Jesus uses earthy images in pithy, pointed, sometimes confusing parables that both illuminate and obscure what the kingdom of God is like. Just in Matthew’s 13th chapter he speaks of soil and seeds and weeds and yeast and pearls and fish and fire. And with these punchy, Tik-Tok length storylines, Jesus’ hooks our fleeting attention-spans.
“Let anyone with ears listen!” he says.
Most of the time Jesus never explains directly the meaning of these parables about God’s kindom, instead he launches them to the listening crowds and they take on a life all their own when they and when we grapple with them.
But today we heard one of the few parables that Jesus’ explains… “A sower went out to sow,” he begins. And then he compares the sower’s seed to the word of God’s kingdom, giving a breakdown of each of the four different types of soil, four different ways of receiving seed.
Jesus’ story asks us what is it that allows the kindom of God to grow among us? What makes for fertile soil where life can flourish?
In Alli and my two summers of backyard North Carolina gardening
We’ve worked to make our soil receptive to the seeds we’ve planted.
We’ve added compost and leaves and chicken manure.
We’ve tried to loosen the heavy clay soil with a broad fork.
We’ve tried to kill off emerging weeds with a propane torch and smother out the dreaded Bermuda grass with a tarp.
To be a tender of soil and seed, to be a gardener, is to know both hope and loss.
And Jesus’ parable is marked by both honest realism and abundant hope.
The disappointing part – is that Jesus faced lots and lots of opposition and push-back and disappointment. His message of the kindom of God did not always take root or bear fruit. He gives plenty of examples of why the kingdom message never thrived – whether it’s a lack of understanding or initial joy that can’t withstand hard times or folks who are initially drawn to this radical kingdom – but for whom day-to-day worries or wealth’s allure mean they never end up truly following.
The realistic part of this parable is that sometimes, oftentimes if we’re honest – the flower beds and vegetable gardens and fields of our lives are littered with disappointment and failure.
The weeds take over mid-summer, the deer get in and munch down the flowers and beets, the drought stretches on and the roots of our faith are revealed to be shallow.
We’re curious about Jesus and his message of his upside down kingdom – but life happens – and it’s hard to see any type of immediate harvest. That’s the hard and honest part of the story.
But the hopeful part of the parable is that the seeds of God’s kindom are flung wildly with abandon.
Seeds contain immense creative possibility, they are tiny kernels with a holy determination for life and growth and more seeds. And the news of God’s inbreaking kingdom of justice and love, are seeds scattered in places where they have no business being planted.
God the divine sower is an irresponsible farmer and a reckless gardener – casting precious seed on packed gravel paths and abandoned lots strewn with concrete and ditches filled with Kudzu.
I take hope in the reckless irresponsibility of God.
And I take hope that the good news message of God’s liberating love also lands on good soil, scattered to all corners of creation, coming to rest also in the furrows of our lives if we receive it. I take hope that the good news of God takes root and bears fruit beyond our ability to comprehend.
What kind of soil are we?
What kind of soil are we becoming?
And what kind of new life will God sow within us?
May we not only be hearers, not only those who understand God’s word – but also doers – rich soil, good soil where God’s love can takes root and flourishes.