Matthew 13: 1-9: 18-23
Our story today reveals Jesus teaching at his deceptively simple level,
but with a profound implication. A farmer goes out and casts some seeds
on the ground. Some of it falls on the rocks and is quickly eaten
by the birds. Some falls in the soil among the rocks and germinates
very quickly, but since the soil is shallow the roots do not mature and
the plants wither away. Some seeds fall among the thorns, which grow
more quickly and choke out the productive seeds and some fall into the
rich soil and grow properly, taking root and producing a harvest as
much as one hundred percent.
That’s simple enough. We can all
relate to that, since if we plant any seeds at all, that is what has
happened to us. In this instance, however, Jesus goes on to explain the
meaning of the story. The seed that falls on the path represents those
who hear the word about the Kingdom but don’t understand it, so it is
quickly snatched away or it fades away. The ones who hear the word and receive it
with joy are like the seeds that fall in the rocks. These are the ones
who grow quickly but because they have shallow roots or understanding,
when the trials of life are tough they fall away. The ones who hear the word, but the cares
of the world and the pursuit of wealth choke out their understanding,
are like the seeds that fall in the thorns and are choked by them. They
produce nothing. Those who hear the Word and understand it are like the
seeds that fall in the rich soil. They bear fruit and the yield is 30,
60, even 100 fold.
This story is a profound one about our
understanding of the Christian faith. We have a tendency to confuse
Christian living with Church participation, and that frequently colours
the way we view the Christian life.
Fred Craddock, the great American
scholar and preacher, tells of an encounter with a lady who happened to
be his seat partner on an airplane. Fred noticed that this lady was
reading a book by Hans Kung, entitled “On Being a Christian.” Some of
you may have read that book, and if so, you know it is difficult going. Knowing that, Craddock turned to her
and said, I notice you are reading some difficult and stimulating
pages. The lady looked at him and asked "Are you a Christian?"
Startled, Craddock said to himself, you don’t ask that of a professor.
You ask people in academia "Did you hear such and such a lecture, or
have you read Kung, but she asked are you a Christian?" Fred answered
“Yes!” The lady
countered, “Now I don’t mean I’m not a Jew, therefore I am a
Christian. I’m not a Muslim, therefore I am Christian. I
mean intentionally, are you a Christian?”
Craddock goes on to say that while
that is a disturbing question, it is a right question. Historically,
that question has been answered one of three ways; right belief, right
worship, or right living. For the conservative Christian believers,
being a Christian is right belief, and if you are a Christian you will
believe certain truths which they administer like a litmus test. You
know how it goes; do you believe in the great white throne judgment? Do
you believe Jesus is coming soon? And so it goes, and you are put on
the defensive. To the
liturgically minded, right worship is the standard of measurement.
People of this persuasion hold to the need for proper hymnody, sections
of adoration, confession, assurance, petition, instruction and
dedication. This group is very uncomfortable with informal worship,
spontaneous prayers, exuberant music accompanied by a band, and
boisterous preaching.
But, I suspect the majority of people
would say the test of whether one is a Christian or not is right
living. That forces us to ask, what then is the standard of living that
constitutes right living? If you say, as I would, the example of
Jesus, following the teachings of Jesus, then historically, you and I
are in the minority. Historically, the Church has NOT followed the
gospels; the Church has followed Paul. Paul is theological and he
gives a description of what he believes and is preaching. The Church
has embraced that, by and large, and applied it to most of its creeds
like the Apostles creed. It is a formula of dying for our sins
and being raised according to the scriptures. In short, it is
what we call the conversion model. I was that way, now I am this way. I
died with Christ. I’ve been raised with Christ. That is a good model, and certainly
it is the basis for all evangelistic endeavours, but the gospel model
is quite different. The model of the gospels is simply following Jesus.
It is the growth model, the discipline model, and it is difficult
because it is a way of life rather than a system of believing or
worshipping.
I think the Church is out of step with
much of society today largely because it continues to proclaim the
message of Paul as a requirement, when the world seeks more and more to
hear the simple yet difficult and profound way of life of Jesus.
In short, the Christian Church, by and large, is more interested in
ecclesiology, that is the doctrine of the Church, than it is in showing
how to follow the way of life of Jesus.
Over my years in the ministry, I think
the question I have been asked most frequently goes like this. My son
or my daughter is now married and has a family, and since they have
left home, they have not been active in any Church. What did I do
wrong? I know that I ask this frequently myself when I see that my
granddaughters have virtually no understanding, knowledge or loyalty to
any Church. I worry about the fact that their parents will move
heaven and earth to make sure that they are on time for their soccer
matches, which seem to go on for 40 Sundays a year. Yet when I sit and talk to them,
they are more aware of the teachings of Jesus than I have given them
credit. They are kind, moral and concerned young women. They care about
the poor; they worry about the condition of the world. They love their
parents, their family and their friends, and they have a deep spiritual
depth and understanding, but they don’t have any loyalty to a
particular Church. That
is precisely the condition that existed in the time of Jesus, and Jesus
did not worry about people’s loyalty to an institution, in fact his
harshest criticism was directed to institutional religion. Jesus
called for them simply to follow him.
That brings us back to today’s
scripture story. It is, I think, a story filled with great hope. Seeds
fall where they are sown, but not all grow in the same manner or at the
same speed. Let me try and illustrate that fact.
I recall vividly the frantic call from
a mother in Toronto. The daughter of this family was away in College,
at a prestigious and very expensive private college in the eastern
United States. The Mother blurted out, between tears, that her daughter
has become a member of the Moonies, and that she was intending to drop
out of college and go to Korea to study under the charismatic
leadership of Sun Myung Moon, the founder. To be sure this was embarrassing and of
great concern to the parents, but the truth was that the greatest
influence these parents had given to their daughter was to show the
importance of wealth, social standing and acceptance and ties to a
prestigious college. Given this background, the daughter had been
attracted to a persuasion that demanded obedience, and was fiercely
dedicated to a way of life in which they believed. In this case, the parents recognized
the problem. They hired a person to literally kidnap her from the place
where she was staying, and get her connected with a Christian
counsellor who deprogrammed her. The parents became involved in
Christian causes in which they could share their concern and their
means in ministries that commanded the respect of their daughter. They
began to try and live the life of Jesus as best they could. The seeds
that had been sown years ago suddenly began to germinate and grow.
Sometimes the seeds take a long time
to grow. When Chris and I lived in Wauwatosa Wisconsin, our apartment
was just across the street from a county park. We used to walk in the
park among the trees and over to the field where there was a prairie
garden. In it were many types of grasses, some hardy flowers and some
wild vegetables. Abutting that garden was a plot of land that was very
patchy and ugly. "What is that?" we asked the park supervisor, and she
replied that it was also a prairie garden, but it took the seeds at
least three years of growth before they showed much above the ground.
The plants, she said, spent their early years establishing a root
system that would withstand the rigors of prairie cold, heat, storms
and wind. That, friends,
is what Jesus was talking about, and it typifies our Christian living.
What Jesus was talking about is that not all seeds grow at the same
rate; in fact some don’t grow at all, and others are choked out.
While we lived in Toronto, a
phenomenon called the “Toronto Experience” became reality. In a small
building near the Toronto airport, a charismatic group starting to find
their building becoming crowded with worshippers. It seems as if,
during the service, without any apparent or deliberate instruction,
people would suddenly begin to laugh. The laughter became so intense
that soon many were writhing on the floor in uncontrollable laughter.
This became know as “being slain by the spirit”. Soon people from
many parts of Canada, the Unites States and even Europe came to share
in this phenomenon. A few
young people from the youth group at Timothy Eaton Memorial Church
became involved in the Airport Church. To me, this is embracing faith
without understanding. It is the type of faith that Jesus said in verse
21, “endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arise,
the person immediately falls away. Feel good religion is shallow, and
changes with the circumstances of life. How one feels is not the issue
Jesus dealt with. He spoke of a life of obedience, and a vision that
carries us beyond ourselves.
There are also those who find their
faith choked out by the happenings of life. If there were a God, there
would not be wars; there would not be bomb blasts in the subways of
London, or suicide reprisals by people of fanatic devotion. There would
not be, they say, hunger, poverty, crime or injustice. While expousing
their distrust in the way of Jesus, they throw out the baby with the
bath water, because it is precisely living the way of Jesus which
offers the best solution to the problems that disturbs them. They are,
as Jesus said, people for whom the cares of the world and the pursuit
of wealth choke out the true word.
In the light of all this, our task as
a Church is to tell the stories of Jesus and believe that the seeds
will bear fruit, even if it takes time. Teachers in Sunday school just
need to tell the stories. An explanation is not needed, because the
stories carry their own impact, and sooner or later they will germinate
and grow. It’s like having the joy of hearing then child who gave you
grief as a youngster now saying to his or her children the same things
you said to him or her. Sometime, it takes time.
So if right living is the goal of
life, and right living is following the way of Jesus, what good is the
Church? The Church is where the stories are told. The Church is where
the stories are practiced with people who seek to know them and use
them in society. The Church is where we can adore God, seek God’s
forgiveness and find new ways to follow the word. Ideally, the Church
is a group dedicated to teaching, accepting, forgiving and patiently
waiting for the seeds that have been sown to bear fruit. The Church is
not about believing. That is intellectual assent. The Church is about
faith, which is action. That
is what the gospels are all about, and that is why I believe that the
most important thing that a Church can do is telling the stories of
Jesus and his love. Sooner or later those seeds will germinate and a
harvest will be found.
I close with this thought. Sincerity,
dedication, and commitment are words we revere. But we often make a
dangerous assumption, i.e. that the person or institution they describe
is A-OK. Dedicated and
committed people are often the world's most dangerous. Think of Hitler,
Stalin, Milosevich, Idi Amin, Mugabe, Al Quaida, the Klu Klux Klan, or
any of a host of recent assassins who would
gladly die for a cause. Sincere? Dedicated? Yes indeed! It’s the same in the Church: maybe
his theology is lousy, but he is so sincere. How often have you heard,
he’s so dedicated, or she means well? Too many think that anything done
in the name of religion is OK if it is done with sincerity and zeal. We
are awed by those who seem so sure.
But to have a great harvest, to be
truly Christian, requires- as Jesus said- people who hear the word and
understand it. That produces results, and that is what the world needs.