Sermon for University Lutheran Church, Clemson, SC on July 16, 2023

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

“A sower went out to sow. He sowed seeds on the path. He sowed seeds on the rocks. He sowed seeds among the thorns. Finally, he sowed seeds on good soil.” This guy is a lousy farmer. 

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,^[a] 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.^[a] 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of this^[b] 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.”

He’s sowing seeds by hand—doesn’t even have an ox to plow his field—so we know he’s not rich. He’s working hand to mouth to feed his family. And yet, he wastes seed on this terrible soil. Three quarters of his seed goes to places that won’t yield food. 

But what does take root GROWS. And grows and grows and grows. Bringing forth a double harvest would be wonderful. Bringing forth five times, unheard of. Bringing forth thirty, sixty, a hundred?!? Absurd! Ridiculous! The farmers that first heard these words from Jesus probably just laughed at the silliness of it all. 

When we read the Bible in worship, we take it just a slice at a time. A few verses here, a few verses there. It’s easy to forget that each section is part of a larger story, that it all holds together. When Jesus tells this story, then, it’s not a coincidence that a lot of the seed goes to waste.

Jesus and the twelve disciples have been preaching and teaching together for not too terribly long, but it’s been long enough for them to see that not everyone is going to get on board. The Pharisees have already started plotting to kill Jesus. His family thinks he might be out of his mind. There are many people who have become followers, but many more who have not. 

That’s the absurd thing, isn’t it? This is the best news the world has ever known. God is with us. God is here, among us. God is going to raise us from the dead and give us eternal life with him in paradise. This is for everyone who wants it, everyone who believes that Jesus is the Lord. That’s amazing grace. It’s beautiful. The world is changing for the better. It’s ridiculous that people turn it down. 

So how are the disciples, these people who have let their lives be turned upside-down for Jesus, supposed to understand it? They have left home, family, and business to follow God. And others don’t? 

Jesus tells this parable to encourage them. The seed of God’s word goes all over the place. Sometimes it doesn’t hit paydirt. Maybe even most of the time. But when it does, oh, amazing things happen! 

Perhaps some of us are in the same boat. We are so excited for what God is doing in and through UniLu and other churches that we just can’t figure out why everyone isn’t so excited. The gospel makes sense. The church isn’t perfect, but it’s at least trying to be. 

Maybe others, though, feel more like the seed that’s been cast on rocks. Maybe thorns and weeds have been creeping in, distracting us from God. Weeds aren’t necessarily bad plants. Sometimes they’re good plants that are growing in the wrong place, like grass among corn or flowers in the tomatoes. We often get distracted by really good things. It can be hard to make the call between family needs and worship, between prayer time and a few more precious minutes of sleep. 

Or we are the ones who had been excited about God; our faith really flourished at first, but then something happened. Our perspective changed; hard questions came up in our souls and we had no answers. Suddenly God seemed far away. The roots needed to grow and they were starving for food.

It’s hard to know what kind of soil our hearts might be on any given day. Or who might be open to God’s call. Anyone who has seen children grow into adulthood knows this first-hand. Some people are who they are, from first grade to age five hundred. Some perfect children mature into questionable adults. Some mild-mannered adults, on the other hand, have a past where their soil looks awfully thorny. Only God knows who is who.

Here’s the challenging thing about being soil. Dirt can’t change itself. Dirt is dirt is dirt. Good dirt is good dirt and bad dirt is just useless. If we are the dirt in this story, we have a problem. We are trapped in being who we are, even if that means that we can’t be open to God’s plans for us. In big church words, we call that original sin. It means that who we are is broken people, too much of a mess to be useful to anyone, even ourselves.

If we are dirt, and bad dirt at that, we had better hope for a gracious God, a God who can fix us inside and out. God needs to wipe away our sins and make us into better people, who can be fit for the kingdom of God. 

My early childhood was spent in Northern Indiana. We had a garden there. For years it grew the best tomatoes that ever were. Summer is a ripe tomato, eaten warm before it even gets to the house. One year, though, those beautiful tomatoes rotted on the vine from the inside out. My parents researched and asked master gardeners and, eventually, they found out what the problem was. All the topsoil had worn away and we were growing tomatoes in bad dirt. Clay, to be exact. It just couldn’t give the plants what they needed to grow.

Mom and Dad aren’t farmers by any means, but they are halfway decent gardeners. Bad soil is just a temporary setback. They fertilized the garden, made sure every nutrient was exactly where it needed to be, and the next year, the tomatoes were glorious once again. 

Bad soil doesn’t have to stay bad soil. 

The farmer is good. 

God does change us from the inside out. Jesus came to give us a new start, new hope, new possibilities. In baptism we are changed. We are given the Holy Spirit, who gives us the chance to be good soil. We are able to hear the word, to chase off weeds and to shoo away birds who would steal it from us. God tills our soil while we pray, when we rest, as we encounter and overcome struggles. God is at work in us, teaching us when not to say that thing, even if it is funny. The Spirit shows us new ways to live, through the Scriptures, through our therapists, through our friends and families. We receive the fertilizer God knows we need all the time, if and when we slow down enough to receive it. And sometimes despite ourselves.

“A sower went out to sow. He sowed seeds on the path. He sowed seeds on the rocks. He sowed seeds among the thorns. Finally, he sowed seeds on good soil.” This guy is a lousy farmer, but oh, what a generous God.