Seeds, Soils, and the Sower

The Parable of the Sowed Seed, Art Glass Window, First Presbyterian Church Edwardsville, photo jch.

Sermon Series “Through the Bible,” № 51.

And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow.” –Matthew 13:3

The Parable of the Sower is common to the synoptic gospels. If you’ve been in a New Testament class, then you may remember that “synoptic” means “seen together.” In contrast to the gospel of John, the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke share a similar view of Jesus’ life, containing similar stories in a similar sequence, sometimes with nearly identical wording. The most common explanation is that Mark worked first, then Matthew and Luke, working independently, used Mark’s work as a foundation for their own.

In Matthew’s version of today’s parable, one day Jesus goes down by the lakeshore to teach.  The crowd presses closer, until finally he is at the water’s edge. Jesus climbs into a small boat, and moves out a short distance from the shore, where he is able to get a better perspective of the people. Jesus looks out over the crowd, surveying the scene.  Perhaps on a hill in the distance he spots a Galilean farmer sowing seed upon the ground.  With that image in mind, he begins to draw a comparison to “the word of the kingdom” and the hearts of those who hear it.

Here at FPCE, we are blessed by the constant presence of an artistic expression of this parable. The “Parable of the Sower” window is one of six windows dedicated forty years ago, and integrated into this new building. The scene is divided vertically into three panels.

In the central panel, just below the middle, we see a crow (not a “Holy Spirit” dove!).  The crow is devouring seeds that fall along the path between the fields.  You may imagine that passing feet and carts have compacted the soil, and made it hard.

Jesus says that some people are like this soil, hardened to the word of the Kingdom.  They have adopted a particular lens for viewing the world, a lens incapable of accepting light outside the spectrum of their expectations. They are unable to truly see or incorporate the seed of the God’s word. It is as if birds swooped down and ate the seed before it could penetrate the soil.

At the bottom of the central panel, we see some bluish-gray, cream, and white round objects, which represent rocks. The rocks in the soil prevent adequate rooting for the sprouting seeds.  The seedlings come up quickly, but just as quickly are scorched, the stalks droop, and wither away.

Jesus says that some people are like this soil. At first, they seem enthusiastic about the word of the kingdom. But when trouble arises, and their faith is tested, they disappear as quickly as they emerged.

At the bottom of the right panel, we see some green seedlings interwoven and almost obscured by some bluish strands. These strands represent thorns. The seedlings develop normally, but because the soil is more hospitable to another species, competition chokes the seedlings.

With this image, Jesus is saying that some people want to make the Kingdom of God first priority. But if you were to examine the way they use their time, talents, and personal resources, you would find that other things receive more attention and nurture.  It is as if some thorny vine has choked the impact of the word of the Kingdom, and it yields nothing.

At the bottom of the left panel, we see smaller bits of glass that form a mound. Out of the mound grow large and healthy green stalks. The stalks are topped by heads of developing grain.  This is the good soil, representing the people Jesus praises. He says these are the people who hear the word of the kingdom, who understand it and accept it. They allow it penetrate deeply, and nurture it to bear abundant fruit, far beyond all expectation. 

Upon hearing the parable, most of us ponder the human response – our response – to the seed of the Good News, and consider how we will be good soil in which it grows.

Like any good parable or piece of art, there is more than one perspective. As I’ve looked at this window for the past twenty years, my eyes have focused less on the bottom portions of the window, and moved more toward the top. My focus has shifted from the fate of the seed, and the soil that supports each fate, and toward the source of the seed, the sower, symbolized by the large, open right hand, coming down from heaven as if attached to the arm of God. 

The sower doesn’t plant seed as I would.  A few weeks ago, I put up a social media post of the planter box I built this past summer, during the final days of my sabbatical. Those of you who viewed it saw the rectangular sections of the planter box, with the neat rows of plantings in various sizes, colors, and textures, laid out diagonally in something of a herringbone pattern. Jerry Barber made an appreciative comment about how it was done with order, to which I replied, “probably too much order.” 

Yes, the sower doesn’t plant seed as I would; the sower doesn’t poke holes in a neat row in just the right soil, and place just a few seeds in each one. No, this sower scatters seed arbitrarily and abundantly, seemingly unconcerned about exactly where each seed will fall, apparently confident that some will take hold, grow, and bear fruit.

Why does Jesus paint a picture of the sower scattering seed like confetti at a New Year’s Eve party? Some theologians think Jesus is telling us that generosity is an essential part of God’s nature.[1] Whereas humans have a tendency to practice thrift when giving to God, God always gives extravagantly in dealing with humans.  Extravagance, you might say, is a fundamental feature of God’s grace.

We are not always comfortable with extravagance, even when we read about it in the Bible. Elsewhere in Matthew’s gospel, we read about wise men presenting to Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matt. 2:11).  Doesn’t it seem like too much? Jesus tells a story about a shepherd who leaves 99 sheep on the mountains to go search for one that is lost (Matt. 18:12-14). Doesn’t it seem foolish?  A woman breaks open a vial of perfume to anoint Jesus’ feet, perfume that cost the equivalent of ten months wages, and Jesus praises her action (Matt. 26:6-13).  Doesn’t it seem wasteful?

We live in a time of growing diversity and disagreement about many things, most notably politics. But I notice diversity and disagreement about lesser discussed issues, like standards of extravagance and frugality. What seems like an unwise luxury to one person seems like an important priority to another.

This spring, I was watching a livestream of a worship service in which a baptism was taking place. As the pastor, parents, and child gathered around the font, I couldn’t help noticing the roses. Long-stemmed roses were laid out in a pattern around the stone-edge rim of the font. From the perspective of the camera lens, I couldn’t count them all, but imagine there were at least forty long-stemmed roses. I could imagine a member of a flower guild purchasing the flowers, trimming the flowers, arriving early on Sunday to arrange the flowers just right. Does it seem extravagant? Does it seem foolish? Does it seem wasteful? If you value thriftiness in your local church, then perhaps it is. But as I watched the child raised over the rose-rimmed waters, and baptized in Jesus’ name, I’ll admit that I shed tears at the beautiful extravagance invested by the church in one child and one family at a milestone moment in their faith journey.

If I’m hearing correctly what the Bible commentators and theologians say about the Parable of the Sower, then I think its reading invites us from our ordinary everyday world, and into the strange, new world of the Bible, where extravagant giving is the norm. It challenges us to consider what might happen if we worried less about where our seed is coming from, and instead thought more about how to spread it abundantly.

One more old preacher’s story, this one about a Sunday during which a father and son sat together in worship. The boy was particularly attentive as a moment for mission was presented about a cause perhaps not all that different that what we hear when a moment for mission is presented about “serving area kids,” or one of a great number of causes addressed during the year.  The father was so glad to be off  work and with his family, so relaxed and pleased with his son’s good behavior, that he barely heard the words.

The following Sunday, the boy arrived at worship with a pocketful of change, perhaps taken out of his piggy bank (when kids still had piggy banks).  The offering plate paused for his son to scatter abundantly two handfuls of coins. The father remembered a time when he had been as compassionate and concerned as his boy.  But now, his heart was not so soft. He came to the sobering realization that his son was learning generosity not through him, but in spite of him; the word of the kingdom was skipping over him, and taking root in the heart of a new generation.

Seasons change, God’s messengers come and go.  But the heart of the message of the parable (and the window) remains the same.  Be the good soil in which the seed of God’s Word grows strong and fruitful.  Trust in the abundant generosity that characterizes God’s grace. In gratitude to God, listen for God’s call to love and service, so that in the right time and place, you too may practice extravagant giving.

As Jesus says, “Let anyone with ears, listen!”

NOTES

[1] The sower’s generosity is the focus of sermons by William Willimon in “Waste and Grace,” Pulpit Resource, 11 July 1999, pp. 7-10; and Barbara Brown Taylor in “The Extravagant Sower,” The Seeds of Heaven: Sermons on the Gospel of Matthew, Louisville, Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, pp. 23-29.

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