Richard Davenport

July 16, 2023 – Proper 10

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

           As we walk through the life of Christ in the gospel of Matthew, we frequently pause to listen in with the disciples to the various sermons and dialogues Jesus has.  The various parables Jesus tells are favorite places for reflection. Jesus takes the practice of using stories to express deeper meaning and raises it to a high art form.  Many parables Jesus tells can lead a reader into great and wondrous truths about the work of God and his plan for salvation.  Even short, one-line parables hide treasures for those willing to examine them and reflect on their message.

            This parable is somewhat unique in the collection of Jesus’ parables.  Not only is it one of the longer ones he gives, but it’s also one of the very few he takes the time to explain for us.  This parable probably wouldn’t have made as much sense if Jesus didn’t unpack it all for us.  So it’s nice that he’s given us the key to unlocking the mystery here.  Still, even with what Jesus has shared with us, there’s a lot here to think about and still more we need to do to understand how best to apply this to our lives.

            Starting with the basics, the first task is always to understand who is involved in this story.  Not just the people in the story, but who Jesus is talking to to begin with. In this case, Jesus is addressing a crowd of people.  There may be some priests and Pharisees scattered in there, but by and large Jesus is talking to everyday people.  Some may be faithful Jews, some may just be there seeing what this Jesus guy has to say. That means he isn’t just talking to the religious elite, but to everyone. 

            So then Jesus begins his little story by telling us about a sower.  A sower sows seed in different places.  He sows the seed among the rocks.  He sows along the path.  He sows among the thorns.  He sows on good soil.  Each place responds differently. 

There aren’t really a lot of moving parts in the story.  There’s just one person here.  As always in a parable, we look for Jesus.  Who is he here and what is he doing?  The temptation with many parables is to put ourselves into the prime position.  Many read parables like this in that way.  In which case the parable might be about how we need to go about spreading the seed and we shouldn’t care where it falls.  It’s not a matter of where it goes, because that’s all up to God.  You just go out there and spread the seed.

But, that’s our pride again, wanting to be the star of the show.  The story of Scripture, of history, isn’t really about us.  It’s about God.  We’re here and that salvation is for us, but really we’re just along for the ride. The story told by Scripture begins with God and he’s on every page in it.

So we start by looking for God, usually we’re looking specifically for Christ because he’s the person of the Trinity we know best and who most directly interacts with us.  So where is Jesus?  Well, there’s really only one option here.  A sower sowing seed.  Why does he sow seed and why does he sow it where he does?  The parable doesn’t really tell us.  The second cardinal rule after looking for Jesus is to remember that a parable only says what it says.  There’s the temptation to read into why all of this is taking place and why he does what he does, but if he doesn’t explain it, then it probably isn’t really what the parable is about.

Some will read this parable and talk about how Jesus shows “reckless love.” He just throws himself out there everywhere and doesn’t discriminate who gets the seed.  So, following his example, we shouldn’t discriminate either. We should love everyone and care for them all equally.  Well, it may be true that we should show everyone that kind of love, but that isn’t what Jesus is telling us about here.  He has a different goal in mind and we need to pay attention to what he’s trying to tell us here.

So the sower sows the seed.  Among the four different places the seed falls, there’s at least a little bit in common. In all places, the seed wants to grow. It’s seed and that’s what it’s designed to do.  It may not grow very tall.  It may die before bearing fruit, but in all places it does what seed naturally does. It sprouts and grows. 

It’s there that things start to diverge.  The seed that falls on the path is devoured.  Creatures come from the outside and keep it from doing what it wants to do.  The seed that falls on rocky soil does grow, but it withers and dies when life becomes difficult.  The seed among the thorns grows too, but the thorns overtake it and the plant dies. The seed that falls on good soil grows and bears abundant fruit.

Easy enough, once Jesus helps us to understand it all.  The seed isn’t people, it’s the good news of the kingdom of God and all that goes with being a part of God’s kingdom.  The ground where the seed falls is people, different people, different circumstances.  Men, women, old, young, none of those kinds of qualities are relevant here.  The understanding is that the whole world falls into one of these categories.  Everyone, everywhere is one these.

Jesus then helpfully explains what the different kinds of soil represent.  There are many kinds of bad soil, but only one good soil.  That might lead you to the question, “How do I know I’m good soil?”  Jesus is obviously implying that good soil is the goal. In the other three types of soil, the seed never accomplishes what it’s trying to do.  It never flourishes, and, in some cases, never even takes root. 

So what does all of that mean for us?  We don’t sow the seed, or at least that isn’t what Jesus is after here.  We don’t make the seed.  The sower brings the seed.  We don’t make the seed grow.  Jesus doesn’t really go into that here either.  The issue is the soil.  The issue is us.  How do you know you’re good soil or not?  You could maybe argue here that Jesus is saying some soil is inherently good and some is inherently bad, but that’s not where he puts the focus.  What is the result?  The sower sows seed everywhere.  Is that seed allowed to grow or not?

You may not be able to give yourself the seed.  You may not be able to make it grow.  But, you can support and nurture that seed, or you can let it die. Jesus’ explanation puts the spotlight squarely on us.  If the seed falls on the path, falls on people who don’t understand it, whose fault is it if the seed doesn’t grow?  Not the sower’s.  He gave you the seed.  You heard the gospel and, though you didn’t understand it, you also did nothing to learn more about it.  You never sought out those who could explain it to you, so that the seed might find root and grow.  If it falls on rocky soil, those whose understanding of the Gospel is so flawed or superficial that any kind of conflict or tragedy turns them from it, whose fault is that?  Again, not the sower.  He gave you the seed and you abandoned it at the first sign of trouble.  If the seed falls among the thorns, those who are caught up in worldly concerns, whose fault is it when those concerns choke out the Gospel?  Not the sower.  You were the one who thought the concerns of this world were more important and you let the seed die.

Our Lutheran understanding of Law and Gospel, the Law that convicts us of sin and the Gospel that pronounces our forgiveness, can sometimes be seen as a license to do nothing.  God sends the Law and God sends the Gospel.  God convicts us.  God forgives us.  You can’t earn your own salvation and even trying to earn your salvation is a statement that you think you can do it on your own.  Don’t fall into that trap.

That’s all true.  It is Christ’s death that pays for your sins.  It is Christ’s resurrection that ensures your eternal life.  All of this done, as Luther says, “without any merit or worthiness in me.”  You didn’t do it.  You couldn’t do it.  God had to do it or it never would have happened at all.  However, at no point does that mean your only purpose as a Christian is to lie back and do nothing, to lounge around while God showers his grace on you.  You get the impression that, because God alone brings salvation, there really isn’t anything for you to do at all.

It's one of the big struggles pastors face these days, a member calls you up and says, “My daughter just had a baby and she wants to get him baptized.” That’s great and all, though you quickly discover the daughter doesn’t go to church and after baptizing the child, the family is never seen again.  It’s as if to say, “I got the seed.  I don’t need to do anymore.”  Those are some of the most blatant examples of what Jesus warns about, but there are many more.

The three bad soils all show the enemies arrayed against the Gospel. Satan is more than happy to tell you the Gospel is crazy nonsense that isn’t worth your time.  He’ll snatch it away so you don’t have to waste time thinking about it anymore.  The world is happy to give us all sorts of distractions to pull our attention away from the Gospel.  When we leave off nurturing the seed that has been planted within us, we instead are nurturing the thorns and weeds that care nothing for your wellbeing and will destroy you just as readily as they smother the Gospel.  Then there’s the enemy that lives within, our own sinful selves.  We think we’re more intelligent, more capable, more robust than we are.  We think we’ve got a handle on everything, but when life takes a sudden turn for the worse, we conclude that it isn’t us that’s failed, it’s the Gospel message that has lied to us and we abandon it.

God does give us the seed, the Gospel message, the good news that God came into this world and was born as a perfect and sinless man so that he could die for the sins of the world, yours and mine.  Everything God offers is a gift, unmerited and undeserved.  But that doesn’t mean we are left out of the process, just to sit on the sidelines and watch.  God gives more gifts.  He gives the gifts of the Bible.  He gives places to hear the Bible read, resources to help understand it better, times and places to gather together to learn about it more, to hear in detail everything God has done for you.  He gives a place where the cares of the world can remain outside for a time, helping you to leave the distractions of the world and hear without interruption all that God has done for you today and what he will do for you tomorrow.  He gives you a place where you can be washed clean and know with certainty that your salvation is secured.  He gives you a place where you can see for yourself what the new creation holds and that the struggles of this life truly are temporary. He gives you brothers and sisters to rejoice with you in good times and to commiserate with you in bad times.  He gives you a way to talk to him wherever you are about whatever’s on your mind.  He gives you all of these things as gifts to use to help the seed of grace grow within you, that you may turn out to be good soil and be fruitful.

It's probably not coincidence that mankind’s first profession was to be gardeners. God gave Adam and Eve a gift, the world and everything in it.  He gave them all the tools they needed to do the job as well as the ongoing support they needed to do the job, but it was their job.  He had given it to them.  Their profession was a gift to give them direction and purpose in life.  They were not meant to be mere decorations, but active participants in God’s goodness.

So it continues today.  God wants to be a part of what’s going on.  We can’t earn salvation, but that doesn’t mean we have no role to play. God’s gifts are ours to be used and in using them, he promises they will bring us more than just forgiveness. They will bring us peace and joy, and the delight of seeing the fruits that come with strong growth, the benefits and blessings that come to us and to all of those who share in the fruits produced by us and through us.