It Begins with the Seed

Proper 11A

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 St. Paul’s, Smithfield, NC 7/23/2017 Jim Melnyk: 

“It Begins with the Seed”

As most of you know, Lorraine and I spent three weeks this past June at The School of Theology in Sewanee, TN, working toward our Doctors of Ministry degrees.  One of my classes was titled, People of the Land.  We explored issues of agricultural and environmental sustainability and ethics as pertained in scripture as well as in contemporary writings.  Our class spent two sessions at the University Farm on campus – one session as an orientation, and the second to actually work the farm.  I ended up working with several others weeding a plot of land planted with seeds that had been stored away in local rock shelters as far back as 8 thousand years ago.

Creeping along on our hands and knees we worked our way down the neatly arranged rows of plants. 

I had never come across either of the two varieties of lambsquarter that had been planted, nor have I had much experience with the three varieties of amaranth before – except, perhaps, the one commonly known as pigweed.  Most everyone today would call all of them weeds, and would want them out of their gardens.  Yet there is evidence of similar varieties of plants going back 12 thousand years in the eastern woodlands of North America, and they were cultivated for food as early as 3-5 thousand years ago.  The leaves of all five varieties can be eaten like any other greens we might find in the grocery store, and the seeds from the plants, much like quinoa, can be ground into flour or boiled like a porridge. 

So, what’s that all have to do with the gospel for today?  Ah, the proof, we might say, is in the porridge. 

While weeding away, Dr. Becky Wright remarked how most people work hard at pulling plants such as the amaranth and lambsquarter out of their gardens, seeing them as useless and annoying weeds. 

Interestingly enough, while working we would come upon other plants that had found their own way into this part of the garden – things like tomato plants – and we were pulling them up along with all the other weeds that threatened the preferred crops.  Lord knows it pained us to pull healthy tomato plants from the ground – though some were saved for transplanting.  It seemed comical to leave in the ground plants we have always thought of as weeds, and it felt a bit sacred to touch – and to taste the leaves of plants raised from 8 thousand year old seeds – “weeds” that once again might become a regional, sustainable food source.

What all this tells me – what I hope it tells all of us – is that sometimes it’s more than a little difficult to tell the weeds from the plants – or in the gospel’s case, the weeds from the wheat.  Sometimes we have to rely on the judgment of those who know more about crops than we do – both in the real world of crop management, as well as in the real world of theological metaphor.

In today’s parable it all begins with the seeds, and like last week, we do well to not get caught up in the explanation in the second half of our reading for the morning.  Parables by definition are meant to be open-ended – be multi-vocal – have multiple meanings.  Like last week’s parable about the sower, the attached explanation tries to turn Jesus’ parable into an allegory with one set meaning, and it’s most likely a later addition meant to explain why everyone isn’t jumping on board with Jesus, and why some early Jesus followers are facing persecutions. 

In the story a landowner’s enemy sows darnel seeds throughout the farmer’s wheat field.  Darnel is a terrible weed that mimics wheat in its early growth, and it wraps its roots around the wheat’s roots system, making it impossible to pull out without taking the wheat along with it.  For a wealthy landowner such an act would mean a troublesome loss of profit from that field.  For a poor landowner it could mean starvation for his family.  Either way, it’s a terrible thing when humans use food as a weapon.

Jesus’ parable quickly moves from a story about farming to a metaphor about how we live with one another in this world.  How the field got the way it did isn’t as important as how the landowner decides to deal with the problem.  Obviously there’s a bit of commentary about how cruelly we can act toward one another – we wonder, “Why in the world would someone be so insidious?”  But more to the point, it’s a parable about not being too swift to judge – and finally, about trusting God’s judgment in the end. 

As my current homiletics professor has written, “Heaven, it seems, can wait.  We cannot.  We worry about how the field looks or believe the weeds will overwhelm the wheat every time” and we want to rush to judgment.  But in reality, it’s not our job to reap either the wheat or the weeds – especially the weeds, because theological weeding is such a powerful temptation.  “Of course this doesn’t mean we make no distinction between faithful and sinful behavior, stop teaching our children right from wrong,” or stop holding one another accountable when we cause others pain.  “It means that the eternal difference it makes is not our decision, and we can stop acting as if it does” (Bill Brosend, Conversations with Scripture: The Parables). 

Author Megan McKenna tells a story that also starts with the seeds rather than the plants: “There was a woman who wanted peace in the world and peace in her heart and all sorts of good things, but she was frustrated. The world seemed to be falling apart.  Sound familiar?

One day she decides to go shopping. (Isn’t that how Americans deal with stress?  We go shopping?) She walks into a store and is surprised to see Jesus behind the counter. Finally she gets up her nerve and asks, ‘Excuse me, are you Jesus?’

‘I am.’

‘Do you work here?’

‘No,’ Jesus says, ‘I own the store.’

‘Oh, what do you sell in here?’

‘Well, just about anything!’

‘Anything?’

‘Yes, anything you want. What do you want?’

She says, ‘I don’t know.’

‘Well,’ Jesus replies, ‘feel free, walk up and down the aisles, make a list, see what it is you want, and then come back and we’ll see what we can do for you.’

She does just that, walking up and down the aisles. There is peace on earth, no more war, no hunger or poverty, peace in families, no more drugs, clean air, and careful use of resources. By the time she gets back to the counter, she has a long list. Jesus takes the list, skims through it, looks up at her, and smiles. ‘No problem.’ And then he bends down behind the counter and picks out all sorts of things, stands up, and lays out some packets on the counter.

She asks, ‘What are these?’

Jesus replies, ‘Seed packets. This is a catalog store.’

She says, ‘You mean I don’t get the finished product?’

‘No, this is a place of dreams. You come and see what it looks like. I give you the seeds. You plant them. You go home and nurture them and help them grow, and someone else reaps the benefit.’

 ‘Oh,’ she says. And she turns and leaves the store without buying anything” (Isabel Anders, Synthesis 5/6/2012).

The “wonderfully good news” from today’ gospel lesson is that “as much as [we] might at times like to be the one who separates the weeds and the wheat, the sheep and the goats, the righteous and the sinner, it’s not in [our] job description” (Brosend).  In the kingdom of heaven, it’s not our job to judge. 

But as we learned from last week’s parable, it is, however, our job to sow the seeds of the gospel with joyful abandon – haphazardly, graciously, and with great abundance – talking about, and living out in our communities, the teachings and great love of Jesus.  We dream the gospel dream of God, and we plant the seeds.  We water the seeds faithfully, and leave the growing to God.  And sometimes – maybe a lot of times – there will be weeds – and we need to be careful and wise about how quick we are to start pulling away at them.

As McKenna’s story so clearly reminds us, God will not coerce us into buying or sowing the seeds, any more than God stops us from judging one another on our worst days.  And God doesn’t expect us to be eternal weeders.  God in Christ plants the seed in our hearts and then calls us to plant the seed wherever and whenever we can.  It’s our job to proclaim the grace and love of God, and to trust God to help that seed flourish in people’s lives. 

Just Sow it!

Proper 10A; Matt 13:1-9, 18-23; Isa 55:1-5, 10-13 St. Paul’s, Smithfield, NC 7/16/2017

Jim Melnyk; “Just Sow It!”

There was once a sower of seeds who traveled throughout the towns and villages of the countryside.  And everywhere the sower went he sowed his seeds.  The people where he journeyed were rather skeptical of this particular sower of seeds.  They thought him a bit crazy, and a bit careless, for wherever he went he scattered the seed – wherever he could find a spot of bare earth.

“Sower, why are you scattering your seed so haphazardly?” they would ask.  “You don’t seem to care where it lands – look, there on the pathway, and over there on the rocky soil.  And what about all those thorns and weeds over there – you’re wasting the seed, sower!”  And the sower would look at them and smile.  “Why aren’t you doing this in a more orderly fashion?” they asked.  “You should be planting your seed in orderly rows – straight and correct so we can watch the progress of the plants – so we can better see the results.  And there should be fences and walls built around the gardens and the fields to keep the thieves, the outsiders, and the ne’er-do-wells out and our crops in.”  And the sower nodded and smiled, and continued to sow – haphazardly, graciously, and with great abundance, he sowed.

And the people said again, “You’re doing it all wrong, sower!  And why waste your seed over there – and why aren’t you saving the best seed for us over here where it belongs?  And why let all those other people benefit from your sowing?  Why should they deserve what we have?”

And the sower smiled and kept on sowing – haphazardly, graciously, and with great abundance, he continued to sow.

Now there was nothing particularly extraordinary about this sower of seeds – the sower’s identity takes a back seat.  And in this story, as in Jesus’ parable, the sower isn’t meant to be Jesus. 

In fact any man, woman, or child you might picture with your mind’s eye could be the sower in the story.  And there’s enough disagreement about the technique used by the sower to make us realize that farming is not the point of the story at all – rather it’s actually about sharing the Good News – it’s about evangelism (Bill Brosend, Conversations with Scripture: The Parables).        

As both stories begin, it seems to make no sense – you just don’t waste seed in such a fashion – scattering it on the rocks, or among the thorns, or on the hardened pathway.  And so the first three examples of sowing in today’s parable show little or no result.  The temptation for us over the miles and years is to focus on the obstacles to a seed’s growth – on what makes some of the planting not successful – rather than on the planting itself.  Too often we focus on what won’t work – on what we think can’t be done – and miss all the many possibilities before us.

And the next temptation – after obsessing on the failures of growth – is to say the story is about what type of soil we should be (Am I, are you, good soil or not?).  But the story – the parable – is not about the soil, either.

Jesus never worries about which soil we are – he doesn’t say, “Become good soil and then you can follow me.”  Jesus says, “Follow me and you will find yourselves transformed.”  Jesus says, “Proclaim the Good News to everyone, not just those we deem proper and good.”

By the time Matthew writes all this down there are struggles between those who follow Jesus and those who don’t.  There are people being persecuted for their faith.  Jesus followers can’t understand why everyone hasn’t jumped on board.  And so Matthew adds a rather pointed, exclusive interpretation of the parable, making it about the types of soil that receive the seed – the reason why everyone doesn’t turn to Jesus and believe – leaving us with the temptation to accept the interpretation as the only way to understand the story. 

But the parable isn’t meant to be “an encouragement to be fertile soil, but [rather, it’s a call] to be sowers of the word, [and] in particular, to be sowers of the word without regard to the potential fruitfulness of the soil in which the [seed – the word – is cast”] (ibid).  It turns out the story is about the faithful sower – who keeps at it – going for every bit of ground there might be – perhaps even in the least likely of places.  In spite of the wasted seed and the many obstacles there is a bountiful harvest – some a thirty fold, some sixty, and some one hundred fold! The parable may even cause us to ask, “Where and to whom am I most reluctant to share the Good News?    

And so obviously, the seed in our two stories is not meant to be the kind of seed one finds in a burlap bag from a feed store.  This is the seed of the Good News of God’s love made known to us in Christ and offered to all.  It’s the seed of compassion, it’s the seed of love, and it’s the seed of respect.  It’s the seed of forbearance, of mercy, and of truth – it’s the seed of righteousness – the seeds of the Kingdom, or the Community, of God! And where compassion is sown, up springs understanding and thankfulness and community.  Where respect is sown, up springs dignity and a renewed sense of the image of God found in each and every human being.  Where peace is sown, up springs reconciliation and welcome.  And where love is sown?  Well, there even greater love will spring forth!

What are the seeds we’re sowing at St. Paul’s?  How faithful a bunch of sowers are we – and where and for whom are we reluctant to sow?  Do we scatter the Gospel seed wherever we go – haphazardly, graciously, and with abundance?  How much and how willingly do we invest in the seed of the Good News?  It’s tough when the world calls us in so many different directions, and demands so much of our time, of our giftedness, and of our treasure. 

The prophet Isaiah reminds us in a portion of his book, just a few verses before today’s lesson, about how often we spend our money for that which is not bread, and work for that which does not satisfy.

Do we hold back on sowing the seed because it’s uncomfortable to share our faith, or because we’re uncomfortable with who might respond?  Do we struggle with the temptation to believe, “Well, if anyone is looking for a faith community they’ll find us” – and let the rest of the world tend to their own?  Those are very real temptations which follow the world’s conventional wisdom all too carefully.  What seeds are we sowing at St. Paul’s?  Do we scatter the Gospel seed wherever we go – haphazardly, graciously, and with abundance? 

Jesus hopes his listeners will understand the story – an old Nike parable of sorts, but instead of “just do it!” our slogan could be “just sow it!”  Sow the seeds and look for God’s Spirit to take care of the harvest.  Do the work – remain faithful – never stop sowing – sow with wild abandon – with joyful hearts – and hope for the best.

Having come into this place this morning to worship and pray together, to be fed at this Holy Table – receiving the Body and Blood of Christ – and being strengthened, nurtured and nourished by this Holy Meal we’ll be ready to gather our sacks of Gospel seed and set out into the world – trusting God’s grace to be with us. 

And hopefully we’ll go our into our many communities and scatter that seed with joyful abandon – haphazardly, graciously, and with great abundance – talking about and living out in our communities the teachings of Jesus.  And as we live faithfully into our calling as sowers of God’s grace – as sowers of God’s love – as sowers of the Good News – then by about this time next week we’ll realize that our seed bags are close to empty – and we’ll return to this place. We will gather together to be fed, to be strengthened, and to give thanks to God for the sowing. And we’ll pray God’s blessing for the growing, and for the harvest.  Finally, we’ll gather new seed to take with us as we leave once again, continuing the call to sow the seeds of God’s grace.

As the prophet says, “[We] shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace…” (Isa. 55:12a). And again he says, “So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Isa. 55:10-11).

And the Gospel seed will grow all around us – and within us – and those around us will see its growth.  And it shall be a bountiful harvest.