Reaping And Sowing In The Ruins Series

Are you an optimist, or are you a pessimist? Are you a glass half-empty person, or are you a glass half-full person? Do you complain that rose bushes have thorns, or do you rejoice because thorns have roses? Do you see the storm clouds, or do you see the silver lining? There are various activities and things in life that can show us whether we are optimistic, or pessimistic. There are many things that can pull this trait out. Perhaps, the thing that does this best is gardening.

The pessimist says, “Why plant anything if nothing results because birds, bunnies, insects, deer, weeds, creeping charlie, blight, hail, or bad weather can ruin and kill what I’m trying to grow?! What is the point? Why take the risk and waste the time?”

The optimist, despite potential failure, plants. Why? Hope. A good farmer, or an avid gardener, lives in the confident hope of a rewarding harvest. Not every seed will produce, but enough will make it worth all the while. That is the parable of the Sower.

In our Gospel reading, Jesus compares sharing God’s Word to planting a field. He uses worldly realism that alert us to the potential failures, but He still calls us to faith and to action. He promises and teaches, that “If you plant it, it will grow.” Our goal is to grow in faith that produces the fruit of the Spirit, including the desire to be planters of the seed of God’s Word.

In our Old Testament reading, we see the foundation and confidence for such a promise, “if you plant it, it will grow.” God starts by using a simile to introduce His promise. He says, “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,”. Before the rain and snow are taken back up into the sky (as mist), they achieve the purpose for which they are sent. God then makes His point and gives His promise. “…so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” God’s Word will do the same! It accomplishes and will accomplish that which God sends it out for!

It is an all-powerful word that He sends! His Word spoke creation into existence. “Let there be…and there was….” This powerful word can kills and make alive, it strengthens, sustains, pardons, justifies, enlightens, and guides. In Matthew, Jesus’ word brings people to faith, forgives sins, heals diseases, casts out demons, calms a storm, multiplies bread and fish, and calms anxious hearts. It is a word that does what it says! This is no ordinary Word! This all-powerful Word will accomplish what it is sent out to do. Plant the Word, and it will grow! To teach this point, Jesus gives us the Parable of the Sower.

Jesus says the Sower goes out to sow, and he throws seeds everywhere! Some seed fell alongside the path. The birds then came, and they picked and pecked that path clean. Not a seed remained. Jesus says that these people hear the Word, but they don’t listen to the Word. Jesus says the devil, the evil one, snatches away that seed, that word. “Snatch” evokes a powerful image. It is an overpowering, a wrestling away, a show of force. It is a ripping out of someone’s hands. It is a disregard for someone else. I think of an older brother ripping something out of the hand of a little brother. It is never a pleasant experience to have something snatched from you. Sad to say, there are many things in our modern culture that provide open ground for the devil, our sinful flesh, and our evil world, to rob people of the Gospel before it ever takes root. It gets snatched from them, and with deadly consequence. But, the sower continues on. He still spreads that seed.

Jesus says some seed fell on rocky ground. Believe it or not, soil can be quite rocky. Growing up, my Grandpa’s family had one of the last pieces of farmland in the Chicagoland area. On occasion, we would have family gatherings there, and have family hayrides with his tractor and wagon. One of the things that my cousins, my brother, and I would do during them was to play a game. While the wagon was moving, we would scoot off it, run to the field, and try to grab a rock, or as many as we could, and then run back to the wagon an dhop on. We would see who could collect the most. It was always funny when my Grandpa would accelerate when he saw us running back. Some seed fell on rocky ground, where there wasn’t much soil. The seed quickly sprouted, but since there wasn’t much depth, it withered away once the sun hit it.