Parable of the SOIL or SOWER?

Greetings! I'm trying to get back into blogging mode. I apologize for leaving you alone for so long. Here's the basis for tomorrow morning's sermon on Matthew 13 (Read ye' first this week's texts!). I hope you enjoy it!
~A

I believe most of you are familiar with the parable of the sower. These different kinds of soil that the seed falls on. Then Jesus' interpretation of this parable that explains the seed is the word of God and describing how certain people respond to it.

We tend to come away believing this gospel is about us. We believe it is about the soil and we work to be good soil so that we can receive the word from God and produce good fruit. Except making it about the soil makes it about us and we really can't go anywhere from there. Because as soon as this parable becomes about turning ourselves into good soil, we've lost God. It becomes a competition to see who can be the best soil. We'd even start comparing what kind of good soil we are - thirty fold, sixty fold, a hundred fold?! It's not enough to be good soil, we want to be great soil. In reality, we know that we are often times quite rocky, a bit weedy, or even shallow. Just because we follow Christ doesn't make us perfect soil.

And while it is fine and well and good to want to receive God's word, we have to remember that it isn't about us. This is not the Parable of the SOIL but the Parable of the SOWER. So I'm going to propose something to you. I know we all love the image of God as a good shepherd and God as a father or even a painter if we look at sunsets and sunrises, but I want you to imagine God as the Gracious Gardener. Or how about the caring farmer? Benevolent Rancher? The great sower of seeds.

This idea of God as a gardener or a care taker for creation is all over scripture. Today we get a platter full in our stories: rain, snow, seed, bread, mountains, hills, trees, field, thorn, cypress, brier, myrtle, earth, oceans, mountains, seas, waves, peoples, more earth, dawn, dusk, more earth, water, river, more water, grain, even more earth, furrows, rain, ground, paths, fields, wilderness, hills, meadows, valleys, and a little more grain.

That's quite a list! All beautiful images of creation. All rich descriptions of how God will provide for the earth. And people are included in that list as a part of the creation that God made and called good. God cares for this creation.

So I take this idea of God as a Gardener and re-read this Parable of the Sower. What I see is a sower spreading seeds with abandon. He isn't the smartest farmer if he is wasting his seed on rocky fields, though, right? Why waste precious seed on that which isn't worthy to receive it? Quite frankly, it seems a bit foolish. I know my dad aerated his lawn before he put down grass seed. He wanted to ensure that the ground had the best chance of keeping that seed.

So I don't know. I don't have much of a green thumb. Perhaps you have some ideas. Many of you are farmers. You grew up on ranches. You keep beautiful gardens. And even for those of you who lack green thumbs like I do, you most likely have a lawn that you mow or some kind of green plant in a pot in your house. If nothing else, you know the theory of gardening even if you don't do so.

So let me ask you this: what did you do when the fields were full of rocks on the farms and ranches? You removed them. Made big rock piles.
What do you do when a plant is in a pot that is too small? You get a bigger pot and find more soil so it isn't sitting in shallow soil.
What about those weeds in your garden? You pull them out! Spray weed-be-gone or something to get rid of them.
What about when the ground is dry? When a plant isn't getting enough sunlight? When a tree needs pruning?

You care for your plants. You tend your garden. You remove the rocks and weeds. You make sure there is enough sunlight and soil to go around. You water the flowers and plants and trees and grass.

So if God is even half the farmer that we are, we've got to imagine that God knows how to remove our rocks. Knows what to do when we are getting a bit chocked on weeds. Knows how to feed us with daily bread. Waters us with the waters of baptism. And speaks to our souls when we find our faith getting shallow.

And yes, this Generous Gardener spreads the word generously. This gardener is not holding back and being frugal with what is being given. This radical gardener is going crazy and planting seeds in every kind of soil there is. There is no waiting to see if the soil will turn itself into good soil.

This gardener has the best green thumb in the world and can make small blades of grass come up through concrete. This gardener causes trees to grow out of the rock face and tender flowers to come up through the snow. This gardener created the world by speaking it into existence and us with it.

This is the Spirit that resides in us. In Paul's letter to the Romans, he wrote "If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, God who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through the Spirit that dwells in you."


There's something about knowing that that seems to make me stand a little straighter. I can bear more. I can trust more easily. My faith comes naturally knowing that I am cared for. The God of creation is looking after me. I don't know how to be grateful enough.

This power, this presence, is in all of us. As we splash in the waters of baptism and eat and drink this bread and wine, God is feeding us and watering us. Our Gracious Gardener is caring for us.

And all God's people said: AMEN! +