8th Sunday after Pentecost / July 10, 2005

Matthew 13:1-9;18-23

Rev. Gayle M. Highness

Sowing the Word

“Listen! A sower went out to sow.”

I learned a little about sowing seed this spring ... also known as drilling or planting, depending on how it’s done. But either way, it’s a very exact process.

The seed is expensive and all the equipment is designed to plant the seed in a very precise pattern – just so deep and just so far apart in soil that has been prepared with great care, and at great expense, to receive the seed – all for optimal results.

Compared to that kind of sowing, the sower in today’s parable from the Gospel of Matthew doesn’t sound very efficient. This sower seems to be throwing seed all over the place, with very little care or concern about what happens to it.

Some of it lands on the path, some on rocky ground, some in with thorns, and some on good soil. This sower does things more like nature.

You’ve seen at certain times of year when trees release their seeds and the seeds are all over the place! And out of millions and millions of seeds, I wonder what percentage ever takes root and actually grows into trees. Nature knows it has to throw an awful lot of seed out there to beat the odds and get a new plant to grow.

So, anyway, Jesus tells a parable about this sower, and the seed, and what happens to it. But the disciples aren’t clear about what he’s actually saying.

They recognize that he’s not just talking about seed. They realize he is speaking in parables, which means that there is a hidden meaning to what he’s saying, but they don’t know what the message is.

Notice how our gospel reading this morning skipped from verse 9 to verse 18. Well, in verse 10, the disciples ask Jesus why he spoke to the people in parables. And he tells them that when he uses parables, some people hear and understand and others don’t.

Then he says to the disciples, “To you, it has been given to know the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but to them – (“them” being those who are not disciples or followers of Jesus) – it has not.”

Then, starting at verse 18, he goes on to explain the parable of the sower, which turns out to be a parable about speaking in parables.

The seed in the parable is the Word of the Kingdom. What is the Word of the Kingdom? It’s the message that Jesus has been teaching and preaching and proclaiming all during his ministry. “The Kingdom of heaven is at hand,” he has said, and used many stories and analogies to describe the Kingdom. So, in that way, Jesus has been the sower in the parable.

But – on another level – Jesus is actually the seed. Because Jesus himself is the Word of God – the Word of the Kingdom, and God is the sower.

In John’s gospel we read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us.”

Jesus is the Word of the Kingdom, which God planted on the earth in human form. Jesus is God’s Word that says, “I love you so much I’m coming to you in person. I will enter the world and take on sin, and let it do its worst to me. I will let it put me to death. And then I will rise to NEW life and, in doing so, I will defeat sin and death on your behalf so that, by believing in me, you ALSO can share in my life.

Before Jesus came to earth and died and rose, the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world were separated by sin. But now, because of Jesus, the Kingdom of God has broken into the world. A gate has been opened and you and I are free to enter this kingdom through faith – just by believing God’s Word and trusting in the salvation God has accomplished for you and for me in Christ.

This good news that Jesus has broken the barrier that separates us from God and has ushered God’s Kingdom into the world – this good news is the Word of the Kingdom, which Jesus taught in parables and accomplished by his actions. And this is ALSO the good news that WE proclaim.

So what happens to the seed that is so liberally and indiscriminately sown? It generates varied responses among the hearers.

Some do not understand it and the devil snatches it away from those hearts. Some receive it with joy but fall away. Some hear it and it sprouts in them, but never bears fruit because the cares of the world choke it. Some hear it and understand it and bear fruit and yield in different quantities.

So you see, the Word of the Kingdom, which is the gospel, goes out and the results are different in different hearts. That’s just the way it is. But God has sown the seed and continues to scatter it everywhere.

In fact, God is sowing seed here this morning as the gospel has been proclaimed in all your hearing. And in just a few minutes, the Word of the Kingdom will be spoken with the water of Baptism and that Word of God will bring Ian into a new relationship with God by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Word of the Kingdom will be planted in Ian’s heart, just as it was planted in Robert’s heart and in Kristin’s and in Rob’s and in Joanne’s and in all of our hearts.

God has done the sowing. The Word has gone out and it has accomplished what it said. The Kingdom of God is here.

So, do you hear this Word of God? Do you understand? Are you bearing the fruit that we read about in Galatians 5:22 – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faifulness, gentleness and self control?

Sometimes we respond to God’s Word like good soil, often we don’t. Can we change what kind of soil we are? Can we make ourselves bear more fruit?

No. But God can by the power of the Holy Spirit. We can turn our hearts to God and say, “Lord, I have no roots. I’m withering on the vine.” Or “Lord, there are thorns choking me – save me!” And immediately, God fill us up again.

Can we change somebody else’s soil or make them bear more fruit? No. But God can, by the power of the Holy Spirit. And God can use us to accomplish that when we obey God’s command to proclaim the Gospel in word and action.

So here we are planting seeds, and here we are receiving seeds. We are sowers and we are soil. May the Word of God planted in our hearts today bear much fruit. Amen.