouble or persecution comes the person soon abandons it. It’s like a person getting a new game on their phone or a new gadget for the shop. They are enthusiastic for a while, but soon tire of the newness of the object.

Then there are the thorns. Jesus compared the seed in the thorns to those who hear the word but find that the temptations of the world hold on to them. They forget to pray; work, success, money has a grip on them; life becomes really crowded.

Then we come to the seeds that were sown on good ground. These people have their minds opened to the Word and are prepared to hear. They are never to proud or too busy listen. They understand and accept what their relationship with God. And the hearing translates into action. They produce good fruit. Those who hear are the ones who listens; they understand and obey.

But I mentioned that this parable was aimed at two different sets of people. It was also meant as a message to his disciples. Remember this was a turning point. Instead of going to a synagogue and be accepted, they were outdoors, beside a lake where people could gather in comfort and peace. But the disciples were disappointed. Things were not turning out the way they expected. Their teacher was being ousted by the rabbis in the synagogues and they were probably beginning to wonder and maybe even doubt about the whole thing. But Jesus was telling them that when they went out preaching and teaching, the word falls on people like the sower sowing his seed. It falls on all people. But not all will listen and even those that do, some will be shallow. They turn away. Not all accept what they hear.

When a person sows the seed of the word, the person does not know what he or she is doing or what effect the seed might have.

The story is told of an old man who died in an insignificant small town. He had long outlived the rest of his family and friends. He died alone. A young man at the church where he was a member decided he would go to the funeral just to make sure someone showed up. It was a cold, wet, and windy day. And sure enough, when he got to the graveside, there was only one other person. He appeared to be a middle-aged man and an officer in the military. The young man couldn’t tell the rank, but at the end of the service the officer snapped to attention and saluted the old man’s casket. The two began walking back together. The wind blew such that the young man could see two stars on the officer’s shoulder—a major general. As they were walking, the general said to the young man, “You were probably wondering what I’m doing here. Years ago that old man was my Sunday School teacher. I was a pretty wild kid and gave the old man nothing but trouble. He never knew what he did for me, but I owe everything I am or will be to that man, and today I had to come to salute him at the end.”

The old man didn’t know what he was doing, how it affected the people with whom he had contact. No one ever does—no preacher, no teacher, no church goer. It is our duty (yours and mine) to sow the seed, and leave the rest to God.

Amen.