Sowing Seeds of Faith—Lectionary Reflection for Pentecost 7A/Proper 10A (Matthew 13)

Vincent Van Gogh, Sower at Sunset

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

13 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. ² Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. ³ And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seeds fell on a path, and the birds came and ate them up. ⁵ Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. ⁶ But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered away. ⁷ Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. ⁸ Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. ⁹ If you have ears, hear!”

¹⁸ “Hear, then, the parable of the sower. ¹⁹ When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. ²⁰ As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, ²¹ yet such a person has no root but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. ²² As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. ²³ But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

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                It is often said that Jesus used parables in his teaching because the people could understand his message. The only problem with this idea is that Jesus continually had to explain the meaning of the parables, especially the parable of the Sower. Jesus closes the parable with the words: “If you have ears,  hear!” The disciples responded by asking him to explain the parable because apparently, they didn’t have the ears to hear and understand. So, Jesus explained the meaning of the parable to the disciples. He did it in an allegorical fashion. While an interpretation is offered here, that is not always the case. According to Amy-Jill Levine, that’s a good thing: “The Gospel writers, in their wisdom, left most of the parables as open narratives in order to invite us into engagement with them. Each reader will hear a distinct message and may find that the same parable leaves multiple impressions over time.” [Levine, Short Stories by Jesus, (p. 1). Kindle Edition]. The danger that comes from following the lead provided in this parable is that we allegorize every parable.

                The Gospel reading for Proper 10A shares the “Parable of the Sower,” along with its Matthean interpretation (see parallels in Mark 4:1-9, 13-20 and Luke 6:1-5). The focus of most interpretations of this parable is evangelistic. If this is true, then should we read this as a guideline for evangelistic work? If this is true, then doesn’t Jesus recommend a rather indiscriminate, scatter-shot method of evangelism? As we read this parable, we discover that when the Sower went about casting seed (I’m imagining Johnny Appleseed here) without much concern for where it lands. Depending on the soil, the seed might sprout up and bear fruit or quickly die off because it lacks the proper soil. If this is meant to be a guide to evangelism, shouldn’t we hear a word about picking the right kind of soil? That was the message of the church growth school of evangelism.

                What we hear in the passage is that some of the seeds fell on good soil and the seeds produced plants that thrived. The other seed wasn’t near as fortunate. It landed in poor soil, or at least soil that wouldn’t allow the plants to put down deep roots. So, they eventually shriveled up and died. Some of the seeds even fell on the pathway, that soil was too packed down to produce any plants. Instead, the birds swooped down and ate the seeds. You heard Jesus, so what do you make of his message?

                The “Parable of the Sower” is one of the best-known parables of Jesus, in part because it’s one of the few in which Jesus (or the author) provides us with an interpretive key. That key, as I noted above, is often used to justify interpreting the parables allegorically. According to this interpretation, not everyone will be receptive to the message. It seems simple, but could there be more to the story?

                One clue that shouldn’t be missed here is the parable is designed to reveal something about the realm of God. When it comes to the message of the kingdom, Jesus tells the disciples in the verses that have been omitted, not everyone is ready to hear and understand the message. In other words, certain dimensions of the message of the realm are hidden until the appropriate time. In the meantime, Jesus is going to let the disciples in on the secret. Thus, parables don’t always illuminate. Sometimes they hid things.

                It’s worth noting that Jesus’ parables as a whole, especially in Matthew, reveal elements of Jesus’ vision of God’s realm.  According to the interpretation that Jesus gives to the parable, not everyone was ready to hear the message of God’s realm. That was especially true of the Roman authorities who weren’t too keen on rival kingdoms popping up. The same would be true of their collaborating partners, including certain religious leaders. In other words, the message of the realm wasn’t something everyone was ready to receive. There are, of course, always people who hear the message at first, but when things get difficult fall away. Jesus’ yoke might be light (Mt. 11:28-30) for those who come to him carrying heavy burdens, but Jesus could be rather demanding. Remember that Jesus told those who were thinking of joining his band of disciples that if they didn’t love Jesus more than family then they weren’t worthy of the kingdom. For Jesus, it would appear, it’s all or nothing (Matthew 10:37-39). As for the disciples, they might appear to be a rather motley group, but they appear to be receptive to the message. They are good soil.

                So where do you find yourself? If we take the interpretation at face value, what kind of soil are you? Are you good, receptive soil? Are you rocky soil? Are you that hard-packed path? Will you produce faith, fall away at the first sign of resistance, or never sprout because of the hardness of your heart? According to Matthew, Jesus gives us a few clues as to the kinds of things, the thorns, that can get in the way of fully embracing the realm. Perhaps you’ve experienced some of them? I know I have! He speaks of the cares of the world and the lure of wealth. What might choke out your faith?

                As for the good soil, when the seed falls it can yield a hundredfold, sixtyfold, or thirtyfold. While we might try to distinguish the different values here as if somehow the soil that produces thirtyfold is less valuable than the one that produces a hundredfold. Remember that the Sower sows indiscriminately, so it could be the seed is just different. The important thing is that when the seed falls on good seed it produces plants that flourish. 

                If we think here about how the gospel is shared, the indiscriminate nature of the Sower’s work might suggest that we be careful about engaging in overly programmatic efforts. The Sower simply sows the seed that lands where it lands. The act is not coercive, slick, or edgy. Though you could say that it is subversive. I say it might be subversive because, like the wildflower seeds I cast in my garden (after trying to prepare the soil and planting particular plants, with mixed results), the wildflowers just appear wherever they land. So, if the soil is ready to receive, it will receive.  

                Now, is it possible that we could try to make the soil more receptive? Jesus doesn’t go that route, but we can do something to better prepare the soil, making it more receptive. Consider the belief of Horace Bushnell, a nineteenth-century theologian and educator, who believed that faith can be cultivated from birth, so a child grows up never knowing anything other than the Christian faith. Now, Bushnell was not a fan of revivals, a method of propagating the faith prominent on the American frontier. It was a methodology endorsed by the authors of Deuteronomy, who encouraged the people of God to teach God’s commandments and decrees to their children so that it would go well with them as they entered the Promised Land (Deut. 6:1-3). There is great wisdom in this. But, what about others who do not grow up in a faith-affirming family?

                Ultimately, we can’t coerce faith. We can only share the good news. But we can prepare the soil by the way we embody the faith. That’s not part of Jesus’ message, but in our day, I believe that the biggest cause of disaffection and cynicism about Christian faith claims is the way Christians comport themselves. Yes, some have intellectual qualms about God, but even those qualms are often rooted in difficult encounters with people who claim the name of Jesus. These can be the thorns that choke out emergent faith. They can also be the cause of the hardness of hearts. So, yes, we can be the reason why some fail to hear the message of grace that leads to faith.

                Whatever the cause of unreceptive soil, the call of the disciples is to carry on the ministry of the Sower, sowing seeds of faith. When the seeds land on receptive soil, they will bear fruit. That fruit is the Realm of God, which is both present and future in nature. So, as Mihee Kim-Kort notes: “We are soil; we are seeds; we are sowers too, laboring alongside the one who calls us to that harvest that is ever in front of us.” [Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preachingand Worship (p. 365). Kindle Edition].

                As we ponder the message of the realm of God, a message that we receive and sow, might we consider coming to the table of the Lord and sharing the feast of bread and cup? As the communion hymn declares:

Seed, scattered and sown, wheat gathered and grown, 

Bread broken and shared as one, the Living Bread of God.

Vine, fruit of the land, wine, work of our hands, one cup that is shared by all;

the Living Cup, the Living Bread of God.   (Dan Feiten, Chalice Hymnal, 395).  

Image Attribution: Gogh, Vincent van, 1853-1890. Sower at Sunset, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57797 [retrieved July 5, 2023]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Van_Gogh_-_S%C3%A4mann_bei_untergehender_Sonne.jpeg.