“Listen!”

(Matthew 13:1-9)

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

              Let anyone with ears, hear!  That’s the last line of today’s text, AND it’s the point of the parable.  It’s the point of every parable.  It’s really the point of life….  Pay attention!  Listen!  Open your ears!  God has something to say.  Would you rather be ordered to pay attention OR would you rather be invited to listen to a story….?  I think I’d rather have the invitation.

              Jesus used people’s regular lives, their ordinary activities, the things we all know about in telling his parables so that he could communicate power and meaning.  That’s how the ears of listeners were and are opened.  It’s the way we humans find meaning in life, it’s how we can begin to know and to internalize the divine.  It’s how we get in touch with what we do not know by way of what we DO know.  That is the business of parables.  That’s the business of today’s parable.

              And so, our job is simply to place ourselves in the parable, to visualize the farmer going out to sow seed—to broadcast the seed wherever it will fall, going wherever it will.  Some fall on the hard path where birds have access to it.  They gobble it up.  Some of the seed falls on rocky ground.  It grows up quickly, but it doesn’t have the depth of soil to nourish it and keep it going, so it withers and dies.  Some seed falls on thorns which grow up and choke the little plants.  Finally, some seed falls on good, deep and rich soil, and it grows and grows and grows.

              Most of us who have ever planted anything have stories about our successes and our failures.

              I trust now, though, that you have opened your mind and have simply let the picture that Jesus has painted take root in your mind, that you have let the seeds germinate and take root in you.  For it is there that the story will begin to do its work, to help us hear and see in a way that is brand new.  Things to which we have been deaf and blind may become clear and even life-transforming.

              I do have a couple of thoughts that may prime the pump as we consider this parable.  What I want to resist, though, is laying my heavy interpretive hand upon this parable, so I will only suggest some ways that you might begin your own process.  Today I choose not to pay attention to Matthew’s interpretation that begins with verse 18.  You can check this out later if you wish.  I see it as one of those heavy-handed interpretations that we all like to do, but it does take us away from Jesus’ original parable.  That’s what I’m hoping that we will stay with today.

              One direction we can go is to consider the power of roots, thinking of ourselves as, perhaps, having roots, roots and the means of sustaining life, of standing strong and tall, of providing balance with the crown of our head.  The parable would suggest that there can be no roots without good and deep soil.  You could consider where that soil might be found in your life, how you might sink roots into it.  You might think about what it means to be rooted and grounded, where we might be in the rootedness and groundedness, and where God might be….

              OR…you could look at the parable from the standpoint of the listeners as they receive the seed.  Am I a hard path, a piece of rocky ground, a thorn-choked garden or am I good, deep, rich soil?  Then…How do I receive?  WHAT can I receive?  What is good for me to receive?  What prevents me from receiving?  What DO I receive?

              Another possibility is to take this a little different direction.  We have all seen trees growing in places that just seem impossible—out of rock, for example.  Or we have seen plants growing out of decomposing trees or determined growth appearing through the cover of driveway material.  I found a devotional reading that may open something a little different for you and this parable.  Here it is:

              “Some mornings we may awaken filled with thoughts of what is wrong in our lives.  Perhaps we obsess about our failures or the limits of our relationships.  If we let ourselves sink into self-loathing, we build a wall that separates us from those things that nurture us and give us joy.

              “When we awaken to the living and growing world, our spirits lift and open us to hope and new possibilities.  Walking along an old sidewalk or across an abandoned parking lot, we see cracks in the concrete or asphalt and new green growth pushing through.  Where there is enough soil to hold a seed, there is the possibility of a tree someday.  The universe seizes opportunities for renewal that slip through the slight openings.  There is always hope for renewal in our relationships when we are willing to plant the seeds and feed them so they can grow.”

              You know what?  There is no right or wrong way to hear and see this parable.  There is simply the way that God delivers it to us at the time.  The parable of the sower is one that bears a new look all the time because it is so rich with possibilities for our own growth and nurture.  The parable is just itching for us to take off our blinders and remove our earplugs or our headphones.

              So, for all those who have ears to hear and eyes to see, Jesus has given us parables as windows on the Gospel, as pathways to God, as clues to meaning.  For those of us who no longer wish to be on our own in this venture of life, who no longer wish to pretend to have it all together or all figured out, or who don’t wish to lord it over others with our sophisticated intellect and knowledge, but, rather, to collaborate in living life, we are given the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

              Our task as followers of Jesus and hearers of the Gospel is to repent and believe, to be humble, to be open to Jesus’ direction and to have a light touch.  Reading parables really is like gardening.  It’s like teaching, preaching and raising children.  Most of the time a light touch is very effective.  Sometimes we just have to leave these things alone and allow them to speak to us….  So…good luck and God bless.

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