Planting Seeds
Matthew 13:1-23[1]
There are some vocations that I
think by definition can be discouraging. I think teachers must face this
challenge. You go into teaching out of a sense of idealism about making a
difference in the younger generation. And unless you’re very fortunate, you may
wind up spending your days trying to teach kids who are much more interested in
everything but learning. I would think it would be very easy to become cynical
about the prospects of making a difference in the world.
I know for a fact that the same
thing applies to ministers. Like teachers, many go into the ministry out of a
deep sense of idealism about making a difference in the world. They go through
a seminary program that raises their awareness about biblical mandates
regarding social justice, about the joys of deeply spiritual worship, and about
the latest strategies for reaching the neediest people in the community. And
they get into the church and find out that people can be more interested in
which hymnal they’re using, or in making and enforcing ever more specific rules
on everybody else, or in keeping all the “squeaky wheels” happy. And they work
hard each week with the Scriptures trying to discern a fresh and inspiring
message, only to wonder if anybody is listening at all! Ministry is definitely
a vocation that by definition can be incredibly discouraging.
But the reality is that the same
thing can be said for Christian living. Most of us embrace the faith in some
sense or another out of a feeling of “ought-ness” or a vision to make a difference
in the way the world works. And you identify with a congregation and a
denomination and find your way onto the session, only to find out that the
leaders may spend more time fighting about décor and money than attempting any
kind of mission to save the world. It can be incredibly discouraging. But you
find your niche in mission and you keep going through the motions month after
month and year after year, until you wake up one day so incredibly discouraged
from a lack of results that you wonder if you ever really believed in God in
the first place!
To some extent, the parable of the
sower addresses this aspect of the Christian faith. When we seek to go out and
make a difference in the world—whether in church service or in another
vocation—we’re very much like the sower, planting seeds as we go. Now, planting
seeds these days is quite different from planting seeds in Jesus’ day. These
days we have it down to a science when and how and what kind of seeds to plant.
In Jesus’ day, planting seeds was much more like life. You scatter seeds all
over the place, hoping some of them will take root and grow and bear fruit.
Despite that difference, most farmers still know what Jesus was talking
about—the quality of the soil makes all the difference in the quantity of the
harvest. These days we can even get crops to grow on bad soil. In Jesus’ day,
you had to just make do with what you got.
Of course, Jesus wasn’t really
talking about agriculture. Among other things, he was trying to warn those who
followed him out of a sense of personal commitment to a world of justice and
peace and freedom that not all the seeds they planted would bear fruit. There
are lots of times when sowing does not lead to reaping. Instead of rejoicing
while “bringing in the sheaves,” we find ourselves just sowing and weeping and
sowing some more. Despite some of the lofty sounding promises in the Bible, you
just can’t always count on results, no matter how hard you try. Obedience
doesn’t always mean rewards, even if the Psalmist says it does. Faithfulness
doesn’t guarantee results. Sometimes we find ourselves planting seeds and not reaping a harvest.
One of the notions that drives
religious perfectionism is the idea that obedience automatically brings
rewards. If we do what we’re supposed to, if we live like we’re supposed to,
then our lives will be free from suffering and all our dreams will come true.
Just the very action of identifying ourselves with faith and the gospel means
that we’re on Jesus’ side and we will go from one success to another. But this pipe
dream doesn’t live up to reality. In fact, it oftentimes leads to
discouragement and even bitterness.
The truth of our lives is that we
never know how the seeds we’ve planted will fare. We can never really know all the
results our efforts for the sake of the kingdom of God will bear. That’s why
Henri Nouwen said that we must plant our seeds in the hope that there really is
“light on the other side of darkness.”[2]
That means that, even though we find ourselves sowing without reaping, we keep
right on planting those gospel seeds, seeds of mercy and kindness, seeds of love
and justice, seeds of peace and freedom. We do it because one day some of those
seeds are going to bear fruit.
[1] © 2020 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan
Brehm, Ph. D. on 7/12/2020 at Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
[2] Henri
Nouwen, The Wounded Healer, 76.
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