Genesis 25:19-end; Romans 8:1-11; Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
May I speak in the name
of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and may these words be a blessing to all who
hear them. Amen
The parable of the sower and its explanation are so very well
known to all of us – I even recall hearing it all those years ago when I was a
schoolboy in Morning Assembly. Yet,
although well known, it marks Jesus at his best in preaching the good news in
simple terms - understandable by all – all it seems except the disciples who
always seem to need to be taken aside for a further explanation. It doesn’t matter how many times I might hear
this parable, I can always relate some of my own Christian life to some of the
seeds which don’t fall on the good fertile ground. If they did, then I am not so sure I could
fully appreciate the feelings and emotions of those for whom the seeds seem to most
often to fall in the wrong place.
As we learn from all three of our readings today, each of us
can easily fall foul of earthly temptations and desires if we allow ourselves
to defocus our sight on God. Whenever I
go to the opticians, I am confronted with a myriad of lenses and tests which
often show how easy it is for our vision to become blurred if we wear the wrong
lenses. The optician will deliberately
place different lenses in front of our eyes to find out which ones we need to
see clearly. Likewise, it is so easy to
wear the wrong lenses in our life and we should never forget that as Christians
we need to focus through the cross-shaped lens of Jesus’s crucifixion and
resurrection.
In our first reading we read of how Esau, the first born of
Isaac sold his birth-right for a pot of stew – he, in effect, disposed of his
inheritance – for himself and his heirs
- in order to simply fill his belly with food. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul warns,
quite simply – (3:17) – “Brothers and Sisters, join in imitating me
and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. For many live as enemies of the cross of
Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the
belly and their glory is their shame; their minds are set on earthly things.”
And so, we are told by Christis the same fate for those who
are like the seed that is choked by the weeds – by the trappings and
distractions of our earthly desires.
Like weeds, our basic earthly desires can spring up very quickly
indeed. In this hot humid weather I am
constantly amazed at how the weeds in my garden can appear almost overnight in
substantial size and numbers whereas those plants which I am trying to nuture
and care for seem to become choked and grow so slowly by comparison. So it is with the word of the Lord. We are meant to grow and nurture our faith
but must, at all times, guard against those weeds of distraction which are
always there waiting to spring up around us and choke us. Esau lost the plot too, instead of stopping
to think about the consequences of his action for himself and future
generations he chose, instead, instant gratification – a full stomach. How often are we tempted to do likewise – how
often do the quick fixes, the quick and easy pleasures of life lead us to
regret our actions further down the line.
Jesus spoke in parables because he was more easily able to
illustrate his messages in ways in which the people to whom he was speaking
would best understand and remember. It
is not a co-incidence, for example, that he would often start a story by
talking about shepherds – it would be a bit like starting a parable here in
England with the words “There was this Englishman, Scotsman and Irishman….” (“There
was this shepherd …”) We expect a jokey punchline although in Jesus’s case the
punchline was very often different from that which would have been expected.
Here he is using the idea of a farmer sowing seeds – an
everyday occurrence in the Jordan Valley and he uses it to great
advantage.
Everyone would have known of the random way in which the
scattered seeds from a peasant farmer might fall – on the path, on rocky
ground, amongst the weeds as well as in the fertile ground - and the way in
which those seeds would react to the environment they found themselves in – on
the open path ready and vulnerable to be picked up by the birds, on the rocky
ground – unable to put down proper roots - or fall among the weeds to become
entangled and choked with only some eventually finding the fertile ground where
they can grow and flourish and be harvested.
You will notice that there are eight verses missing from the
Lectionary reading and these are quite important and probably a good lesson for
anyone preaching or wanting to disseminate the word of Christ.
Today’s service is a Service of the Word and I, as a lay
minister, am a Minister of the Word. No sacraments at today’s service. Jesus, as a teacher and a preacher on the
road, was always conducting services of the word – gathering people around him
to explain his message of the coming of the Kingdom of God.
Those missing eight verses, I think, are so important. I thought about inserting them in the gospel
reading earlier but on reflection I think they are better recited on their own
here:-
The disciples came to
him and asked “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”
He replied, “The
knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but
not to them. Whoever has will be given
more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has
will be taken from him. This is why I
speak in parables:
Though seeing, they do
not see;
Though hearing, they do
not hear or understand.
In them is fulfilled
the prophecy of Isaiah:
You will be ever
hearing but never understanding
You will be ever seeing
but never perceiving
For this people’s heart
has become calloused
They hardly hear with
their ears
And they have closed
their eyes.
Otherwise they might
see with their eyes
Hear with their ears
Understand with their
hearts
And turn, and I would
heal them.
But blessed are your
eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For I tell you the truth, many prophets and
righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it and hear what you
hear but did not hear it”.
In other words, Jesus is telling the disciples that because
they have been following him and have heard him speak and observed his miracles
they have been privileged to see the fulfilment of the prophecies of Isaiah and
therefore should have no need for an explanation of the meaning of Jesus’s
preaching through parables. They are
deemed to be already learned theologians.
But there are many ordinary folk who have not been so taught and
therefore in order to get across the message he must use common language and
stories to which his listeners can relate and which can illustrate the message
he needs to get across.
Some of the greatest theologians have advocated this
approach. Bonhoeffer, for example, that
great German theologian who lost his life standing up to Hitler and the Nazi
regime, argued that all priests should spend time working in secular roles to
understand the lives and work of ordinary folk and in that way relate more
fully with their congregations. Likewise,
I feel extremely privileged to be able to stand here before you this morning
leading the worship and preaching to you as the minister; but I also feel
equally privileged to be able to slip back into the congregation and everyday
world as a lay person or in my chaplaincy role with the under-privileged. I can preach the word of god equally
powerfully whether in the pulpit or amongst the congregations or homeless.
Jesus did not have the New Testament to preach from – his
ministry was based on the Old Jewish Law, the prophesies and of course his own
sermons and miracles. Sacramental
ministry did really occur until the night of his betrayal at the Last
Supper. The gospels record only 3 years
of his ministry but for 30 years previously he must have been learning life
skills and understanding secular ways – probably running his father’s business.
Despite Jesus’s statement that the disciples should fully
understand the message he is trying to get across in his parable of the sower
he, nevertheless, goes on to explain it in clear terms – the seed on the path
represents those who hear the word but allow Satan to snatch it away from
them. The seed which falls on the rocky
ground represents the person who receives the word with joy but since no root
can grow it lasts for only a short time and as we have seen the seed falling
among the weeds represents the person who allows everyday distractions and
worries of life to choke their faith – making it unfruitful. I think we can all think of people in each
category, and maybe ourselves occasionally, although, hopefully, most of us
hear do have eyes to see and ears to hear.
However, I often feel, in all sorts of different roles in life, we
sometimes have to go back to the basics – and this is what Jesus does time and time
again in his parables.
The gospel of Matthew is littered with them. They take us back to some very basic but
fundamental elements of our faith and because they relate to everyday things in
everyday lives we can apply them to the way we speak, act and think in our
daily lives today.
Jesus, in the next few verses of Matthew’s Gospel goes on to
explain the parable of the weeds in greater depth. How the weeds should be allowed to grow up
with the good crop and the two harvested at the end – weeds to the fire the
wheat to the barn.
I take heart in the fact that although Jesus explains to the
disciples that they should already know the meaning of his parable, he does
then go on to explain it to them.
Many of us, as long term Christians, should never be afraid
to say that there are aspects of our religion or theology we do not quite
understand. There are many blind spots
in the bible which are difficult to follow and not all, like the parable have a
clear explanation. Adrian Plass has even
written a book called Blind Spots of the
Bible which I have used at House Groups.
Our faith can only grow if we question it from time to time – to ensure
that we truly do understand the meaning of sometimes quite complex theology. Jesus used plain simple words and there is
nothing wrong with that. Let us get back
to basics, clear away the weeds, and plant our seed in good fertile ground –
there to grew and flourish undisturbed by the distractions of our earthly life.
Amen
MFB/43
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