Happy 17th Sunday after Pentecost.
Today we are reading the parable of the sower. Most often, and for good reason, the focus here is on the soil. Jesus goes into depth describing the different places the seed can land - the path, rock, thorns, and good soil.
But for today, let’s focus on the seed. We can’t ignore the fact that at attempt was make to actually plant seed.
Jesus tells us the seed is the Word of God. It’s not tangential to it. It’s not a nicety or an allusion to the Word. It is the Word. The truth and goodness of the gospel of Jesus, that - as he says over and over again - it is the message of deliverance from sickness and infirmity, from brokenness, from bondage and prison, and from indebtedness. It’s not simply that, “God loves you,” but that God will deliver your life from what is keeping it from living.
The soil again tells us that even as good as the Word is, it will not always land. But it certainly will not land and take root if it is not the Word of God.
What strikes me is that the sower does not test the soil first. No community demographic study. No testing the waters to see what might be possible. God’s Word is scattered prodigally, even in places where experience suggests it won’t take root. That is both humbling and hopeful: humbling because it’s not ours to control or predict the results, hopeful because it means no place is deemed too barren for God to try. Our call is not to improve the seed but to keep sowing it (we can’t). Rather, the true Word of Christ’s deliverance involves trusting that where it finds depth and openness, it will grow.
In the end, the parable reminds us that the seed is already good. It carries life and power of its own. We don’t have to manipulate it or make it more appealing. But we do have to scatter it. We are to spread it even in unlikely places and trust God for what we cannot see beneath the surface.
Luke 8:1-18
Soon afterward, Jesus traveled through the cities and villages, preaching and proclaiming the good news of God’s kingdom. The Twelve were with him, along with some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses. Among them were Mary Magdalene (from whom seven demons had been thrown out), Joanna (the wife of Herod’s servant Chuza), Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their resources.
When a great crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from one city after another, he spoke to them in a parable: “A farmer went out to scatter his seed. As he was scattering it, some fell on the path where it was crushed, and the birds in the sky came and ate it. Other seed fell on rock. As it grew, it dried up because it had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorny plants. The thorns grew with the plants and choked them. Still other seed landed on good soil. When it grew, it produced one hundred times more grain than was scattered.” As he said this, he called out, “Everyone who has ears should pay attention.”
His disciples asked him what this parable meant. He said, “You have been given the mysteries of God’s kingdom, but these mysteries come to everyone else in parables so that when they see, they can’t see, and when they hear, they can’t understand.
“The parable means this: The seed is God’s word. The seed on the path are those who hear, but then the devil comes and steals the word from their hearts so that they won’t believe and be saved. The seed on the rock are those who receive the word joyfully when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while but fall away when they are tempted. As for the seed that fell among thorny plants, these are the ones who, as they go about their lives, are choked by the concerns, riches, and pleasures of life, and their fruit never matures. The seed that fell on good soil are those who hear the word and commit themselves to it with a good and upright heart. Through their resolve, they bear fruit.
“No one lights a lamp and then covers it with a bowl or puts it under a bed. Instead, they put it on top of a lampstand so that those who enter can see the light. Nothing is hidden that won’t be exposed. Nor is anything concealed that won’t be made known and brought to the light. Therefore, listen carefully. Those who have will receive more, but as for those who don’t have, even what they seem to have will be taken away from them.”
Psalm 126
When the Lord changed Zion’s circumstances for the better,
it was like we had been dreaming.
Our mouths were suddenly filled with laughter;
our tongues were filled with joyful shouts.
It was even said, at that time, among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them!”
Yes, the Lord has done great things for us,
and we are overjoyed.
Lord, change our circumstances for the better,
like dry streams in the desert waste!
Let those who plant with tears
reap the harvest with joyful shouts.
Let those who go out,
crying and carrying their seed,
come home with joyful shouts,
carrying bales of grain!
Prayer1
God,
You are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve: Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy to ask, except through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Savior; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Adapted from the contemporary collect for the 17th Sunday after Pentecost, Book of Common Prayer.