ISAIAH 55:1-5,10-13

PSALM 65:9-14

ROMANS 8:9-17

MATTHEW 13:1-9,18-23

Sermon – July 10, 2005

What Kind of Soil Are We?

Today is the first of three consecutive Sundays on which we’ll hear some of Jesus’ agricultural parables, which may seem remote to our own experience – who among us knows how big a mustard seed actually is? – but which make us ask ourselves, shall we say, some “nitty-gritty” questions. Like what kind of dirt are we? And does God “dig” us?

These parables are stories, images that Jesus uses (sometimes, as today, turned into allegories in the hands of the Gospel writer) which describe in vivid, yes, “earthy” terms, how the Kingdom of God should be viewed or becomes manifested in the world we live in. For the world we live in is, pretty clearly, far, far short of a world in which God’s will is done all the time. Justice, righteousness, compassion, healing, peace and love far too often are crowded out by war, famine, pestilence, pain, oppression and bigotry, so much so that Christians may wonder if God’s Kingdom ever will come. Will, as we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, God’s will “be done on earth as it is in heaven” ever? And if that starts to happen, even slightly, how can we tell?

Jesus tells us that the first signs of “the Kingdom of Heaven” (as Matthew calls it) are not overpowering or immediately obvious unless you know what you’re looking at. A mustard seed is not impressive unless you know that it’s a mustard seed and will grow into an impressive bush. And it may seem strange to let “weeds” keep growing among the “wheat,” but God lets good and bad people alike live on earth instead of judging people immediately: only at Judgment Time will God decide who is a “weed” to be destroyed.

And, in the meantime, God sends out God’s word – specifically the news of the coming reign of God, what it will be like and how people should prepare for it – like a sower distributing seed.

Except that this sower behaves like no farmer I ever heard of – sowing seed on paths, rocky ground and among thorns as well as on good soil. If you had a patio and wanted a garden, would you sow seeds in the patio as well as next to it?

This sower is behaving as though he has unlimited resources – an unlimited supply of seed – and as though there’s no telling where the true good soil might be found, so he scatters it everywhere.

Bingo. God does have unlimited resources, and God is profligate with God’s word so as to give everyone a chance to hear God’s word, take it into their hearts and be saved: have their lives profoundly transformed towards loving God and all God’s creatures now and forever.

I personally am enough of a believer in Free Will to believe not only that God invites everyone to repent and be saved but that everyone has a chance to decide what kind of “soil” they are.

In the allegorization of this parable, four types of soil and people are described. The seeds sown on the path are snatched by the devil. Now, the devil is not equal to and the opposite of God, remember: he is merely a fallen angel and a tempter, not a controller of human beings unless they yield to him fully. Therefore, these people are those who receive God’s word but drop it when they are tempted by the devil to go in another direction, one or more of many directions leading away from God.

The seeds sown on rocky ground make shallow roots in shallow people who look for a quick thrill from Christian faith. There can indeed be glorious “highs” in our relationships with God and with our fellow Christians; I’ve never felt a need to get “high” on any chemical substances because those faith “highs” are so real, so meaningful and so high. However, no Christian lives at that level all the time! Christian faith includes times of struggle, perhaps doubt, pain, mystery, and yes, boredom, when the memories of “highs” and hope for the ultimate “high” of being in God’s presence may sustain us.

But some people want to “gain” without the pain. Guess what? Our Lord himself was crucified, and of the 14 people called apostles, only one died of old age. The rest were martyred for their faith. Most Christians aren’t, but that doesn’t mean the life of faith is all thrills all the time. Those who seek that will drop out and seek another thrill somewhere else and then another, and another. “Trouble or persecution” may cause them to disown their faith, as this Gospel passage says, but some are so shallow just the absence of thrills for a few weeks will do it.

People sometimes say, “I stopped going to church because it wasn’t doing anything for me.” Is that the sole purpose of church? Isn’t church primarily about devoting ourselves to the love of God (the first and greatest Commandment) and to the love of others (the second greatest commandment) as part of a community? Shallow people don’t understand that faith involves investing our whole selves in it in order to experience the occasional (and ultimate) rewards. Shallow thrill-seekers will seek out slot machines instead of church communities.

Thorns – ah, “thorns” – are a big crop in America in 2005. “This is the one,” Jesus says, “who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing.” There are plenty of people who are more interested in their financial investments than in their spiritual lives, more interested in piling up more and more for themselves than in seeing that justice is done for the poor and oppressed down the street or across the globe, more interested in cosmetic surgery for themselves than in helping to save other peoples’ lives.

Unless they change, they will die completely and forever. Maybe that’s why the sower sows the word of God in the middle of such unpromising “soil” – to give such people a chance to repent and radically change their lives. The “lure of wealth” is a big seduction in this rich nation, and part of its seductive message is that “there is no such thing as ‘enough’”, that we have to want more, more, more forever. It’s a recipe for death.

Finally, we come to “good soil.” To fully understand the power of this part, after the three preceding depressing descriptions, it helps to know that in first Century Palestine, getting a yield of 7½ was average and ten was good. Thirty-fold would have been spectacular; sixty-fold and one hundred fold yields would have been seen as clearly supernatural, just like the miraculous catches of fishes recorded by the disciples.

Which I think is the point. People who are truly willing hearers and doers of God’s word can draw people to God in ways and to extents which show that God is at work in them. Some offhand comment, casual invitation or small deed may end up making a profound difference in someone else’s life if we are acting as God’s servants. And that person may in turn influence others for good, who in turn influence others. We ourselves may never see the entire “yield” from the good we do when we speak or act as God’s servants, but God does.

But first and foremost – what kind of soil are we? Do we yield to temptations to put anyone else or anything in the place of God? Do we expect our faith to give us nothing but “highs” and drop out if those cease? Are we preoccupied with “getting” and “keeping” so much that we do not have an empty hand able to receive the abundance which God has for us? Or are we willing to put other priorities in their places and, in the words of Matthew, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness and then all these things shall be given to you”?

Then we can be good soil bearing good fruit: spreading the faith and the love of God, serving human beings with dedication to justice, righteousness, compassion, healing, peace and love.

And, in the meantime, let’s thank those who planted the word of God in us already, so that we came to be here today. We are part of someone else’s “yield” to the glory of God. Let us also show by our “fruits” what quality “dirt” we are!

(The Rev.) Francis A. Hubbard

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church