Proper 10 + Year A (RCL)
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
In last week’s reading from the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus seemed a bit frustrated. First, he said “to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another.” [Matthew 11:16] He goes on to say, somewhat sarcastically, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent.” [Matthew 11:25]
What is Jesus getting at here? Just this: he had proclaimed his message, the Good News of the Kingdom of Heaven. He had preached and healed, and the people whom he was trying to convert just didn’t get it. The scribes and Pharisees ignored Jesus’ message; they rejected his teachings like taunting children, so he decided to focus on a different audience. Instead of speaking with “the wise and intelligent,” Jesus took his message to the streets.
That is where today’s Gospel picks up. Having given up on the generation of Jewish leaders, Jesus will now teach the common people, and especially his disciples. In the thirteenth chapter of Matthew, Jesus offers no fewer than seven parables – all designed to teach people about the coming Kingdom in language that they would be sure to understand, using examples and situations with which everyday folks could easily relate. Over the next three weeks, we will hear three of those parables in our Gospel readings.
What exactly is a parable anyway? The Greek word παραβολή (parabolē) means “comparison” or “illustration.” Jesus compares the Kingdom of Heaven to everyday events in people’s lives. Sometimes, he clearly starts out by saying, “the Kingdom of Heaven is like…” [cf. Matthew 13:31, 33, 44, 45, 47] For example, “the Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed,” or “like a treasure hidden in a field.” [Matthew 13:31 & 44] Today, however, Jesus simply begins by calling out “listen!” to the crowd. Once he has their attention, he proceeds to deliver his message, using an example that everyone can recognize and understand.
Today’s parable can be known by several names, depending on the perspective with which we look at it. It is most commonly called “the Parable of the Sower” because it begins with “a sower went out to sow.” [Matthew 13:3] Just so there’s no misunderstanding, a modern rendition of that goes something like “a farmer went out to plant his crop.”
If you are familiar with farming, you may immediately notice two very unusual things about what the sower does. First, agricultural practices in Jesus’ day were very different from those of today. In modern practice, the farmer first plows or tills the field. Then, he comes back and plants the seeds, and finally he may smooth the soil over the planted seeds. In the farming practice of Jesus’ time, a farmer first sows the seeds on the ground and then plows them under. I’m not sure there’s any particular reason for that – it’s just the way they did things “back then.” One outcome of this approach, though, is that it takes a lot more seeds to ensure that a good crop will grow. Much of the seed just doesn’t end up where it needs to be.
The other thing that you may notice is that this sower seems to pay no attention to where he is throwing the seeds! Presumably, he can see that some of them are falling on the roadside and some on rocky ground, yet he throws them there anyway. We might suppose that an understanding of plant biology was many centuries in the future, and so perhaps the sower didn’t know any better.
This story may also be called “the Parable of the Soils.” One type of soil is hard. It won’t accept the planting of the seeds. Another type is full of rocks. Even if the seeds sprout there, they will have a hard time growing. A seed that takes root in a tiny crevice in a rock can only put its roots down a short distance before it meets impassable resistance. Yet another type of soil is good, but it is full of the seeds of weeds. Only one type of soil is truly fertile, offering a place where the seeds can take root, grow, flourish, and produce.
The parable might also be called “the Parable of the Harvest.” In Jesus’ day, a good harvest – the one that was hoped for by the Sower – meant that the farmer would get back three measures of grain for every measure of seed that he planted. So, one bushel of seeds was expected to produce at least three bushels of grain. A really good year might produce seven times the amount of seed planted. If the harvest reached ten times the amount planted, the farmer could retire and buy a villa on the Mediterranean! Jesus astounded his audience. He predicted that only one-fourth of the seeds that were sown would produce thirty or sixty or even a hundred-fold! That much grain might feed the whole country.
Well, whether we focus on the sower, the soils, the seeds, or the harvest, there’s a message for each of us in this parable.
A couple of years ago, I took an evening course at Virginia Theological Seminary. It was entitled, “The Parables of Jesus.” We studied many of the parables in the Gospels, and one of the ideas that has stuck with me from that class is this: when we hear or read a parable, we are expected to see ourselves somewhere in that story. I mean that each of us should be able to identify with one of the participants or characters in the parable. And a really amazing thing is that, when we come back again another time, we often identify with a different character – depending on our mood at the time, what is happening in our lives, or where we are on our spiritual journey.
In light of this teaching, let’s go back and look at this parable again.
If we see ourselves as the Sower, then we have to trust in God’s abundance. We are called to sow the seeds of the Word, of God’s love, and pay no attention to where those seeds are going. We do not have the right to decide in advance who will receive our love, who can hear the word, whom we will allow to be touched by our lives as Christians. We must simply trust God to send the right seed to the right place, and we cannot hold back as we sow.
On the other hand, we might see ourselves as the seeds in the story. All of the seeds started out exactly the same. Each was sown in the same way, but they ended up very differently – just like in real life. Some were rejected. Some met with obstacles – rocks that got in the way. Others took root but were choked out by weeds. And some were fortunate enough to land on fertile ground.
There is an old maxim that goes “bloom where you’re planted.” That seems a bit odd today, in our mobile society. I have a cousin – he’s my father’s cousin, actually – who is in his 80s. He lives in the house that his grandfather built. His grandparents lived their whole married lives there. His mother was born in that house, and so was he. However, his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren will not want to live there. They have spread out to other towns and other states. It’s becoming increasingly rare to find people today who have lived their whole lives in one town or city, let alone one house.
But I think we can still benefit from “bloom where you’re planted.” To me, it means that, wherever I am, I have one simple job to do: to grow and flourish and spread God’s word of love to all around me. Whenever I move on to another place, the task remains the same.
It is also possible that we could see ourselves as one of the four soils in the story. Some of us, at times, may not want to receive God’s word or God’s love through our brothers and sisters. We may harden ourselves to resist. Others may want to receive the word but find our acceptance blocked by obstacles that prevent us from fully benefitting from the love of God. Still others may find that our lives are so cluttered by distractions and temptations that they choke out the good that the love of God can provide. The fortunate among us may see themselves as fertile ground, on which the word of God can take root, grow, and blossom.
Finally, we may find ourselves in the story as the Harvest. If we do, then the lesson for us is: don’t be satisfied with ordinary or even above-average. Jesus calls us to exceed expectations, to astound and amaze the world around us. Nothing less than a hundred-fold must be our goal!
The one thing that cannot happen is that we stand on the sidelines and watch. We are not to harden our hearts or close our minds, the way the scribes and Pharisees did. Jesus doesn’t want by-standers! This parable is a call to action, no matter who we see ourselves as being in it.
Jesus tried to get his message across to those who ought to have been able to understand and accept it. They rejected him and his Word of God’s love, so Jesus took his preaching to the common people, and he spoke in words that they could understand and live with.
Jesus is speaking to each of us today, using the same words that were spoken millennia ago. Farming methods may have changed. People move around a lot today. Many of us don’t really know much at all about agriculture, but we all “get it.” Jesus doesn’t have to explain his parables today, any more than he did when he first announced them.
The Kingdom of God is here. It is not an earthly kingdom. It is like nothing we have ever seen or could imagine. We are the citizens of God’s Kingdom – we are the people who live in it and who are called to proclaim it to everyone around us. This is not optional. We are not being invited to a spectator sport. There is work to do, and regardless of where we find ourselves today, where we see ourselves in Jesus’ parables, we cannot escape the reality.
Let us heed the call in this parable. Sowers, seeds, soils, or harvest, we know what we have to do. Let us be up and about. Let us respond to Jesus. Let this be the generation that rises to his challenge and produces a hundred-fold! Amen.
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