Useful Seeds

Mark 4:1-21

“Useful Seeds”

07 August 2016 St. Andrew’s Military Chapel Singapore

            Now I’m not a farmer, or even a passable gardener for that matter. But, I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express last night so I’ll take on the agricultural expert mantle and dig a bit deeper into this parable.

At first glance the parable seems easy to understand, especially as Jesus offers an interpretation of this parable. How we live our lives: on the path, rocky soil that causes shallow roots, soil full of thorns and weeds, or good soil that causes the seed to multiply a hundred fold.

            And, like me, most sermons you have heard on this parable revolve around how to make yourself better soil for hearing the word. We are all looking to be the good soil that God’s word can bury itself in, sprout a healthy sapling, so with good care and tending God’s word blooms and produces fruit of such beauty and magnitude that people can’t help but notice. In this way we point others to Christ and because fruit produces more seeds we now have the ability to spread the word farther afield and expand the reach of the Gospel of Christ.

            This interpretation is important because it demonstrates our calling to spiritually take care of ourselves. If you really want to know how to live into life as a Christian and this idea of tending the soil, in Ephesians Paul describes the life of individual believers.

How do we keep our spiritual soil ready for seeding of the next crop at all times? Discipline. Read God’s word. Ask if your actions are biblical. (Sermon on the Mount, Matt 25, Romans, etc) Group study. Let them tell you if you are living out your beliefs. Questioning pastors and what they preach. Ask if your understanding of scripture can reconcile what you are seeing in the world. Make sure your actions and beliefs are working to bless the world not yourself. Prayer.

Will we fail at keeping the soil always healthy and good? Will we cycle between the types of soil the parable describes? Of course we will. However, we have the gift of the Holy Spirit to do most of the work in preparing our soil, we just have to work with the Holy Spirit rather than fight that work in our lives.

To prepare for exploring the parables I’ve been reading up on parables and how they convey their point. One thing I’ve come across from a few different theologians is that if a parable is only reduced to a moralization, one may be reading it on the surface. How we read a parable is like looking at a diamond, regardless of the angle the diamond will sparkle with the glitter of a rainbow.

John Dominic Crossan described the parable as a story designed to disrupt our understanding of the world. So, how can the parable of the sower disrupt our view of the world or, at the very least, our reading of the parable itself?

While the first interpretation is necessary in our lives, if our focus is on ourselves, we may make two mistakes: not seeing the differing gifts of others and how preparing their soil for a different crop means there isn’t one set way of tending soil or we may start to look at others yield and we may worry that if our yield isn’t as bountiful or as ripe we aren’t worthy.

Just because some seed is left on the path and eaten by birds doesn’t mean that seed has no chance to become a beautiful and bountiful follower of Christ. This is where the knowledge of those who work in agriculture can inform our understanding of scripture. There are berries out there that we all love and enjoy(raspberries and strawberries) that must have a bird eat and fully digest the seeds before the plant even has a chance to bloom. That digestive process breaks down and scores the seed wall in a way that when the seed finally makes it into the soil, it is able to soak up nutrients and water to grow. So even the word that is stolen by Satan can still be redeemed by Christ and bloom into something bountiful, plump, and delicious.

In a similar manner, there are some seeds that need intense, searing heat to start the germination process. The sequoia tree pinecone will release its seeds in a fire. So the destructive forest fires are not wholly destructive. In that inferno of heat and smoke, seeds are released and new life begins that will eventually become towering giants of the forest.

Even plants that are germinated in the midst of a field of thorns and thistles can thrive in those conditions. Weeds don’t necessarily kill off every plant in their path. Even kudzu doesn’t destroy everything. Jesus realized this and even stated that we shouldn’t wipe out a crop because there are weeds among the wheat. Rather, we should let them both grow and harvest them both and then we are able to reap the bounty and discard the weeds.

All of this agriculture talk means that we not only need to be aware of the type of soil that we are made of so that we can better cultivate our lives to be good soil but we also need to understand what kind of seed our soil is prepared to nurture. Maybe I’m corn and you’re wheat. Your significant other may be tomatoes and your family is a combination of oak trees, pineapples, mangoes, and lettuce.

Our soil is prepared and nurtured to provide nourishment for certain seeds. We all have different gifts that it may take a lifetime to understand and for us to even plant the right seed, much less see a bountiful harvest. Some of us have amazing voices that inspire angelic visions when they sing. Others, like myself, take to heart the idea of making a joyful NOISE to the Lord. Some of us will be the ones called to places of deep despair and suffering to sit with the oppressed and fight for justice. Others may be called to literally farm and provide food for the world. Different seeds will produce a varied harvest, which is God’s plan. If we were all the same the Gospel would have no chance of spreading beyond these walls.

Jimmy Buffet does a great job describing this idea of doing the work Christ ordained for us in his song “It’s my Job.” (Play song) 

No matter someone's calling, or vocation, in life we are called to fully live into that calling and do it as best we can. And have fun in the process.

This is one place in which we need each other to help us find the right crop for harvest in our lives. We need those walking with us to help us identify the seed we are supposed to cultivate in the soil the Holy Spirit has prepared in us. Discernment is hard work that can only be accomplished in community. It involves many missteps and sometimes you have to learn something completely new as God as put a new call on your heart.

Now there is one more caution we need to take from this passage. If we only look at the moralizing interpretation, we may start to look around us and make a competition out of our faith, like we make every other aspect of our lives a competition. Don’t get caught up comparing your yield to that of others. You will always lose that competition. Let the yield be what God needs. Your target yield may be one person. But their yield may be a hundred fold. In reality we all share the burden and the yield.

Christ wants us out there preparing our hearts and minds for the task of our lives. We not only need to prepare the soil of our souls to be the most nourishing topsoil possible, we also need to determine the seed that has been planted in our hearts. We wouldn’t want to throw out the harvest God intended. Because we all matter, the Holy Spirit is there to prepare our hearts for the harvest that God as intended for us. We just need to trust in God’s plan and tend that crop as best we know how.