Trinity
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
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July 2002 (click here to return to "July
2002 Sermons" page)
15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (July 14, 2002)
“You Sow and Sow”
Van Kemper
Text:
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
SERMON
Sometimes, as we work our way through the annual lectionary cycle, you may
notice that gaps appear in the readings. Today
provides one such example. The
gospel lection from Matthew omits verses 10 through 17. Please take a pew bible and open it to page 18 of the New
Testament section . . . (pause) . . . Observe that the editors of the Revised
Standard Version labeled these missing verses as “The reason for parables.”
How odd that the Committee for the Revised Common Lectionary omitted
“The reason for parables” just as we begin the section of Matthew known as
“The Parables of the Kingdom.” It is almost as if the Committee does not
want us to hear and understand the parables of Jesus!
But, I believe that there is even more to this intentional omission. Look down
to verse 14 (bottom of page 18, right hand column) and you will see that Jesus
is quoting here from the prophet Isaiah. These
words are from Isaiah 6:9-10.
Now, please take a moment and turn to page 605 in the Old Testament section of
the pew bible where you will find virtually the same words.
(pause) . . . Notice also the preceding verse: Isaiah 6:8 contains
Isaiah’s well-known response to God’s call:
And I heard the voice of the Lord
saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I
am! Send me.”
What
follows this “commission” is the “message” that God intends for Isaiah
to proclaim to the people. This is
the same message that Jesus quotes according to the Gospel of Matthew, but with
a twist. For here in Matthew, Jesus is explaining to the disciples that they are
“blessed” among all the people because they will be able to see and
hear what even “many prophets and righteous men” longed to see and hear.
And what is this “message”? A message that not only is omitted from
today’s lectionary passage, but usually is omitted as well from the Isaiah 6
lection when it comes around on the fifth Sunday after the Epiphany in Year C of
the three-year lectionary cycle. The message is a hard one to grasp, whether
presented by God to Isaiah or by Jesus (quoting God’s words to the prophet)
when Jesus is speaking to the disciples.
Jesus presents the “message” as follows (and you can follow along in the pew
bible):
This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not
see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which says: “You
shall indeed hear but never understand, and you shall indeed see but never
perceive. For this people's heart
has grown dull, and their ears are heavy of hearing, and their eyes they have
closed, lest they should perceive with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and
understand with their heart, and turn for me to heal them.”
What
a message! What a challenge to the prophet Isaiah, what a challenge to the
disciples listening to Jesus on that day, and what a challenge to preachers
today!
This then is the context for the explanation of the Parable of the Sower that
Jesus offers in the following verses, 18-23.
And since this is one of the few occasions on which Jesus does
offer an explanation for one of his parables, it is appropriate for us to heed
his explanation.
In his explanation, Jesus recalls the four different places where the seed has
been sown: along the path, on rocky ground, among the thorns, and on good soil.
He explains that
·
the
seed sown along the path is snatched away by the evil one;
·
the
seed sown on rocky ground endures for a while, but is lost as soon as
tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word;
·
the
seed sown among the thorns does not prove to be fruitful because it is choked
out by the cares of the world and delight in wealth; and, finally,
·
the
seed sown on good soil does bear much fruit, for it is here that the word
is heard and understood.
In
speaking in this way to the disciples, Jesus offers an “explanation” based
on the message given to the prophet Isaiah, but with an additional possibility
– that some of the seed would find good soil and yield fruit
bountifully. Surely, this
possibility would have been encouraging to the disciples – just as it seems
like good news to those who believe that they are among God’s “elect.”
The
problem with this “explanation” is that it really does not help very
much to clarify the complexities of the original parable.
As Robert Farrar Capon has written (in his book The Parables of the
Kingdom),
"Jesus’
explanation of the Sower, if it is looked at with an open mind, does not reduce
what was a complex story to a simple meaning; rather, it takes a merely puzzling
fable and drives it for all it’s worth in the direction of supremely difficult
interpretations (1985:68)."
Beyond
the problem of the explanation that fails to explain, I have another problem
here, too. . . . and I suspect that it is bothering you too.
Go back to verse 18 and read along with me: “Hear then the parable of
the sower.” . . . The Parable of the Sower, not the Parable of
the Seed. . . . and not the Parable of the Four Places where the Seed
falls.”
So, we had better take a few steps back. Let
us retrace our steps from the “good soil” back through the “thorns,”
back through the “rocky ground,” and even back along and beyond the
“path.” Let us go back to the beginning – to the message and to the
commission.
If this is to be understood as the Parable of the Sower, then we need to start
by asking: “Who is the Sower?” Some
folks think that Jesus must be the Sower.
Others figure that it is the disciples, especially in the light of the
Great Commission in chapter 28 of Matthew’s gospel. And some modern readers see themselves in this text, and
accordingly commit themselves to spreading the Word around the world through
missionary activities.
A
careful consideration of the text of the parable suggests a different candidate
for the role of the Sower. At the
outset (in verse 19), Jesus’ explanation of the interaction of the seed in the
different soils focuses on the “word of the kingdom” This reference to the
“word” appears again in verse 20, verse 21, twice in verse 22, and again in
verse 23. By the way, did you know that this is the only occurrence of
the “word” (logos in the original Greek) in the mouth of Jesus in the
New Testament? So, here we have a divine self-reference -- the Word made flesh
in Jesus, the one sent by the Creator for the salvation of the world.
If
Jesus is the Word, the parabolic-shaped seed, then there is only one possible
candidate for the role of Sower: God the Creator.
And this brings us, as readers, to a soberingly understanding of our role in the
process described in this Parable of the Sower. This is a story about God the Creator, who has sown the seed
– that is, has sent the Word – to the corners of the earth.
Again, I want to quote from Robert Farrar Capon’s interpretation:
. . . on the plain
terms of the parable, Jesus has already, and literally, been sown evrywhere in
the world – and quite without a single bit of earthly cooperation or even
consent. But can you tell me that Christians in general have ever for long acted
as if that were the case? Have we
not acted instead as if the Word wasn’t anywhere until we got there with him?
Haven’t we conducted far too many missions on the assumption that we were
“bringing Jesus” to the heathen, when in fact all we had to bring was the
Good News of what the Word – who was aleady there – had done for them?
Haven’t we, in short, ended up just as he said we would as a result of
his explanation of the Sower? We
see and hear and still don’t catch on. (1985:69)
And
why is the God the Sower so intent on sowing the Word in so many different
places? Remember that is not just any word, but is the “word of the
kingdom.” And God’s kingdom takes in all places and all
peoples.
God’s kingdom is a fruitful kingdom, where the possibility of good soil is
ever present. Jesus taught the
disciples and the crowds who pursued him – even forcing him to get into the
boat beside the sea in today’s story – that they could hear and
understand the word.
Looking at the Parable of the Sower from God’s perspective, the
message to Isaiah is transformed in Jesus, the Word made flesh. No longer were all of the people destined to hear but
never understand, to see but never perceive. Through the life, sacrifice, and
resurrection of Jesus, a new covenant was established between God and all
humanity. Now, at long last, the possibility of seeing, hearing, and
understanding became open to all who believed.
New life came through Christ. Recall the heady words of the apostle of
Paul, who wrote to the church at Rome in these words:
Do not be conformed to this world, but
be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is
the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:2).
The
good news is that, even when we are unrepentant and continue to turn our backs
on our neighbors, God continues to love us.
Even when we fail to respond to the changing conditions in the world
around us, God does not give up on the possibility that we can be transformed.
Sometimes, in my own weary moments, I imagine a very weary God, tired of
laboring for eternity in the fields of the kingdom, yet never quite giving up on
humanity. And, in my imagination, I
approach God and ask the burning question, “Lord, why do you continue to love
us, especially when we are so unworthy?”
As a minister and a professor, too, I hoped for a long, serious response filled
with elegant words such as I had never heard.
I looked forward to profound wisdom that would encompass theology,
ecclesiology, soteriology, pneumatology, and even anthropology.
I fully expected that God would reflect on righteousness, transformation,
and resurrection. And so I waited. After
what seemed an eternity, God took a deep breath and answered in a still small
voice, “You sow and sow.” . . .
Amen.