Matthew 13:1-23
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One of the greatest mysteries of all time is how a seed grows. I'm sure biologists have this one almost figured out. You take a seed put it in a moist environment. The outer shell begins to decompose and lets off gases which when coupled with moisture produce some sort of enzymatic reaction in the seed and it shoots out something called a “radical” which in turn becomes a root. Then a sprout develops and it consumes the seed transforming into a plant that grows in astronomical proportion to what the seed was and then, in its time, it fruits and produces more seeds.
The dandelion is one of the most fantastic examples of this mystery. The proficiency and shear power of its growth is amazing. They will mass reproduce no matter the conditions. I remember a few years back at my last church. We paved the parking lot and the next Spring in the middle of the parking lot dandelion plants began to grow. They had pushed through several inches of compacted gravel and roughly three inches of compacted asphalt. That’s amazing.
Here's some science for you. The first law of thermodynamics is that “energy may be transformed from one form to another, but it cannot be created or destroyed.” That’s basically saying that when we burn a piece of wood, though the wood gets reduced to ashes the energy that was latent in it became heat and gases and got absorbed back into the environ. If you apply that law to dandelion seeds, it becomes mind boggling that in those tiny little seeds that parachute around in spring and summer there lies dormant enough power to grow a plant through asphalt. That's phenomenal. If someone could figure out how to convert the energy latent in a dandelion seed into electricity, the world’s need for power would disappear.
I think Jesus himself was quite impressed with the mystery of seeds and how they grow. If you consider the latent power in a small seed and it’s ability to transform and grow into a plant that will in the end produce an astounding number of more seeds, it is no wonder that Jesus compared the word of the kingdom of heaven to a small unassumingly insignificant seed. Words have power similar to that of seeds.
Words are very powerful things that should not be underestimated. Words bring forth a response. Cry “help” and people will come. Words have creative powers. Tell a child she’s brilliant and brave and she will be the first to step on Mars, but call her stupid she’ll settle for things beneath her. With words we change the course of history. They should never be underestimated.
This idea of the power of a word was especially true when it concerned God’s words. The prophet Isaiah quotes God as saying: “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose.“ God’s words are as sure and as effective as watering the soil causes plants to sprout, grow, and bear fruit.
In this parable, The Parable of the Sower, Jesus indicates that the word of the kingdom of Heaven is like a seed and its energy, its power to grow. Jesus, God the Son become human, is the word of the Kingdom of Heaven and like a seed he will grow. Latent in him is the power of God’s very self and his love for his creation. Jesus is the seed of the word the kingdom of God, the seed who fell into the ground and died and was raised, who grew a root and a sprout and who is being transformed into new humanity filled with the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is working in people just like you and me and congregations just like ours right now all over the world transforming us to be more like Jesus. He will work until the end, the day when the great harvest of the New Creation happens and all things are made new.
Well, that’s some grand theology there. Jesus being a seed and having all that power to grow and all but, it doesn’t necessarily describe what’s going on in the fields these days. There seems to be a couple of scenarios left out of the parable. For example, this has been a tough year for farmers. It’s rained here, and it’s rained there, but for so many farmers around here due to no fault of their own there wasn’t enough at the right time and now the moisture is too high for harvesting…and we won’t talk about beef prices. For farmers, so much is just simply up to God. There was nothing wrong with soil, nothing wrong with the seed, nothing wrong with the farmer. It just seems like God wasn’t providing rain.
In the Parable of the Sower the Sower is very wasteful. He throws seed everywhere regardless of the soil’s ability to yield crop. It’s like he’s sowing dandelion rather than beans and corn. Yet, regardless of the Sower’s poor method God comes through. With the exception of the seed sown on the path that never had a chance, all the other the seed assumingly gets what it needs to at least sprout and the seed that was wisely sown in good soil abundantly produced. But, this Parable has nothing to say about a Sower sowing in good soil, but the seed underyields for reasons that were in God’s hands to provide. But alas, as anxiety producing as this is in real life scenario’s, it doesn’t work as scenario for the kingdom of God for it would be saying that God the Father and the God the Spirit are not wholehearted in their support of the work of God the Son.
To explain myself, I brought up that scenario in an effort to express my own befuddlement and yours as well, I’m sure, as individual disciples and as a congregation as to why the seed we scatter just doesn’t yield. Speaking for myself as a minister, I get to sow the seed, proclaim the word on a weekly basis to what’s otherwise good soil. Over time I get to watch you folks grow. But, as we all have anxiously noticed, the good soil is becoming an ever smaller corner of our society in general. The work that I get to do out there falls on ambivalent soil and I’m sure you’ve noticed this for yourselves among your families and neighbours when the topic of faith comes up. If the seed we sow was cannabis, the people around us would readily accept it. But, the seed we sow is Jesus and the love of God…well, I guess it’s easiest to say the soil just isn’t ready for the seed.
For centuries the Christian church has played such a prominent role in the Canadian society. Initially, this land was a mission field but in time through the hard work of many faithful disciples of Jesus our society became a well-cultivated field which could be counted on to yield a good crop. But as happens in all fields over time, it suffered overuse and needs to lie fallow so that nature can restore it.
But now, Canadian Society is a mission field again. Just after World War II 67% of Canadians attended church once a week. In 2015, only 15% of Canadians of all faiths attended a weekly religious service, not just Christians. We’re only part of that 15%. On the 2005 census 33% of Canadians claimed no religious affiliation at all. The field has indeed been laying fallow. But, how much longer can this go on and what do we do in the meantime?
How long is up to God. But as far as what we do. Well, if we are good soil, then we need to keep being disciples of Jesus yielding seed for the day it comes time to sow it. We should stop being so amazed at and complaining about how unchristian our society has become over the last few decades and rather be quite a bit more amazed that Jesus has claimed us each as his own and is at work in each of us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus has planted in us the powerful seed of a new way of being the church in Canada that will be able to root and sprout and grow and yield in the mission field that this nation now is. In the past whenever the Christ Jesus sent people in the power of the Holy Spirit into a mission field those he sent were well steeped in prayer and Bible Study. Being intentional about praying together and Bible study together is an absolute must for us. Let us devote ourselves the seed within us. Amen.
