SCATTERED SEEDS

Matthew 13:1-23…”A farmer went out to sow his seed…”

We live in a world of scattered seeds, sound bites, and bullets, talking about God. Flip through the channels on any given day and you will hear preachers giving sermons, yelling and screaming about God, about the evil in the world, about end times, or what we need to be thinking, doing or believing. Many books, magazines, daily devotionals, newsletters, and pamphlets containing articles and writings about God fill the bookstores. Then there are the multitude of churches on Sunday, each with their own message and teaching. All of these are scattered seeds…by well-intentioned sowers of seeds, telling us what they know about God. With all that religion being scattered and spread, one would think this and this world would be a much better place in which to live. But, it’s not really about the seeds or the sowers. It’s about the seed finding a place to grow, good soil in which to be planted. Good soil prepared and cared for, a place to put down roots, to grow and mature into healthy spiritual fruit. How does that happen? What makes good soil in people? Jesus says it is hearing and understanding that are the necessary elements of good soil. But what does he mean by that?

Before Jesus explains the parable of the sower he says that “this people’s heart has become calloused; they are ever hearing but never understanding, ever seeing but never perceiving.” Understanding is not only a mind thing; it is a heart thing. But what is a calloused heart and how does that prevent us from hearing and seeing?

“Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him.” (John 12:37) It has always perplexed me that Jesus would go around doing all these miracles and healing people but all the Pharisees were concerned about was that he was breaking the rules. He healed a man and rather than be excited about that they argued with him because it was the Sabbath. He raised a man from the dead and they got angry. Where was their love and compassion? Surely they had passed by these people every day. How could they not see them and stop to help them? Is this calloused heart, blindness and deafness a consequence of
a lack of love for God and a lack of compassion for God’s people? Were they not supposed to be the deliverers of love and compassion rather than merely the keepers of the law and rules?
Is this not true today? People are lost and hurting, greatly in need of God’s love and compassion and healing. Are we a people who have a calloused heart, ears that hear but never understand, and eyes that see but never perceive? There are multitudes of religious programs and impersonal ways that can introduce people to God. There are a lot of people who believe they are doing God’s work here on earth. But is it effective and fruitful? If it isn’t I would wonder how much of the religious work being done is actually God’s work. Jeremiah 2:13 says, “My people have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” Is this true of us today? If it is then it is time to stop what we are doing and find another way.

I took a class in organic gardening one term at Pendle Hill, a Quaker Retreat & Conference Center. As a class we were responsible for preparing, planting and tending the garden that provides a lot of the food for the center. We did not simply scatter seeds. Each seed we planted was carefully nurtured until it germinated, planted in soil blocks, and watered daily until the plant was big enough to plant. Then we would take the soil blocks and put them out of the green house for a part of the day to harden them and get them used to the elements. Then we planted them in the soil that we prepared by digging and loosening up so the roots of these plants could dig deep in the ground to be fed and watered on their own. It was a beautiful experience to watch these plants grow tall, bear fruit and eventually be part of the salad we ate at lunches during the summer.

I think it’s time to stop simply scattering seeds and be more intentional in our commission of making disciples. First we need to apply the salve of God’s love to our hearts and then to the hearts of the people in this world so that the hearts are no longer calloused. This is preparing the soil to receive the seed. We need to tenderly handle the seeds of truth we give other people. God’s words are for healing and making people whole. They need to be planted in hearts that are prepared to hear them, the calloused hearts softened by the love and compassion rooted in the love and compassion of God. Then the seeds will grow tall into the plants that will bear good fruit.