The Guaranteed Return

I expect some of us invest money, maybe in property or in shares in companies. Perhaps some of us ‘invest’ in other ways. We invest in our future by studying and passing exams. We invest time in people. When we invest, we hope for a return. What do you suppose is the best investment of all? Is there any investment that will give a guaranteed return? Yes, there is.

Today we’re going to look at the Parable of the Sower. Well, sort of. I’m not going to look at the parable itself. I’m going to assume that you’re generally familiar with the parable. What I’m going to do is look at the explanation Jesus gave of the parable and at one specific point in the explanation that relates to the return we should expect.

I’ll make a few comments about the parable and then we’ll look at Jesus’ explanation.

The Parable of the Sower comes in three gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke. That itself suggests that the parable is important.

The parable is short. It’s only about 100 words.

In Matthew’s gospel it’s the first of seven parables about the kingdom of God. None of them have scripture references.

We can learn something from those last two points. If we have the opportunity to share the gospel with non-Christians, let’s take note of Jesus’ example. Keep it short. And we don’t have to have Bible references!

In the parable the seed is God’s word. The sower can be anyone who is spreading God’s word. It could be Jesus; it could be us. A seed is small and light. If someone dropped a seed into your hand, you’d barely feel it. God doesn’t take a pneumatic drill to get through to a person.

That’s enough of a recap on the parable itself. Let’s now move on to Jesus’ explanation of it. We find Jesus’ explanation in Matthew, Mark and Luke. I’m going to look at the explanation in Mark’s gospel. Here it is:

“Jesus said to them, ‘This is what the kingdom of God is like. It is as if a man should scatter seed on the earth. Night and day, while he sleeps, when he is awake, the seed sprouts and grows; how, he does not know. Of its own accord the earth produces first the shoot, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the crop is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because harvest time has come’” [Mark 4:26-29].

I read this from the Revised New Jerusalem Bible. I don’t think this translation is different in any significant way from other popular versions of the Bible. But about two weeks ago I was in a meeting of leaders and representatives of some of the churches in the Boscombe area. A Jesuit priest read these verses from this version. For some reason this phrase, ‘if a man should scatter’, struck me in a way that it hadn’t before. In this talk I want to focus on that phrase, ‘if a man should scatter’. I think it tells us something that’s really applicable to our present situation at Rosebery Park.

We’re in a time of sowing the seed of God’s word. Next Sunday morning we have ‘After the Storm.’ Our initial purpose in ‘After the Storm’ was to encourage people to come along to thank God for helping us through this horrible pandemic. Since then, we’ve decided to combine it with a harvest thanksgiving. Many of our members have put a lot of effort into this. Someone has had 10,000 leaflets printed and distributed. Some people have spruced up the church and someone has power-washed the front of the church. Someone is providing LOTS of flowers. The music group has been practising.

Then next Sunday afternoon we’re joining with other churches in Boscombe for an open-air service down by Boscombe Pier. We’re going to publicly witness to God. It’s another form of sowing the seed of God’s word, to acknowledge him. There has also been quite a bit of work organizing that - I don’t need to go into the details.

In this time of sowing the seed of God’s word what can we expect? Can we confidently expect a harvest?

Look at these four verses. How does Jesus’ explanation start? It starts with a man scattering seed on the earth. Now look at how it ends. It ends with a harvest. Great! That’s the result the sower wants! What does that harvest depend on? The weather? The quality of the seed? Apparently not. In these four verses the word ‘if’ only comes once. Jesus said: ‘IF a man should scatter.’ There is no other ‘if’. When I was sitting in the meeting of leaders of Boscombe churches I wondered about this. Does it mean that IF a man scatters, there will be a harvest? Does the harvest depend on nothing other than a man scattering seed?! It seems extraordinary. Of course, if it’s true, it’s a great encouragement to sow the seed of God’s word! If it’s true, then the seed of God’s word is foolproof. As long as it’s sown it will produce a harvest!