July 10, 2005 - The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

St. Mark's Episcopal Church

Jackson, Mississippi

    Today's Gospel is about the Parable of the Sower. Jesus taught in parables because a parable disarms and wins.  The story lingers in the mind and has staying power.  We can recall a number of Jesus' parables; like the woman looking for the lost coin (for example, we have 10 coins and lose one we look frantically for the one that's lost just as God looks for the lost sinner), or the parables about the shepherd searching for his lost sheep, the prodigal son, and the Parable of the Early Workers.  Jesus taught in parables because he was eager to make known the "good tidings" of his stories.  Parables, for some reason, immediately get the quick-interest of the listener and they tend to remain in the hearts and minds of the hearer for a long time.

    Today's parable of the sower scattering his seed on the ground is more about the ground than it is about the seed. Jesus talks about four kinds of soil in today's Gospel. They are as follows...

1.    The first kind of soil was shallow and hard; just like a dirt-path on a trail. Not only will grass not grow on a dirt-trail, but birds will come and eat the seeds, while they lie on the hard pathways (and the seeds will never get a chance to sprout).

2.    The second kind of soil Jesus describes as "rocky ground," which had no "depth of soil" so that when the sun came up, it scorched the seeds and they never grew.

3.    The third kind of soil was "full-of-thorns" so that even when the seeds began to grow, the thorns choked them.

4.    The fourth kind of soil was "good soil" which grew and brought forth grain---one hundred fold.

    It is definitely this fourth type of soil that Jesus wants us to be like. Jesus does not want us to be like the dirt-path soil. Jesus alludes to the fact that dirt-path soil is so used by the walking of human feet that it becomes hard and compacted, making it impossible for seeds to sink in and take root.  He goes on to say that because of that fact, the birds fly in and eat up all the seed while the seed remains atop a dirt path.  In this part of the parable, Jesus metaphorically relates the birds to the Devil, who easily comes in and snatches the people (seed) away because they hear the Word but refuse to understand it.

    As for the seed that fell on rocky ground, Jesus says these are the kind of people who hear the Word and even received it with joy, but because it has no root, when trouble comes along, it is easily blown away."

    As for that seed that fell among thorns, Jesus says these are the folk who hear the Word, but the cares of the world and the pursuit of "things" choke the Word and it yields nothing.

    But as for what was sown on "good soil", these are the folks who hear the Word and understand it and go out to sow the good words of Jesus.

    Regardless of what kind of folk the Word falls upon, what Jesus is really telling us in this parable is that we are to be about doing his good "words and works" regardless of the kind of people we are dealing with, whether they are "hard-hearted" as Hannah from Savannah, whether they are rocky as the Rocky Mountains, or whether they are thorny as a thorny vine. We are to be like the Sower, who in this Gospel, is Jesus. He sows his seed on everybody no matter their race, color or creed; saint or sinner, rich or poor.

    It is of course up to us which type of soil we will be in receipt of his word. And we must remember that we are soil and to the soil we shall return. So in spite of the many different types of people we might encounter, let us continue to do and act the good words of Christ as we go about sowing his words and deeds.

    In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost------AMEN.