“But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields.”
I’m thinking this morning about all the different types of soils, of earth we drove past on our family vacation these past few weeks.
As most of you probably know I’ve been gone for the last two Sundays. We were vacationing back in the Midwest, where my family is from, where many of our friends live and serve in various congregations, in Milwaukee, in Davenport, in Custer. We drove as far back as Illinois. These last two weeks. And we watched as we drove the landscapes change, and we watched the soils change.
Over these lush mountains and down into desert, Arizona, New Mexico. Lots of hot, dry soil, where not much can take root and grow (even though some small parts of it we’ve cultivated). Then things started really greening up in eastern NM and into Texas. Even pine trees. From desert to prairie. From the thorns and rocky soil of the Southwest into slightly more fertile soil. This, btw, correlated with the amount of clouds we saw in the sky. From the ranching soil and grasslands of Texas then, up into the farming soil of Oklahoma and Missouri. And after a few days with my family in St. Louis, we turned north to see friends and headed up into the rich farming soil of Iowa and Illinois (the smell on our baseball). We also saw places where the fertile soil had been flooded, choked out, in a way. And nothing could grow there.
So I’m thinking this morning as we read our Gospel about seed sown in fertile soil, about all the land we’ve covered, and perhaps you have too at one time or another. How our many and various lands, like in Jesus’ parables, can be metaphors for our lives of faith and our reception to the Word of God.
How in your life has God’s Word taken root and grown, like seeds in the fertile soil of the farmlands? And when are times that it’s just not? Too much distraction, too much flooding, too many rocks or bumps, or too much traffic in the busyness of our weeks? How sometimes God’s word does start to grow, start to change us for the better, start to take root and hold on to us, but then how we can be swept away, almost instantly, by the world’s affairs and concerns. How often there’s just not enough room or time or patience for God’s redemptive word of grace to take root and grow in our hearts.
You know, I am sometimes a little wary about the over-zealous in our churches. More times than not, they get scorched by their own fire for Jesus, and they don’t last long in a church community. They can get impatient with others who aren’t as on fire, too soon throw their hands up in the air, and be done with the whole thing. I once knew someone like that in a former congregation. This person found our church, joined it, got ridiculously involved in every aspect of every ministry it seemed, got frustrated with others, angry and left it all -- all in the course of one short year. Farmers understand that healthy plants and crops don’t grow like that; so how can we expect disciples to?
Compare that person -- a good person, but fell on rocky soil -- with the one who enters a Christian community slowly, carefully, perhaps dubiously, lovingly, seeking understanding and relationship. Not over-zealous or anxious. Just showing up again and again. I’ve known many like this too. Sharing life together. Sharing joys and gathering in sorrowful times too. I’ve watched, even in my 36 years, I’ve watched some become stronger more faithful Christians, better and better students of Scripture, more grounded in the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion. And again, faithful in their presence among God’s people. Showing up, year after year. Now that’s where the seed of God’s Word -- that is, the Gospel message of God’s forgiveness, grace and love -- has “taken” and continues to grow and expand and bear fruit and become stronger for it. How often we emerge stronger, when faced with adversity!
Jesus’ message this hot summer day, is a call not to be fickle. Not to blow in the wind, and get reactive and storm out, but to slow down, and let this Good Word work on us, change us, from the inside. How often do we really stop and let a passage from scripture “soak in” or “take root”? I’m guilty of this -- so often Bible readings can just brush our ears and our intellects, and then we move on, or go back to whatever we were doing before. It’s hard to let God’s word soak down into our hearts. (But try taking some real time with Scripture -- and see what happens...) “You are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you...then God will give life to your mortal bodies.”
We can certainly blow this word off, or brush it aside, but this word has the power to save our lives.
Why is it that we let other words that people say to us, damage or even destroy our lives, but we can let a Good Word from God just brush past us?
I bet everyone in here, wouldn’t have to think very long about the meanest thing anyone’s ever said to/about you. I bet we could re-call those cruel words pretty quickly. But the Word of God, which promises us life, which grants us peace and joy and forgiveness of all our wrongdoings, that word we can almost forget by the time we get home to watch the World Cup this afternoon... [pause]
These hot summer days, a new word takes root in us and grows: God loves you. Even you! God forgives you, and calls you to forgive others -- not because you’re an awesome saint necessarily and perfectly capable of forgiving others. No God calls us to forgive others, not in our own names but, in Jesus’ name. That’s a good word that we have to let sit under the ground and grow over time. And Christ waters us, the light of God shines on us, and the Spirit blows through our lands and connects us so that we don’t stand and grow alone.
God makes our hearts good soil. God takes a risk and extravagantly throws out seeds of love, even in your direction today, on every kind of soil that we saw crossing the country. And God makes our hearts good soil. So that through the work of the Holy Spirit, that seed “takes” and grows in our hearts. And in time, deeds and words of love and grace then flow from our hands and our mouths, bringing comfort, peace and joy to this hurting world, the very comfort, peace and joy of Christ Jesus. From God, the Gracious Farmer, to us, once dry and un-cultivatable soil...because of Christ, who lives and dwells with us this day and forever. Now we go out too, and spread widely this Good News. AMEN.
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