This Sunday, many churches will read the parable
of the sower and the seed from Matthew 13. It is an excellent example of the
difficulties of biblical interpretation as it presents the parable and then a
bit later an explanation by allegory of different elements of the story. In
earliest times, the early church felt it necessary to include some
interpretative aids to reading the words of Jesus for their particular time and
situation. This story brings to light many issues, but one is a perennial one,
why do people respond in different ways to a religious message? In our time, if
one doesn’t like the rural image, think of it as broadcasting a message you are
convinced is worthy.
In some
the seed, the message, of faith does not take root. In others, it is not
well-rooted and falls apart easily. In
the Reformed religious tradition, this is the core contention that faith grows
over the course of a lifetime, develops throughout one’s life, and does not
reach full maturity in a flash of emotional response. How well rooted are we in
the faith? What roots us more deeply? Engagement with Scripture and prayer,
including weekly Sabbath worship, are two fundamental exercises of our faith. Many
of us are so cavalier about religious thought and practice that we do not let
our religious level keep pace with our maturation in other dimensions of life.
What attacks the seedbed of faith? Perhaps
another way to go at the sower is a diagnostic device both personal and public.
Do what degree do we harbor and encounter the vices that attack the seed of Christian
faith and life? To what degree does our congregation reflect these different
elements that may well impede its full life in Christ? In the sower parable we
are threatened by our surprise that the faith is not all about personal
blessings, but that it conflicts, and often, with the thought world most of us
inhabit day by day. In that sense, conversion is more than mouthing a few magic
words or undergoing an emotional experience of freedom or of the glories of
salvation, but a revolution in the way we look and act in the world. Where does
one even begin to address the way the weeds of the world choke off our growth
as Christians. Once again, I am sharecropping, and a particular set of noxious
weeds threatens to overtake growth that would threaten its lush tall and green.
This parable makes a powerful point about the
allure of wealth and other features of the world. Notice that I said allure.
All the way back to the story of Adam and Eve, we see that evil is enticing.
Since religious faith often contains an element of being a killjoy, if it’s
attractive then it’s no good,
Even more starkly, the thorns that choke off
spiritual growth could be the very blessings that one seeks. Ease and
prosperity work against religion since human nature assumes good things occur
due to our virtues and abilities. In other words, blessings make us feel
independent of divine pathways.
The cares of the world have a way of draining
the energy from us. In this image, the worries of life are invasive, At times,
nothing drives us to prayer more than trouble. If the trouble is cleared up, we
go on. If the trouble recurs, we may grow resentful of unanswered prayer. Sometimes
the hardest journey for someone in grief is to go back to church.
In the end, the seed and its growth, that mix of
soil and seed, is the work of God’s hand. Jesus assumed that the soil was rich
enough for all to hear and heed. The story makes us realize that religious
faith and practice is neither easy nor automatic for most of us. It also gives
us the chilling thought that our own lives can be the obstacles toward the
faith stance of others.
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