If you get beyond some religious snobbery here, Jesus’ parable about a farmer who scatters seed is going to be a real challenge on more than one level. Maybe that’s why he told it from a boat, so he could make a fast getaway if needed. Earlier that day he already had a small tangle with religious lawyers and then even dismissed his own mother and brothers as being family to him. The dinghy he sat on not only created good acoustics for the immense crowd to hear him, but it provided a full view in case anyone might want to try something.

Surface Soil

Like most of Jesus’ stories which are told to illustrate a moral or spiritual premise, on the surface it sounds simple enough. For the disciples especially, it answers the question as to why some people don’t get it. Some people like the Pharisees as well as his own family had their doubts about what he was doing, and even John the Baptist of all people had questioned if he was the Messiah. (Matthew 11:2-11) In all of them, there were enough questions to go beyond honest doubt to full rejection of Jesus’ message and claims. His story prepared his followers for what to expect in the mission for which he was preparing them.

It’s a familiar setting, both in that context so heavily dependent on agricultural processes as well as for the dedicated organic gardener of today. All growers have to plant seeds. Still, the farmer in this story is either not very careful or overly generous with his seeding. He just throws it out and lets the seed fall where it may. Some of it lands on a footpath, some in shallow rocky soil, some right between thorns, thistles and weeds, and some in really good loamy dirt. It’s no surprise which seed survives and produces a good crop. What is unexpected is how the good-soil seeds multiply to the point of thirty, sixty, even a hundred times what was planted in total, including those seeds that landed in poor dirt. In the end, the farmer seemingly did not have to work so hard; just broadcast the seed everywhere he can, and the return of his labor still will be great. Bring in the harvest!

Well, we all know that Jesus wasn’t telling this story as a divine agricultural extension agent. Granted, he could spin a good yarn, particularly when it ended well for all concerned. The disciples though just had to ask why he couched his message in these kinds of stories. Jesus commends them for asking because they want to know what’s behind them, what is the meaning Jesus is giving in teaching this way. He had his reasons, some of them based in knowing how people remember the illustrations in sermons more so than the message, and some in being able to hide in the stories meanings from those who found them dangerous and subversive. But he doesn’t leave his friends without a clue.

Surface Depth

More than anything, Jesus wants them to know the seed represents the Good News, the message that God loves this created world and wants more than anything to have close relationship. But this created world isn’t totally accepting of God’s desire because of “the cares of this life and the lure of wealth” among other obstacles in hearing it. Simply put, for some it doesn’t take root and dies off.

Ok, that’s a message for the top twelve. Now, extend it into today’s context. Who gets to hear this parable? Mostly those who have heard and accepted Jesus’ message, who make themselves familiar with his proclamation that he has come saying, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) It’s a call to both abundant life and eternal life, and all who call upon Jesus’ name will be “saved”, saved from the worst of themselves and saved to know the best of themselves as created by God to be. Saying this to the disciples and saying this to the “saved” sounds like it’s a big secret. The seeds on the bad soil don’t get it, and those who reject Jesus won’t know it. That’s the problem, a problem not only for those who hear this parable but a problem for those who hear and still don’t understand.

Deep Soil Work

Ok, back up a little. The seed didn’t do well in the poor soil, and the seed which fell on good soil did abundantly well. Anyone who has puttered in a garden understands that good soil doesn’t usually just happen. It has to be worked, and hard work it is. It means getting down in the dirt and pulling those weeds, struggling with rocks and stones, and lots of hoeing. More so, dirt needs support and raked into it must be the best forms of composting, aged leaves and grasses, vegetable peelings, and good baking in the sun for time to help it decompose. It’s more than a notion to build good soil, and it involves dedicated back breaking to get it fertile enough where the tiniest seed can spout and grow. The farmer can throw out any amount of seed and hope for the best, but if it’s a good harvest you want, you have to put the work in. Is this story then about the soil, or is it about the kind of farmer sowing seed?

Whoops! Anyone out there ever felt a little bit smug because she or he has checked all the boxes to be “saved”? Got your ticket to heaven punched, you’re in, and that’s all you need? Then this parable is NOT for your liking. Jesus is calling out those who think they can play in the good dirt and not get dirty in those last places a Jesus-fearer should be. It means walking those footpaths that are hard alongside others who find life just as tough. It means making friends with the loud ones and those who would take your money and not think a thing of it. It means being willing to dry the tears of those who have found themselves in life situations never imaginable and sharing counsel so rocky times are made smoother. It means watching out for those who travel in dangerous lifestyles where slippery slopes can take a person into deep fathoms. It means taking big risks in generous living so Good News seeds can be planted.

Yes, it’s risky but no less risky than what Jesus did himself. The friend of tax collectors and prostitutes, of the least, last and lost, of children and the child-like was the one who said go the extra mile for those in need, turn the other cheek toward one from whom you could require revenge, forgive seventy times seven, and love your neighbor but especially your enemy. God doesn’t limit the giving of grace to the safe and secure, the ones who will give good return on crops planted. So throw out that seed far and wide, on good soil and in places where hope seems limited. Be there in the middle of it, ready to fight with or fight against whatever keeps people from knowing and understanding God’s mercy and grace. May the kind of soil you work and the kind of soil you are produce a mighty harvest for the love of Jesus.

“Anyone who is willing to hear should listen and understand!”

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

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