This morning our passage of scripture takes us to a lake
shore where crowds had gathered to listen to Jesus. In fact there was such a big crowd gathering
that Jesus got in a boat and pushed out into the lake and taught from the
boat. Jesus uses a method to teach
called a parable. You see the gospel,
good news that Jesus had to bring to the people was a message that the people
had trouble understanding. Jesus spoke
of a kingdom, the Kingdom of God, in a way that no one would understand a
kingdom to be. It was a kingdom where
power was suppressed by servanthood. It
was a kingdom in which there was no male or female, Jew nor
Greek, servant or free
person, democrat or republican, white or black and we could go on. In the Kingdom in which God reigns everyone
is equal and everyone is loved. The
first is last, the last is first. Peace is sought in all things. For Jesus to get the people to understand he
had to speak in stories that related to their everyday lives, thus he taught in
parables and this parable is about farming.
This parable can be approached from many different directions. Many people read themselves into the position
of the farmer, the one who sows the seeds of God’s word through the spreading
of the message of this new kind of Kingdom.
That would not be a wrong reading for we are all as followers of Christ
called to spread the word, to share the good news. However, as I meditated over this passage of
scripture I began reading myself into the different soils. I studied plant life and what I began to
recognize is that our Christian journey is much the same as the cycle of plant
life from seed to flower to fruit and back to seeds which scatter and begin the
cycle all over again.
It’s been a long time since I was in elementary school
learning about plant life so I had to do a little research. What I found out is that there is 5 stages to
a plants life. First there is a seed
that is planted in the ground. There are certain conditions that need to take
place for that seed to move to the next phase.
The seed must be planted in good soil.
The most important thing about the soil is that it is damp and that it
is warm. The seed must get wet to begin
to develop it’s roots which is the next phase.
If the seed is planted in good soil, is warm enough and receives enough
moisture it moves into the next phase of developing roots. The root system is very important, without it
nothing else can happen. The roots
deliver water to the rest of the plant, life giving water. The roots keep the plant firmly in the
ground. The roots keep the soil from
washing away. The next phase of the
plants life is that it develops stems and leaves. It is through the stems and leaves that the
plant receives food necessary for developing the flowers that become the next
phase. It is after the roots have
developed sending water into the plant to allow it to develop a stem system
which carries water to form a leaf system which provides food that we begin to
see flowers and from that flower comes fruit.
Also from that flower new seeds are produces and the final stage of plant life is the scattering of the new
seed which happens in a variety of ways.
Seeds are scattered by the wind, seeds are scattered by people who
harvest them and replant them, seeds are scattered by animals carrying them
off., seeds are scattered by fruit that falls to the ground. As I studied this it amazed me how easily a
parallel could be drawn to the Christian Life and this is easily seen by the
parallels Jesus makes to the different kinds of soil that seeds can end up in.
The Parable here tells us that the seed Jesus mentions is
the word regarding God’s Kingdom. Jesus
never tells us who the farmer is but he is very detailed in telling us about
the different soils. The different soils
he describes represents people, those that hear the news of God’s Kingdom and
how they respond to that good news. As
we go through this I want to think of your own faith journey. What kind of soils have you found yourself
in? What kind of soil are you in
now? The first thing Jesus describes is
seed that found it’s way on the path.
I’m imagining this to be a part of the field that is where people
walk. The dirt is packed down and hard
from the many feet that pass over it every day.
Jesus tells us that the seed that falls on the path is taken off by the
birds. He explains to his disciples that
this soil represents the people who hear the news of God’s Kingdom and do not
understand it so what is there lies dormant and eventually what was planted
there is carried off. One of the things
I learned about seeds this week is that if they are not in good soil where they
receive water then they lie dormant until they receive the water they
need. Nothing happens. On the path, exposed they run the risk of
being carried off by birds or other animals unless someone takes the time and
the care to move them to good soil. Keep
that in mind.
The next kind of soil Jesus describes is seed that falls
on rocky ground. Rocks prevent seeds
from developing roots. Remember roots
are essential for life. They give life
giving water, they hold the plant firmly in the ground. They keep the soil from washing away. Jesus explains that this soil represents
people who hear the word and immediately receive it joyfully but they have no
roots. Because they have no roots when
they experience distress or abuse because of the word, the immediately fall
away. I am reminded of a couple of
things when I hear this description.
When I was in the youth group of the church I grew up in we would take a
yearly trip to Garden City Beach Retreat in South Carolina where we would spend
a week studying the Bible and enjoying each others company at the Beach. It was a fun trip. Everything about it was fun. It never failed on the final night of the
trip we would have our final worship time together which was always very
emotional. We had spent the week learning
about the goodness of God’s Kingdom. We
had spent the week building and strengthening relationships. There together we felt like we were
invinsible disciples of Christ, nothing could come between us and our
relationships with God and each other. Tears
would flow, love was shared, we would come back on top of the world ready to
share this great news with anyone who would listen. But….if each young person was not rooted in
the local church, and with supportive families and with supportive friends on
the outside of the four walls of that church then this would not, could not
last. Friends on the outside would make
fun of them or question them, family members would not insure that they got to
church where they could continue to benefit from study and from relationships
with other Christians, the church didn’t have a plan for insuring they
constantly received the water of life, that they were firmly in the ground,
that the soil beneath them didn’t wash away.
They would fall off, never to be seen again. Keep that in mind.
The next kind of soil Jesus describes is soil in which
the plants are choked out by thorns.
Jesus explains that these are the people who hear the word but the
worries of this life and the false appeal of wealth choke the word, and it
bears no fruit. When you let other
things take over your mind and your heart it chokes the life out of everything
else. Keep that in mind.
Finally Jesus describes good soil. Good soil is represented by people who hear
the word, understand it, bear fruit and produce. This is the soil that we should strive to be
and that we should aim to bring others to.
What does it look like for a person to bear fruit and produce. Let’s look back at the cycle of the
plant.
Just like a plant the Christian journey begins by our
hearing of the good news of God’s Kingdom, God’s saving grace. If the soil has been properly prepared then
our Christian life begins to take root when like the woman at the well we
accept the living water of Jesus Christ.
That living water gets pumped through our veins through what John Wesley
calls the means of grace. Stems begin to
develop and the bread of life in Jesus Christ begins to nourish us and bring
forth flowers. And the flowers produce
fruit. Galatians 5:22 tells us what
fruit it is that Christians bear. “The
Fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self control.”
Are you bearing fruit this morning?
If not it might be time to examine the soil. Finally, with the production of fruit comes
the production of more seed. Through the
fruits of the spirit we are able to take the seed, the good news of God’s
Kingdom, and scatter it to more people.
We are all called to go and share the good news of God’s love and God’s
rein. In doing so we fulfill the mission
of Jesus Christ and the Mission of the United Methodist Church to Go and Make
disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the World. To do this we must make sure that we
ourselves are rooted in good soil and that we provide good soil where others in
the community can find a place to develop roots that receive the living water
and the living bread.
As I mentioned above we can do this by participating in
all the Means of Grace that God has provided us. For John Wesley these Means of Grace are divided
into two broad categories: Works of
Piety and Works of Mercy. Each of these
categories have both individual and communal properties. There are individual things such as prayer,
fasting, searching scripture, helping individuals in need. There are communal things such as communion,
baptism, corporate worship, seeking justice in the world as the body of
Christ. It is my prayer that I can be a
leader and servant among you and among the South Macon Community in cultivating
good soil where we can all experience the bearing of wonderful fruit. I hope you will partner with me in this
adventure that we may bloom together. In
the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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