My daughter Leah did a little planting project this spring. It was kind of a pandemic thing. She took all kinds of tiny vegetable seeds and very carefully planted them in these little dirt cups she had prepared. And as they grew she would thin out the tender shoots to help them grow bigger and stronger. Eventually, when they got big enough, she took them and planted them in a little raised bed in the backyard. And when we got all done our backyard neighbor looked at all those carefully planted seedlings and said, “you know the rabbits are gonna eat those, right?” So we got some chicken wire to put around the raised bed to prevent the rabbits from getting them and now they’re growing big and strong and they have produced all kinds of delicious produce.
Now if Leah had taken a different strategy . . . if she had been a little less intentional and careful and thoughtful about how she went about all this . . . if she had followed the example of the farmer in our gospel for today and let’s just say if she had gone out on our back deck and just threw all those seeds into the wind with the hope that maybe some of them would miraculously avoid all the places in the yard that were too rocky or weedy or shady or sunny and find their way into that raised bed with the nice black dirt and plant themselves and fend off their own rabbit predators . . . if she had done THAT I don’t think I’d be snacking on snap peas.
Now to be fair to the farmer who is the subject of Jesus parable in our gospel today it was the practice of ancient farming to do a little overspreading on a variety of surfaces. They would scatter the seed out and then till the ground and work the seat into the dirt. And they had their own success doing it that way. But even so, the farmer in Jesus parable seems especially careless. Shouldn’t he have been a bit more precise in his planting? Don’t you think he could have avoided the path and the rocks and the weeds and concentrated on getting the seed into the good soil?
Is he a bad, inexperienced farmer? Is he wasteful? Does he have money to burn that he can be so sloppy with his methods? Doesn’t he know that there might be a better way to do that? Like Leah’s way, for example? Or is he simply being extravagant and generous with the seed?
The story is not really about planting methods or planning for growth. The actions of the farmer in Jesus’ parable tells us something about the character of God and the nature of his grace.
Jesus’ farmer is no stingy, cautious sower. This is a farmer who will take any risk to get his seed anywhere it might just take root. He is a hopeful farmer who is willing to let some of his seed go to waste rather than miss any spot where it might just grow. He has a certain humility about the how things work – he does not presume to know where and when his seeds may take root.
And in this sower we learn something about God. The sower in Jesus’ parable who throws his seed without concern for cost or expediency is similar to characters in other stories Jesus told. He is cut from the same cloth as the father who welcomed his prodigal son home with open arms even after the boy had wasted his father’s inheritance. The careless sower in today’s story has much in common the woman in another parable who turned her house upside down to find a lost coin. This indiscriminate farmer reminds us of the good shepherd Jesus told us about who left his 99 to go after the lost sheep who wandered.
Jesus is giving us in this story an image of God who is who is generous, lavish, extravagant – some might even say foolish – with his grace! One who does not consider what his love will cost him, but lays it all on the line. One who scatters the seed everywhere even in places where it probably won’t grow.
Jesus, being fully God, demonstrated this generous character of God in coming to earth. If Jesus had calculated the risk, would he have even come here in the first place? He scattered his seed among the people of this earth who were broken by sin. If Jesus were concerned with scattering his seed only where it wouldn’t be wasted, would he have picked the disciples he did? Men who choked under pressure? He scattered it on those he knew would deny and betray him. Jesus even threw out the precious seed of the Gospel to the poor and sick subject to the scorching heat of trouble and suffering. He cast his seed into those shady forgotten places where no one dared to go.
So why is our predominant image of God an angry old judge whose primary interest is holding people accountable, pulling in the reins, and expecting perfect pious performance? Why do we continue to promote the idea of God as being more concerned with legalities than unconditional love? Could it be that we have not let his grace sink in? And why have we have so careful about the way WE scatter the seed of God’s grace. Why are so calculating and precise with how we show grace? Making sure we don’t cheapen it or spend it on those who might not respond well or who are not willing to get their act together first.
And here is where the parable hits home. Without getting into the specifics of the different types of soil in Jesus’ story, let’s just say that there are two types of soil here: Bad and good. And in keeping with Martin Luther’s theology which says that the believer is a saint and a sinner at the same time, we’d have to say that we are bad soil and good soil at the same time as well.
The bad soil is the part of us that is unreceptive and incapable of being completely overwhelmed by God’s extravagant kindness. It is the part of us that doesn’t want to believe who much we are loved and how little we deserve it. The bad soil does not produce anything because it is closed to the grace that transforms us. Like we’ve heard it all before – like having ears but not really hearing.
The good soil is that part of us that seeks to let God do his thing with us— to claim us and affirm us and stimulate us to produce the kind of caring and generous spirits which only an extravagant God, a God almost wasteful with his grace, can produce. The good soil is a receptive part of you that seldom concerns itself with what other people think. The good soil is the part of us that receives what God gives us so generously and lets it take root in us and completely take over our lives.
A couple weeks ago I noticed a young Black woman wandering in the parking lot at church approaching the door. After I let her in she asked if I had time to pray with her. We sat and talked a while. She spoke of her sadness and a feeling that the world was spinning out of control. She confessed anger and meanness. She had been cruel to someone at work. Her kids were complaining of her attitude. She was on a walk that day and stopped when she saw the word GRACE above our door – the door that I had opened.
I may never see her again. We may never see her again. So was the prayer and conversation a waste of time? I reached out to her not because I thought I could convert her and not because I thought I could get her to join the church, but because we have an extravagance of grace and it needs to be shared and scattered.
Even if we doubt whether or no someone is deserving of grace we can share it. Even if we question whether that particular group that seems so angry would be willing to listen, we can share it. Even for those who live overlooked in the shadows, we can share grace. Even among those who seem like they may never receive it or believe it, we scatter this seed because we can never presume to know or understand the how and where the wonders of his love will take root.
I bet you know what it feels like to be overwhelmed with love and kindness. I bet you have experienced, perhaps in rare glimpses, the kind of love that feels so undeserving. I bet someone sometime has scattered a little seed your way and it took root and produced a response. I know for a fact that God has been lavish and abundant in showing us his love. He promises in his Word that he wants ALL to know his love – that his love is deep and wide – that there is no greater love – and that his love never fails.
So don’t fear being extravagant with it. It is never wasted and there is an endless supply. Do not fear sharing it with your friend , your spouse, your co-worker, your child… the guilty….the forgotten . . . a stranger. Sow grace far and wide and let’s see what grows.
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