Readings
Isaiah 55:10-13
Psalm 65:9-14
Romans 8:1-11
Matthew 13:1-9,18-23
Today we hear a parable that seems simple enough. It’s a story about sowing seed and what happens depending on where the seed lands. When the seed lands on the road the birds come and eat it, when it lands on rocky soil it sprouts up quickly and then withers, when it falls among the weeds the seed sprouts but is choked out by the weeds surrounding it, and naturally when it falls on good soil it does well and produces. Jesus is telling a story that would have been obvious to anyone who first heard it and it is obvious to us today. The narrative he starts with about sowing seeds and the results from where it lands is about as common sense as it gets.
But then Jesus interprets the story for us and tells us that the seed on the path is a metaphor for when someone hears the Word of God but doesn’t understand it, it is snatched away by the Evil One. He tells us that seed that falls among the rocks is a metaphor for when someone hears the Word, accepts it with joy, but has no root and so when trouble or persecution comes, they fall away. Next he tells us that the seed sown among thorns is like a person who hears the Word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke out the Word and it yields nothing. And finally, he equates the seed on good soil to be like the person who hears the word and understands it and bears fruit.
You know, for much of my life, I saw this as being a story about God’s expectations. I understood that the soil was a metaphor for us and that when we are anything less than good soil, we are failing to be what God calls us to be. I heard Jesus saying in this parable that each of those other metaphors (the path, rocky soil, and soil with weeds) are an expression of failure on our part to accept God’s word and to act appropriately.
But is that what’s going on? At this point in my life I have a different perspective. Having lived through both good times and bad, it strikes me that what Jesus is describing is not so much about me as it is the environment in which I live. I can look at each of those metaphors and remember times in my life when that was true. While we may be the soil in this parable, we are not the condition in which the soil finds itself.
Perhaps rather than simply being about the hardness of our own hearts, the path is a metaphor for the hardness of our life and how it leaves us blind to the presence of God. And as for rocky soil, perhaps rather than being a metaphor for the shallowness of our faith, it is a metaphor for all the ways in which the demands of living leave us on the surface of things rather than deeply rooted in our lives. Perhaps rather than simply being about our distractedness with the world and wealth, the weedy soil is a metaphor for how life and all its concerns can become an all-consuming distraction to what matters most. And as for the good soil, perhaps rather than being about us being good people, it is a metaphor of those wonderful times when we our lives are marked by peace and wholeness and we find ourselves grounded in a sense of self that needs no justification.
These metaphors which Jesus uses to describe our various reactions to the presence of God in our lives are not mutually exclusive either. I don’t know about you, but I can think of times in my life when more than one of these was true.
No friends, I do not believe that this is a parable of expectation as much as it is a parable designed to call us to compassion for one another and ourselves. It is a story that is meant to show us how God’s love and grace flow generously into all the environments of our lives regardless of our circumstances. God is the sower who sows the seed everywhere and not just on the good soil. Regardless of our circumstance God’s love and grace are present with us all the time. Yes, our ability to receive and to respond to God varies depending upon the condition we find ourselves in, but that does not mean that God is not present.
It strikes me that it is too easy for us to expect ourselves to always be like the seed that falls on good soil. Like I spoke about last week, we set ourselves up to think that we must be model Christians all the time. That we must always be good, nice, wholesome, compassionate, caring, understanding people who actively seek to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly before God. But the truth is that our ability to do/be those things is as much dependent upon the environment we find ourselves in as it is our own innate desires and abilities.
Jesus is describing a reality in which the environment shapes our response to God as much as our desires do. We are being called to recognize that there will be times in our life when we will fail to see God. There will be times when our love of God will fail us because it is not grounded. There will be times when the cares of this world will leave us distracted and inattentive to God. And there will be, hopefully more often than not, many times in our lives when the love and grace of God are fully present to us and we can become the people we are called to be.
But we are being called not to judge those who fail (which includes ourselves), but rather to have compassion for those for whom the grace and love of God are not fully present. We are being called to recognize ourselves in one another when we fail to be good, or nice, or wholesome, or compassionate, or any of the other things God calls us to be.
No, beloved, life is messy and because of that our faith journey is messy as well. Some of us will succeed while others fall short. Some of us will struggle while others flourish. But to fall short or to struggle is not to fail in the eyes God for the seed will continue to be sown and our soil will continue to be cultivated. And if, after success, we find that our soil has become hardpan like the path or filled with weeds or rocks once again we need not worry either. For, in the end, the seed, God’s grace and love, is what matters and not the soil on which it falls.
If we are to use a metaphor, then we are the field with path, and rocks, and weeds, and good soil. Each of those conditions speaks to a part of our lives. And yet, in the generosity of God, the seed is sown across the whole of the field and we are left to receive it as best we can, trusting that God’s love and grace are with us always.
God’s grace is with us. God loves us. Let those with ears listen.