Seeds of the Word, Pentecost 6, July 16, 2017

Sixth Sunday of Pentecost (Year A)

Sunday, July 16, 2017

In a shame-blame religious culture where the righteousness of people was measured by their position on the pyramids of power, prestige, and privilege; to even think that the word of God could come to those who seem to be so easily overcome by the Evil one, or by the cares of the world was a scandal. Yet this is what the story suggests. The seeds of grace fall indiscriminately into the lives of all God’s children. The outcome of that gracious sowing will not be immediately known. One never knows what may come of profligate grace.

– Peter Woods, The Listening Hermit blog

Theme: Seeds of the Word

Reflection: (Note: today’s Gospel reading leaves out a key transition, Matthew 13:10-17, the natural question by the disciples about parables, and Jesus’ explanation. If I was leading worship this week, I’d leave it in)

“You may not get this the first time.” Perhaps that’s what Jesus was telling the crowd when he launched into the Parable of the Sower, the first parable in the gospel of Matthew.

“You don’t look like the right crowd, there’s not dirt under your fingernails, and truthfully, you don’t seem interested in growing things, especially abandoning your crop of what-you-think-you-know, to harvest what-is-really-true. Maybe someday this will sink in.”

Lord, let my heart be good soil, open to the seed of your word.

Lord, let my heart be good soil, where love can grow and peace is understood.

When my heart is hard, break the stone away.

When my heart is cold, warm it with the day.

When my heart is lost, lead me on your way.

Lord, let my heart, Lord, let my heart, Lord, let my heart be good soil.

Lord, Let My Heart Be Good Soil, ELW 512

I love this parable. It was planted in me from a young age by Sunday school teachers, but it resonated with me. My mom had a green thumb. On the two acres where I grew up, Mom grew cucumbers and squash, cantaloupe, beans, peas, lettuce, radishes, carrots, corn, strawberries, raspberries, rhubarb, tomatoes, peppers, onions, potatoes, brussels sprouts, asparagus, pumpkins, and things I’ve since forgotten. She taught when to plant when the danger of frost was past, which plants do better in rows and which need a hill. When we could trust the rhubarb and when to leave it grow. When the soil was damp enough, and when we needed to turn on the sprinklers.

I remember digging in the soft, rich black soil and finding earthworms aerating and enriching the soil. Pulling weeds that grew naturally, just as well as the seeds we carefully planted to just the right depth and spacing. And I remember learning when everything was ripe – not picking it a moment too soon.

I’m guessing Mary must have taught her firstborn the same wisdom as a child, before he was old enough to be much help in Joseph’s wood shop. How seed is precious, but we must bury it in the soil and let it die, and trust the sun and rain, earth and the Sower to allow it to live again.

There among the crops, Jesus probably talked with the Sower about growing things. How this Master Gardener had created the garden, the sun and the rain, preparing a world to bear life. The seasons of the year and the seasons of our lives. How things die, are planted into the ground, and bring new life.

As the grains of wheat, once scattered on the hill,

Were gathered into one to become our bread;

So may all your people, from all the ends of earth,

Be gathered into one in you.

As the Grains of Wheat, ELW 465

Jesus started scattering seeds from the start, tossing some onto the rich soil on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. There, among the nets and boat, some of that seed sprouted. Jesus tossed out another handful in his first sermon in Nazareth, but the church was filled with thorns, and he was lucky to escape with his life as the seed was choked out.

Scattered grains here and there, on a hillside when he spoke at length to his disciples, as more and more people gathered. Then at a wedding, and with people who needed healing, and to a Samaritan woman drawing water. Some of those grains grew like crazy, but just for a short time. Others matured and bore fruit. Jesus knew it would take more sowers to plant it all, so he called forth the twelve and sent them out with their own baskets of seed.

Inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow,

All it takes is a rake and a hoe and a piece of fertile ground.

Inch by inch, row by row, Someone bless these seeds I sow

Someone warm them from below,

’Til the rain comes tumbling down.

Garden Song, Peter, Paul and Mary

Finally, with more sowers flinging seed far and wide, the grain began to spring up in fields everywhere. Oh, a lot of it was wasted, for sure. But the sowers were finding more and more good soil, much to the dismay of the official sowers, who had been forcing in their seed with plows and pickaxes. They were upset when they saw these seeds taking root, because they weren’t reaping the harvest.

So, they decided this Jesus and his seed had to go. They seized him, basket of seed and all, and asked him if he was the Sower. They scourged him and his seed and hung him and the seed up on a wooden cross. “We did it,” they said. “He’s dead, and our troubles with him and that seed are gone. And his disciples even will take care of the burial.” So, they allowed a few disciples to take Jesus’ body and place him in the tomb, along with his confounded seed.

Now the green blade rises from the buried grain,

Wheat that in the dark earth, many days has lain,

Love lives again, that with the dead has been,

Love is come again like wheat arising green.

Now the Green Blade Rises, ELW 379

The official sowers were having brunch three days later, sharing their success. “You should have seen his people run when he was put to death. There were just a few of them left to bury Jesus and that seed – we’re rid of them for sure.

“Buried it? Are you crazy?” the head growers screamed in unison. “How could you? You’re sowers – didn’t you have a clue what would happen if you planted Jesus with that seed?”

They ran to the garden, but they were too late. The rock in front of the tomb was pushed aside, Jesus’ body was missing, and someone, perhaps the gardener, smiled as he said, “Isn’t it beautiful? There are new shoots springing up everywhere, as far as the eye can see.”

The Word of God is source and seed;

It comes to die and sprout and grow.

So make your dark earth welcome warm;

Root deep the grain God bent to sow.

In the Lord let us rejoice,

In the Lord let us rejoice,

In the Lord let us rejoice.

The Word of God Is Source and Seed, ELW 506

(You always are welcome to respond with your thoughts and reflections in the comments section at the bottom of this post.) 

Faith App:  Scatter God’s seeds of kindness, grace, love and peace far and wide. Plant them where you know they will take root, and places you would never dream they would grow. Be astonished at what the Master Gardener can do!

HYMN/SONG SUGGESTIONS

We Plow the Fields and Scatter, ELW 680/681

Let My Heart Be Good Soil, ELW 512

As the Grains of Wheat, ELW 465

The Word of God is Source and Seed, ELW 506

Now the Green Blade Rises, ELW 379

As Rain from the Clouds, ELW 508

Seed That in Earth is Dying, ELW 330

Sent Forth by God’s Blessing, ELW 547

On What Has Now Been Sown, ELW 550

Lord, Your Hands Have Formed, ELW 554

Garden Song, Peter, Paul and Mary

All Good Gifts, from Godspell

Seed to Sow, Michael W. Smith

The One (Sowing Seeds), Brandon Heath

Build Your Kingdom Here, Rend Collective

LESSONS

Isaiah 55:10-13 The word that goes out from my mouth shall not return to me empty.

Psalm 65:(1-8) 9-13 You visit the earth and water it, you greatly enrich it.

Romans 8:1-11 To set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 Jesus tells and explains the parable of the sower.

Summary: God has created the environment for everything to grow: including all people. Some are ready for the good news to root deeply and bear a harvest, some may need further tilling of the Spirit. Scatter God’s word and the seeds of grace generously.

OPENING LITANY based on Psalm 65:9-13

L:  Lord, we search, but you were here all along,

C:  Taking care of your garden and every living thing,

L:  Rivulets streaming, goodness nourishing the land,

C:  Grain ripening, a bumper crop for people to share.

L:  Patient Gardener, forever tending your earth,

C:  Cliffs and ridges eroding, river beds shifting;

L:  Drizzles and downpours restoring fertile soils,

C:  Sunlight the sacrament to bless each new day.

L:  Wildflowers dress mountain meadows in color,

C:  Flocks quilt the pastures with patches that roam,

L:  Hills meet in valleys, singing and swirling with joy,

C:  All creation celebrates God’s abundant harvest.

CONFESSION

L:  Do we hear the voice of Jesus speaking in despair,

C:  Or have our ears become deaf to the muted cries,

L:  Of parents skipping supper so children have bread?

C:  Even those who have nothing lose more each day.

L:  Have we seen the signs of Jesus dwelling in our land,

C:  Or have we shut out anything we don’t want to see,

L:  Those lacking clean water or roofs over their heads,

C:  From the ends of the earth, Lord, you are their hope.

L:  Can we feel the pain of Jesus in the loneliest places,

C:  Or have our hearts grown dull, unable to understand,

L:  How it feels to endure life, as day after day passes

C:  Lord, guide us where you need us to heal the hurting.

(Silent reflection)

L:  In our confession, we pray together,

C:  Most Merciful God … We pray that you would open our eyes, our ears and our hearts to your word, so that we would understand your parables, how they instruct us to reveal your kingdom of heaven now, rather than in some far-distant place and time. Help us learn to scatter and share the seeds of your word generously, everywhere we can, trusting your Spirit to nurture them and bring them to life in your children.

Hear this Good News: There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Set your mind on the Spirit so that you may have life and peace. Understand this promise with your eyes, your ears and your heart: You are set free from your sin through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. Forgiven and set free, you now can set others free by sharing this word of life.

In the name of…

Amen

PRAYER OF THE DAY

L:  We pray together, 

C: God the Master Gardener … we pray today for those hearing your word for the first time, or those who are hearing it fresh, again and anew. Nourish the seed of your good news in all believers so it grows and bears fruit, multiplying abundantly – thirtyfold, sixtyfold or even a hundredfold – that all may know of and be surrounded by your great love. Amen.

COMMUNION BLESSING

L:  We pray together,

C:  We give you thanks, most gracious God, for the grains of hope in this bread, the Spirit of life in this cup.  Send us out, generously sowing the seed of your word, trusting that some of it will land in the good soil of receptive hearts that long to hear your good news, experience your love, and sense the kingdom of heaven growing in the here and now.  Amen. 

SENDING

L:  God planted the word in the good soil of us,

C:  The Spirit has nourished it from the start,

L:  Deeply rooted in this community of faith,

C:  We live to be God’s hundredfold harvest!

L:  Go now, flinging God’s seeds everywhere, to love and to serve the Lord.

C: Thanks be to God!

First Reading Isaiah 55:10-13 (NRSV)

Setting the Scene: Today’s reading comes from the portion of the book of Isaiah known as Second Isaiah, prophecies of hope for the Jewish people who had been in exile in Babylon.

¹⁰ For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
    and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
    giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
¹¹ 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 succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

¹² For you shall go out in joy,
    and be led back in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
    shall burst into song,
    and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
¹³ Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
    instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall be to the Lord for a memorial,
    for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

Second Reading Romans 8:1-11 (NRSV)

Setting the Scene Spirit vs. flesh is a common theme of several of Paul’s letters. Living in the flesh, as Paul did before his conversion, means to try to win God’s favor by keeping the law. Paul is endorsing living in the Spirit, forgiven by God’s grace.

8 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. ² For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. ³ For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ⁵ For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. ⁶ To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, ⁸ and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

⁹ But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹ If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

Gospel Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 (NRSV)

Setting the Scene: Many of us grew up distant from the agricultural roots of this parable. In Jesus’ day, without today’s technology and hybrids, a harvest seven times the planted seed would have been outstanding. The disciples would have heard the exaggeration in Jesus’ story.

13 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. ² Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. ³ And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. ⁵ Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. ⁶ But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. ⁷ Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. ⁸ Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. ⁹ Let anyone with ears listen!”

¹⁰ Then the disciples came and asked him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” ¹¹ He answered, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. ¹² For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. ¹³ The reason I speak to them in parables is that ‘seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.’ ¹⁴ With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says:

‘You will indeed listen, but never understand,
    and you will indeed look, but never perceive.
¹⁵ For this people’s heart has grown dull,
    and their ears are hard of hearing,
        and they have shut their eyes;
        so that they might not look with their eyes,
    and listen with their ears,
and understand with their heart and turn—
    and I would heal them.’

¹⁶ But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. ¹⁷ Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.

¹⁸ “Hear then the parable of the sower. ¹⁹ When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. ²⁰ As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; ²¹ yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. ²² As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. ²³ 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, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

"Nobody Plants Like That!" (for my Windhaven worshipers, July 16, 2017)

So, today in the Gospel of Matthew, this is where Jesus begins his parables. He tries to tell his disciples about how they are to act, to live their lives, to love others around them, by telling stories. Stories that might have amused or confused people who just didn't get Jesus and his ways.

There are 46 in all, just three in the Gospel of John, and most in Matthew and Luke. Do you know any of them (Good Samaritan, Prodigal Son, Laborers in the Vinyard, Wedding Feast, Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, Pearl of Great Price, Mustard Seed, Rich man and Lazarus...)?

Lots of them have funny details in them or exaggerations. For instance, what shepherd leaves 99 sheep unattended for the wolves so he can go look for one lost sheep? What person with 10 coins, when they lose one, then find it, throws a party that probably cost way more than the 10 coins combined? Then there's the good ol' rich guy, looking at poor Lazarus up in heaven, still thinking he's a servant after they're both dead!

So, Jesus often tells the story, leaving most of those following him in the dark. Especially if one of the Pharisees is hanging out with him. Then he goes inside with his disciples to talk about it.

So, that's why the split in today's text -- 9 verses, then 8 left out, and another 6 verses. Jesus tells this parable, then a couple more, and then he and the disciples go inside. One version says Jesus dismissed the other followers. "OK, that's it, class over for the day, time to go home." Then, inside, the disciples are like "What was that about, Jesus?"

But the funny part is imagining this sower. A farmer, with a big basket of seed. Seed wasn't cheap in those days. They would have to save the best heads of grain from their last harvest to have wheat seeds this year. And no fancy hybrids then, no good fertilizers. If a farmer was very lucky, he got seven times as much wheat as the seed he planted. Not, 30, 60 or 100 times what he planted. So, here's a sower, throwing seed around, on rocks, in the weeds and thistles, and on a tromped-down path. Really? How crazy is that? Sow it ALL in the good soil, so you have the best harvest possible.

And, if the Sower, the Master Gardener, God, did that, none of us would be here.

Is my heart good soil for God's seed? I'm pretty sure I don't understand all of God's word, so those birds are snatching some of that seed. And those rocks -- sometimes I'm not so well rooted. And a few thistles as the distractions and temptations of this world pull me away from studying God's word. If God would have saved ALL that precious seed for those with the best soil, I wouldn't be standing here talking to you.

But God is generous, crazy lavish, even wasteful with that seed -- God's word. The same way God is wildly abundant with the blessings of this earth. And outrageously extravagant with grace, God's unconditional love and forgiveness. God doesn't give it out just to the best, the ones who "earn it" or "deserve it." It's for everyone -- us rocky, weed-infested, beat-down folks with some good soil mixed in.  Us. The ones God calls "children."