The Faithfulness of the Sower
(Free Version) Seventh Sunday After Pentecost- Genesis 25:19-34; Romans 8:1-11; Matthew 13:1-9,18-23
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This Sunday we are reminded of God’s activity in the midst of messiness and frailty. God is faithful even when we are not faithful.
In our Old Testament reading (Genesis 25:19-34), we hear a story of promise and blessing, but also of mixed motives and uncertainty. We are left with a tension of God ordaining the promise, and some strange actions from both Jacob and Esau. Jacob grasps Esau’s heel. God tells Rebekah that he will flip the order of privilege and blessing. Jacob offers Esau a trade: his birthright for some “red stuff.” Esau takes it! Though challenging, the messiness of this reading is a comfort to those of us who face messiness in our own lives. The good news is that God is faithful in the midst of it.
Our epistle reading (Romans 8:1-11) proclaims the good news: there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. The law of sin and death has been usurped by a different law: the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Sin has been condemned once and for all in the death of Jesus, the Messiah. Now, we live differently. We have a new identity, which is not up to us, but the power of the Spirit. The calling is now to set our minds on the way of the Spirit, not the old way.
Our gospel reading (Matthew 13:1-9,18-23) features Jesus’ Parable of the Sower. In verses 1-9, Jesus tells the parable to the crowd without explanation. In verses 18-23, he pulls his disciples aside and tells them the parable’s meaning. God is the sower, and people receive the message of the kingdom in different ways. Some have it snatched away by the evil one. Some are initially enthusiastic, but the “soil” of their lives is not deep enough to endure trouble. Some are captured by wealth and the worries of this life, thorns which choke out the word. Still some receive the message of the kingdom and it produces fruit.
If God really is the sower, it means that the seed is always good, and that it keeps spreading. It often feels slower than we’d like and it always challenges us, but it keeps going out. The kingdom of God is moving even in the midst of our own frailties. We are not to be deceived into thinking that our faulty response, our bad soil, actually cuts off the kingdom of God. God is at work even in the midst of our failure.
The seed on the footpath (vs. 4) is still good seed. Farmers have pointed out that, if the bird picks up the seed, it will eventually pass the seed, the seed will fall into the ground and it will be better seed because it will have fertilizer along with it.
The seed that fell on rocky ground (vs. 5) was still good seed; it was the soil that lacked depth. The seed that fell among thorns (vs. 7) was still good seed, but the soil had other things that had invaded and grown deep. Yet, God keeps sowing the seed. Our failure is not enough to stop the Word of God.
This is good news. As Paul says, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.” Yes, we have failed, but God keeps speaking, the seed continues to go out, bringing life.
The challenge for us is not to wring our hands thinking that God’s kingdom will halt if we fail. The challenge is to realize that God’s kingdom is what truly brings life and flourishing, that God is moving, and to listen for it!
Do we need a softening in the soil of our hearts? In what ways have we been oriented in directions other than God’s kingdom? Have we become more footpath than good soil, allowing the enemy to come and snatch the seed of God’s Word?
Do we need a a deepening of our roots? We often look for the quick fix, the shortest path to the good life. No wonder we have a hard time allowing the gospel to really take root in our hearts. It is time to examine our root systems.
Finally, do we need an uprooting of the thorns? How might we listen, becoming aware of the systems in our lives and our world that are so deeply rooted, they invade everything that we do? The prophetic task of the church is to point out the places that need to be uprooted and torn down before God builds and plants in us and in the world.