The Parable of the Sower Matthew 13: 1-9 & 18-23
In her book, ‘Short Stories
by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi’, Amy-Jill Levine argues
that our engagement with the stories Jesus told, the many parables he used, are
not helped by our giving them titles.
(A.J Levine is a Jewish New
Testament scholar of some renown)
Her contention is that is by naming
them like this, The Good Samaritan, The Prodigal Son, The Wise Man building on
rock, we are in danger of becoming familiar with these stories and their
meaning and no longer hear and listen to what they are saying.
They become a little like
those family stories that pass down the generations. Once the story begins
everyone knows where it is going, often accompanied by a groan!
I found it helpful to read
this parable and Jesus’s explanation in all three synoptic Gospels, Matthew,
Mark and Luke.
Mathew offers a slighter
longer version than Mark, while Luke’s version is terse.
It is also interesting to
note that Matthew and Mark reverse the order of the yield with Luke not
mentioning the yield at all.
For Matthew it is descending
order, a hundred, sixty and thirty with Mark reversing that, thirty, sixty and
a hundred.
In the wisdom of the
Lectionary Compilers verses 10-17 are omitted from our Gospel reading set for
today.
It is worth reading this back
in and reflecting on this ‘filling’ in the outer layers of the parable and its
explanation by Jesus to the disciples.
Note that the story was told
to the crowds gathered by the seashore.
O, and by the way, in
Matthew’s telling, this is later the same day after his mother and brothers had
come wanting to speak to Jesus. And Jesus replied by redefining the family of
God focussed around those who do the will of God.
Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” Matt 12.48-50
And how do you know the will
of God - by listening, listening, or in some translations, verily, verily, or
truly, truly I say unto you…
‘Let them that have ears hear.’
And what are they to hear?
They are to hear the Word of
God.
In the explanation, and note
the explanation is to the disciple, not the crowd, ‘the word’ is mentioned five
times in Matthew and eight times in Mark while Luke mentions it twice but does
give us the phrase, ‘The Seed is the Word of God.’
The writer of the Letter to
the Hebrews declares, ‘…the word of God is
alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it
penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the
thoughts and attitudes of the heart.’
And in Isaiah 55.10-11 we read,
‘As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the Sower and bread for
the eater,
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.’
Back some years ago on
Gardeners Question Time on Radio Four, the aptly named, Arthur Fallowfield was
well known for answering any question with what became a catch phrase, “well I
think the answer lies in the soil.”
“But the seed falling on good
soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one
who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” Matthew 13:23
However, in Jesus’ parable
the seed is scattered hither and yon. On the path, amongst the thorn bushes, in
rocky soil, amongst the weeds.
The method of sowing in
Jesus’ day would have been broadcasting by hand.
But even here some care would
have been taken about where the seed was thrown. It would not have obviously been
cast amongst thorns, along the path and amongst rocks.
In today’s agriculture machinery can plant seeds with great accuracy into well prepared soil so that maximum yield might be produced.
But here is a question I invite us all to ponder on.
Over many years now a certain
type of management model has been adopted by the Church.
We count numbers, we write
plans and vision statements.
We seek to be strategic and
focussed in an attempt to gain maximum yield from our labours.
In my ministry as Diocesan
Evangelist in Chichester and then Lichfield this was very much part of my work.
Helping churches set visions, goals, drawing up Mission Action Plans.
However, some of this
management model is now being challenged.
We are remembering that the
Church is not an organisation but an organism.
It’s living, breathing, messy
and unpredictable.
The ever-advancing world of
AI is the management model on speed dial.
I am sure that there is a
tool out there that if you were to put in the right data and ask how we could
get maximum results from our endeavours of engagement as a Church it would
offer a strategy.
I would hazard a guess that the
management model would say that we must be targeted and laser focussed to
maximise the potential yield.
But look again at this parable
and ask yourself, does this parable invite us to broadcast or to be strategic
in where we sow the seeds of the Gospel?
And how we would begin to
judge whether this or that soil type is good and will be receptive to the
Gospel seed sown with love and compassion.
How are we going to look out
at our community and make the decision that it would be a waste of resources to
sow seeds amongst this group or that group, this individual or that individual.
Are we really able to say,
no, those people are definitely in poor soil, so there is no point in casting
any Gospel seeds there.
How can we begin to discern
and should we even begin to try and discern.
Over the years I have seen
most of these soil types and the resultant crop. People falling away, the lure
of something better to do than engage with God’s family on Sunday morning. The
driven work ethic after the baubles of the world.
But I have also seen people
come to thrive and flourish a bit like some of those flowers that grow out of
concrete or tarmac. The good soil was there but it wasn’t obvious.
And if you are sitting there
this morning, or if you are watching online and your thinking, God’s word could
never flourish in my heart and life. I have done things that even God can’t
forgive. The soil I was raised in and that I’m sitting in right now is bad soil
to the core.
Let me remind you that John
Newton was the captain of a slave ship. He became a Christian, became a staunch
abolitionist and wrote ‘Amazing Grace.’
Now that’s why I want to
advocate broadcasting the Gospel seed as widely as possible.
That’s the reason I volunteer
to work in the prisons. Because of the transforming power of God. I was on a
training session recently with the Welcome Directory, set up to help Prison
Leavers engage with Faith Communities. We had on the call a serial offender who
had found new purpose and direction in his live because someone didn’t bother
with a soil analysis but sowed the word of God into his live. And the new life
of Jesus shone out of his eyes.
The Good News of God’s Kingdom come upon earth brings life, light, hope and forgiveness.
‘The Seed is the Word of God’
– and
we are invited to broadcast it to everyone no matter where we find them or in
what circumstances they are living.
Because as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3.6.
“I planted the seed,
Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.”
Some of us will plant
seeds, others will nurture them, but it is always God’s who brings the growth,
some thirty, some sixty and some a hundred-fold.
It’s time for us to
put on our gardening gloves, grab that basket of seeds and get to work…
In the words of John Wesley…
“Do all the good you can,
By all the means you
can,
In all the ways you
can,
In all the places you
can,
At all the times you
can,
To all the people you
can,
As long as ever you
can.”
God of the poor
Friend of the weak
Give us compassion we pray
Melt our cold hearts
Let tears fall like rain
Come, change our love
From a spark to a flame
https://youtu.be/pPvioAt5fq4?si=CQqjmodjRsjHzGSV
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