July 13, 2008  Pentecost 9 – Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 – “The Obvious” , Pastor Charles Pegg

We live in a society where some things are obvious and some things are not so obvious. My wife and I traveled to Austin a couple of weeks ago and had occasion to go to a Wal-mart store. While we waited for some film to be developed, we sat in the McDonald’s restaurant in the store and had something to drink. A woman who was somewhat over weight came in and sat at a table near us, by herself. She fidgeted with a cell phone, then ate her meal. All the while she sat there, I couldn’t help noticing the expression on her face – one of great sadness. It was very obvious to me that she was a very sad person, and when she left I asked my wife if she had noticed her. My wife said yes and that she looked very lonely.

Then there was the exchange between a member of our community and a representative of one of the gas companies drilling in the area. We live in the little town of Dish, and we attend the town council meetings as often as we can. At one of them recently, a resident of the town asked a question of one of those gas company reps, and the answer he was given completely dodged the question that was asked. It was obvious the gas man either didn’t know the answer or simply chose to ignore the question.

It is also obvious that Jesse Jackson would have been better off if he had kept quiet instead of making that remark over an open mic, and if Alex Rodriquez had been at home with his wife instead of somewhere with Madonna, and, locally, if the Arlington school superintendent had spent less taxpayer money on meals at that San Diego conference.

Then there are those circumstances when things are not so obvious. This is particularly true in advertising, where it pays to read the fine print. That’s relatively easy to do in the newspaper, almost impossible with a TV ad.

A couple of examples come from the ads for automobiles on TV. Gasoline for $2.99 a gallon doesn’t sound so bad according to the Chrysler ads. But then you find out that that’s only good for $100.00 per month for 36 months, and if you take that deal, you have to pay an additional $5000.00 for the vehicle. It doesn’t take much to figure out your vehicle will cost you an extra $1,400.00.

General Motors was also making a sales pitch last month. For about the last 2 weeks of June they advertised pretty good rebates on their vehicles - $7,000.00-10,000.00 or more, depending on which one. Then about June 25 they came out with 0% financing for 72 months as a way to get more people into the showroom. And why not? All those rebates and 0% financing – a lot of people would be interested in taking that deal, until they discovered it was either-or. They could get the rebates or the financing, but not both. (Even then, if you wanted the rebates, you needed a car newer than 1999 if you were trading something in.)

The parable of the sower is a parable about something that’s not so obvious. Throughout his ministry, Jesus has been talking about the Kingdom of God, very often using parables to drive home his points about what kind of God he represents and what are the signs of the kingdom, signs of God’s presence among his people. At the same time, it is obvious that Jesus’ disciples, and the people in general, don’t understand much of what he is talking about. So it is that Jesus, having gone to the seashore to escape the crowds but having been discovered by them, gets in a boat and tells them about a farmer who went out to plant some seed.

He paints for them a picture they can understand, a picture of the farmer casting his seed where he will, on rocky ground, among thorns and weeds, and on good soil. It was the way seeds had been planted for generations or longer. Just as today, the farmer took his chances and accepted the crop that resulted from his efforts; 10% would have been a good yield. Some of it sprouted and died. Some of it sprouted and lived for a while, only to be choked by the weeds which overtook it. Some of it didn’t sprout at all. But some of it landed on good soil and sprouted and grew and produced a crop, and the farmer gave thanks for what he got.

Once again, unfortunately, the disciples don’t get it. They fail to understand what Jesus means by this parable. They have been wondering, as I’m sure have many of Jesus’ other followers, why the kingdom is not more obvious. Why is it not more conspicuous? Why is it not more noticeable, more perceptible? Why is it such a mystery? As Jesus and his disciples cross the sea, he attempts to explain it to them.

Jesus said some of the seed fell on the path, where the ground was so hard it had no chance to sprout. He likened that to the devil coming and snatching away the seed of the kingdom before it could even germinate. Some of it fell on rocky ground and is like the person who hears God’s Word, gets all excited, but soon is overtaken by trouble and persecution. Seed in rocky ground has little chance of putting down roots. Then there was the seed that landed amidst thorns and weeds. That is akin to the person who allows the cares of the world and the desire for wealth to overcome God’s word in his life.

Finally, Jesus says, there is the good seed which is planted in the good soil. It has everything needed to grow – moisture at the right time, sunlight, nutrients – and it produces 30%, 60%, even 100%. These are the people who hear God’s Word and live in it and thrive on it.

So Jesus is trying to explain to his disciples, and to us, why the Kingdom of God seems hidden, why it is not so obvious as they, and perhaps we, think it should be. After all, the crowds who listened to Jesus were, at least on some occasions, large – those 5,000 on a hillside who ate a filling meal of bread and fish and who might have been double that number if you counted the women and children, and the crowd who listened to this parable who were so many that Jesus had to get into a boat to avoid standing in the water as he talked. And after all, aren’t the majority of people in the U.S. religious? According to the latest poll they are, even if they don’t go to worship, either on a regular basis or at all. The Kingdom ought to be more obvious.

So the parable has two points for us. First, the farmer goes about doing what generations before and since have done. He plants the seed and takes his chances, just as his modern counterpart. As in 1993, my wife and I were again in Iowa last month at the height of the flooding which inundated so many cities and so much farmland. Many farmers will have a yield significantly lower than they would have had; some will have no yield at all. But many will have a bumper crop, in spite of everything.

Jesus says that is how it is for God’s Kingdom. He gives assurance to his faint-hearted disciples, and to us, that God’s Kingdom advances – the harvest exceeds all expectations. The psalmist had the words for it:

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return 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.”

There is a second point to the parable, a warning Jesus gives to his hearers and us. It is a warning to them, and to us, to take heed to how they, and we, hear. The Word of God gets different receptions from different people. The challenge is to hear the Word, the gospel of the Kingdom of God, and to act on it in a positive way. As Jesus put it: “Let anyone with ears listen!”

Whether we can see it or feel it or taste it or smell it, the Kingdom of God is here, in our midst, and God confronts us with the need for a decision.. He is in control and will bring forth his harvest in his good time. The question for each of us is a very personal one: What kind of soil are we?

Amen!