PROPER 9A - Genesis 25:19-34; Psalm 119:105-112; Romans 8:1-11; Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 - 13 July 2003 - A sermon given by The Rev. Peter A. Munson for St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, Boulder, Colorado

God’s Liberality

You and I hear Jesus’ parable of the sower and perhaps we think to ourselves, “I know that parable. God is the sower. God or Jesus sows the word of God - the Gospel - and people respond to it and hear it in different ways depending on what kind of soil they are, which is another way of saying how ready they are to hear. If you are a path of packed earth, nothing gets through to you. If you are rocky ground, you have faith for a moment, and then when challenges come, faith goes out the window. If you are the thorny ground, you’re so anxious about life or tempted by wealth that the Word gets choked out. And if you are the good soil, well, you are the hero of the story! You hear the Word, take it in, understand it, persevere and are faithful through thick and thin, and your life bears all kinds of fruit, and wow! - let’s celebrate you because you totally rock! You make up for all the other schmucks who don’t get it.” That is one way to look at this parable.

What makes a parable a parable, in part, is that there is more there than meets the eye. A parable is something you chew on, something you wrestle with, something you come back to every few years and say, “Oh, Lord! I have to preach on this again? We’re hearing this in church again? I thought we were done with this thing!” But we’re not. And that’s probably a good thing. Because Jesus is still saying to us, “Let anyone with ears listen!” (Matthew 13:9) Listen again. You just might hear something different this time - that you really need to hear - even though it looks and sounds and smells like the same old parable that you thought you knew.

For example, this year I read an interpretation by Anna Carter Florence, and part of what she said is this: “Well, it [the parable] isn’t only about us; it’s also about the church. Sometimes the church isn’t good earth, and it is hard for seeds to grow. The church can be like thorns, choking the life out of people. The church can be like rocky ground, with no depth of support. And just to keep things interesting, the church can be frozen, packed earth in which seeds actually come up anyway, even though we can’t begin to tell you how.” (Lectionary Homiletics, June 2008-July 2008, p. 60)

What intrigues me most this year about the parable is the very beginning of it - in particular, the actions of the sower. “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path... other seeds fell on rocky ground... other seeds fell among thorns... other seeds fell on good soil...” As Jesus tells the story, this is the craziest kind of sower you’d ever meet. Does this have anything to do with how you plant your garden, or how a farmer sows a field. No! We would clear the land of rocks and last year’s remaining weeds. We get our seeds or little seedlings and put them all in tidy, neat parallel rows, with the seeds planted at the recommended depth, and the recommended distance apart, unless maybe it’s carrot seeds you’re talking about, and then we might get slightly less anal about things.

What does this sower do? He just goes for a random walk, a hike - what we used to call on short wildflower hikes around the YMCA grounds in Estes Park a “ramble”. There is no great plan, other than to scatter seeds. The sower keeps reaching into the seed sack that is slung over his shoulder, and out come the seeds. Bam! Bam! Bam! Oh, now I found myself on the steep boulder field heading up to the Keyhole on Longs’ Peak? No worries! Bam! Bam! Out go the seeds. Now I’m next to Boulder Reservoir walking along the beach, with people all around me and different birds flying in and out? No worries! Bam! Bam! Out go the seeds. Now I’m out in the middle of the Mojave Desert? No worries! Bam! Bam! Now I’m in the front yard of a Boulder lawn that is xeroscaped, mostly with rocks? No worries! Bam! Bam! Oh, and you have a nice garden over there, where the dirt looks beautiful - dark, moist. Sure, why not? Bam! Bam!

GOD’S LIBERALITY

This sower has only one strategy - scatter the seeds, and do it as liberally as possible. You know, the word “liberal” has a bad connotation these days, especially in politics. Even liberals don’t want to be called liberals. “No, no - we’re progressives.” It’s a perfectly good word, in the same way that “conservative” is a perfectly good word. The problem is that we’ve forgotten what it means. What does liberal mean? It means generous! It means to give freely. It means abundant or large or plentiful.

You notice that the end of this parable doesn’t make any sense agriculturally, either. In Jesus’ time, a reasonable yield for a farmer might have been fivefold or sevenfold, not thirtyfold or sixtyfold. A hundredfold! What is Jesus talking about? He’s obviously not talking about farming or even the gardens you and I plant in our backyards. He’s talking about the liberality - the generosity - of God.

Jesus says, “This is how God is! God is generous! God goes out scattering the seeds of the Gospel. God sends down his grace, his mercy, his love on everyone - on the just and the unjust, the good and the bad - just as the sun shines on everyone and the rain falls down on everyone.”

Don’t think God loves you? Bam! God is still scattering the seeds of love, grace, and forgiveness - all over you and all around you.

Don’t think God exists? Bam! God is still spreading the seeds of love, grace, and forgiveness - all over you and all around you.

So depressed some mornings you can hardly get out of bed? Bam! God is still spreading the seeds of love, grace, and forgiveness - all over you and all around you.

So frustrated with being a parent at times that you want to pull your hair out or pound your head against the wall? Bam! God is still spreading the seeds of love, grace, and forgiveness - all over you and all around you.

So preoccupied with climbing the ladder that you’re not even aware that some people go to church, or even take time to pray each day? Bam! God is still spreading the seeds of love, grace, and forgiveness - all over you and around you.

So worried about your own life that you don’t know what’s going on in Darfur or in Zimbabwe? Bam! God is still spreading the seeds of love, grace, and forgiveness - all over you and around you.

Sometimes when I am out in Mother Nature I see a huge boulder with a small crack in it, and a beautiful five-foot tall tree is growing out of the boulder. Or there is a little narrow shelf on the side of the boulder, and there will be this beautiful patch of grass growing there, with perhaps a delightful pink Parry Primrose blooming. Or I’ll be hiking at 12,500' across the tundra, and I’ll stoop down and see those tiny deep blue Forget-Me-Nots with the gold center, blooming in a cluster. Or I’ll be at 13,500', and it seems like it’s just rocks and rocks and more rocks, and suddenly, right there, will be a deep purple Sky Pilot, growing out of the tiniest bit of soil. The Sower has been busy.

Sometimes you and I meet people who have been through the most horrendous things - abused as children, or perhaps they have been the victims of the most unconscionable and unmentionable things that happen during war, and yet these people’s lives are still bearing fruit. They are reaching out and serving others, and there is a certain joy and gratitude about them, and we sort of shake our heads and marvel. The Sower has been busy.

OUR GENEROSITY

What else might we learn from this parable?

I think - just like the Sower - we all have something to sow. There is something that we must sow, and we must sow it with all the crazy, unexplainable liberality of God, because the Spirit of God is in us, and when God gets ahold of us, there are things inside of each of us that must be shared. They can’t stay inside. The seeds can’t stay in our sower’s sack. They must be scattered. And they must be scattered, no matter how others respond to the scattering.

What are the seeds that you must sow?

Are they seeds of music? Something you must teach? Is it writing? Doing scientific experiments? Designing or inventing things? Cooking for others? Sitting with and listening to the elderly? Working with children? Being a parent? Painting or drawing? Acting? Leading a prayer group or Bible study? Offering hospitality to others? Asking penetrating questions that make others think and grow? Doing thoughtful, helpful things?

I don’t necessarily know what that is for you, but you know what it is.

I hear Jesus saying to you and to me in this parable, “Sow those seeds that are your unique seeds to scatter. Let them fly with abandon. Don’t worry where they land, or how people respond to the seeds that you sow. Just follow my lead, and participate in the liberality of God, because God is in you, and that’s what God wants for you - for you to learn how to receive of his generosity, and then share that same generosity with others.”

Some of your seeds might land on a hard path. Some may land in the rocks or in the thorn bushes. Some will land on fertile soil. It doesn’t really matter where they land. What matters is that you have something to sow, and a deep need to sow it. So go crazy! Think about what it is that you most need to sow right now, and let it fly! Bam! Bam! Bam! Send it out all over the place, not worrying about what happens. That’s what God does. That’s what Jesus did.

Be liberal with your seeds. That was Jesus’ approach. And we are his followers, so let us be like him. Let your seeds fly!