PROPER 10-A, July 10, 2005

 

There’s a rather famous painting based on this morning’s Gospel parable about the sower. Well, I’m not so sure it’s all that famous, but I know I have seen it several times over the years. It depicts a man with a long-flowing garment filled with seeds, one hand holding the garment so that the seeds will not spill out, the other hand tossing the seeds into the wind. The painting may be famous, but the actions of the man in the painting are simply foolish, are they not?

 

I am not a planter of seeds, but I have planted a few gardens in my life, with the emphasis on the word “few”. I know you do not plant a garden in this way. And if you do, it’s no wonder some seed will fall on hard ground and some on rocky soil and some among the weeds. Yes, most of it will fall on good ground; but even there, one does not simply toss the seeds into the wind and let them fall where they may.

 

For as long as I can remember every summer my Mother, who is now 91, planted a garden in our back yard. Now that her age and rheumatoidal arthritis finally has gotten the best of her there is no more garden. She raised lettuce, tomatoes, and green beans mostly. Sometimes she grew corn and carrots and an occasional cucumber. She had a little section where she raised some of the spices she sprinkled on spaghetti sauce and meat. It was always a labor of love. But it was labor, hard work. Although I always enjoyed the fruits of her labor, I must admit that I didn't help much in the labor part.

 

Gardening is hard work. I sometimes forget that when I do my gardening at Target or Hy- Vee. I forget how much time and effort and care my Mother put into those tomatoes and beans and other greens. And no matter how much one labors to make the garden lush with vegetables, one is always at the mercy of the elements over which there is little or no control. I know, I know: living in Iowa this is like preaching to the choir!

 

Like farmland a garden has to be tilled at the proper time and in the proper manner. The seeds have to be planted in an orderly fashion and not just tossed into the wind. Too much or too little rain or sun can destroy the garden. So can the insects that feed on the leaves, the rabbits – and deer! – that eat the vegetables, and ornery children who sometimes for fun stomp through the plants. And we cannot forget about the weeds. My mother waged a constant war with weeds. If love and hard work were the only ingredients to making a garden abundant, gardening would be a piece of cake, almost. But the outside elements make the task all the more difficult.

 

Yet true gardeners and true farmers like my Mother persevere. They know that all the hard work and despite all the elements one has to contend with, there will be a harvest. It may not be as great as one desires. The tomatoes may not be as big, the corn and soybeans not as plentiful, the beans and cucumbers not as tasty. But there will be a harvest. And that is what keeps the gardener's hands to the task and the farmer’s hand to the plow. Besides, and most importantly, it is always a labor of love.

 

The Parable of the Sower is one of the longest of Jesus' parables. Jesus uses it as an analogy about preaching and teaching the Gospel. In fact, it is likely that Jesus was actually commenting on his own ministry. He is the good sower, and his message is the good seed. As the seed is scattered some of it finds its way to good soil, and there is a harvest. Some of the seed is lost, however, and does not take root for one reason or another.

 

The truth is that not everyone who heard Jesus preach followed him. He scattered the seed of the Gospel message far and wide but Jesus’ own harvest wasn’t even tenfold, not in his lifetime. In fact, if the truth were told, it would seem that he was more of a failure than a success as a sower of seeds. Nevertheless, how successful he was was not the issue. The sowing of the seed was. For there was a harvest and it was a labor of love

 

That's the way it is for you and for me as well as preachers of the Gospel message, as evangelizers. For that is what this parable is truly all about: it is not only a comment on Jesus’ personal ministry, it is about our ministry as well, our ministry as evangelists. When we live out our faith, whenever we live out our faith, we are like the sower in that painting. As we live out the Gospel message of Matthew 25, what we are doing is scattering the seed of the Gospel message everywhere, almost indiscriminately.

 

As followers of Jesus, as evangelizers, we preach of the Gospel as we live out our faith. So, as the ones today who are to sow the seed of the Gospel message, what does all this mean to us? First of all it means that if Jesus, the absolute good sower, was not able to fully succeed in his efforts to spread the good seed of the Gospel, isn't it also likely that we may fail from time to time? You see, the central point of the parable is that while the sower is good and the seed is good, the soil is sometimes problematic.

 

Seed sown everywhere has a pretty good chance of falling into some very unproductive places, doesn’t it? Some of the seed is likely to fall on the hard footpaths around the garden, which means that no matter what we say or do, there will be those who will not be moved. Their hearts are already too hardened by life. Some of the seed will fall on poor soil, meaning that there will be those who are moved by our faith, by our example, but not moved enough to follow our example. And some seed will fall where only weeds seem to be able to grow, meaning there will be those who begin to follow our example but soon give up because it’s too demanding or because something or some outside element comes along and tempts them to return to their own lifestyle.

 

But most of the seed will fall on fertile ground and produce a rich harvest. But no matter where the seed falls, there is always a harvest. It may not be the harvest we expect or we have worked for, but there is a harvest. And for the gardener, for you and for me, it is always a labor of love.

 

I love this parable because it reminds us that we will not always succeed in spreading the Gospel message. We will sow the seed, but sometimes that seed will not take root. Sometimes it will fall on ground not prepared to receive it. It is not the fault of the seed; the seed is good. Our effort might not succeed, but that does not mean we are failures. Maybe that is why Jesus ends his parable about failure on a high note, a note of optimism. Sure some of the seed gets lost, but most of it does what it is supposed to do. There is enough good soil for us to sow the Good News of Matthew 25 and God's love.

 

The parable is a promise to us that if we are faithful sowers of the good seed, of the message of Matthew 25 by the way we live our lives, there will be a harvest. In spite of setbacks, and in the presence of mishearing and not hearing, there will still be some success. The parable challenges us to faithfully teach and tell the Good News, to sow the seed so that the Gospel message can be planted and brought to harvest. Not everyone will or can hear. But many will hear, maybe most. But they will not hear without a preacher, without someone to sow the seed. And who will preach and who will sow if not you and I?