Hear then the Parable Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Hear then the parable of the sower.


The thirteenth chapter of Matthew is nothing but parables, so, before we enter into the rest of the chapter, I think that it is important to understand, “What is a parable?”. There are some who will say that a parable is a story with a moral, or a parable is a story that Jesus tells, but he tells in such a way that uses everyday events or experiences as a way to relate to the people who are listening. The dictionary says it is a straight forward teaching tool story that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles.


In the Bible, Jesus tells parables, but there are also other people telling parables then and now. Because of our familiarity with the Bible story, we do know Jesus’ parables better than others.
After Jesus told the parable of the sower, Matthew reports Jesus explains it to the disciples. A parable isn’t a joke, nor is it a riddle with a single answer, but a parable shares something with a joke. If you have to explain it, it loses some of its power. Have you ever told a joke and then had to explain it to somebody? If you have, you know what I mean.


On the plane coming home from my convention, a little boy was sitting in the row ahead of us, and he was just beginning to learn how to tell jokes. He and his mother were reading a book on sharks. Suddenly he asked his father, “Dad, do you know what the hammerhead shark did when he took his math test? He nailed it. Get it Dad? He’s a hammerhead shark. A hammer, Dad, you use a hammer to pound nails.”


His father was tolerant and laughed; I chuckled too. A half hour later the young man said, “Dad, you know what the hammerhead shark did on his math test? He nailed it. Get it?” And, about a half hour later, with more confidence, the young man said, “You know how the hammerhead shark did on his math test? Yeah, he nailed it.” Now his parents started to shush him, but a while after that he asked the question again, and before we got off the plane, he asked the question again.


Now, the first time he told, the joke I laughed. When he felt he had to explain it, I thought it was humorous. The second time he told the joke and explained it, it was amusing. By the third time he told the joke, I was starting to try out different answers, like, “He didn’t like math so he decided to write the Great American novel?” (No, I didn’t say that.) The problem is that if you have to explain the joke, it loses its punch. It is sometimes better to not have the joke understood than to explain it. This is also true of parables. It is sometimes more helpful to let the parable continue to challenge us in our lives as we reach for meaning than to explain it and take the mystery out of it.


In Greek, the word parable means “Cast alongside, or put alongside.” That is, these stories are told, understanding that there is some life event or understanding that lies alongside the telling of the story. Often, we put a spiritual meaning alongside the telling of a parable. The important thing to remember, however, is unlike jokes, parables can have more than one solution, parables are open-ended, that is, there is more than one way to understand the parable. That open-endedness allows Jesus’ parables to speak to the people of his time and to continue to speak to us today.


The people of Jesus’ time would have attributed a certain wisdom that involved multiple levels of understanding from the one who told the parables just as we do today. Sometimes there is a moral that can be drawn from the parable, but a particular moral may not be the only understanding of the story. What keeps them alive for us today is to remember that there may be no one right way to interpret these parables, but there may be some ways of interpreting them that speak more clearly to our time and place. Where you put yourself in the story may change the way you hear it and determine how you interpret it. Every time we come to these parable stories we can think of them another way.


So why, in the Gospels, does Jesus interpret this parable, the Parable of the Sower, for us? Is Jesus saying that this is the only way to interpret this parable? Today I come to you saying that Jesus takes the time to explain the parable, not as a way to say that this is the only way to understand it, but as a method of showing how you might explore the parable. The understanding of each piece needs to be consistent throughout.


So, who are we in this story? Jesus gives us the option of being the soil. The problem is that we rarely want to put ourselves in the place of all of the soil. If we are the soil, then are we going to want to be the path? No. Are we likely to want to be the rocky soil? No. Do we relish being the thorns choking out God’s word? No. Of course, we want to think of ourselves as the good soil producing a hundredfold, or sixty, or even thirty.


The reality of Jesus’ parable is that we are probably all of these soils at various times of our lives. If we are the good soil, then these questions arise, “Why is the proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ not making a bigger difference in our lives? Why is it that people are not flocking to us as they did around Jesus?” I mean, as I read this text this week and witnessed the crowds pushing in on Jesus so that he was forced to get into a boat or get wet, I thought, “These aren’t Lutherans who claim the holy ground in the back.”


Since there are other ways to think about this parable, let us think about what it might mean if, instead of being the soil, we are the sower. What might that mean? If we are the sower, we are spreading seeds but not very efficiently. As a matter of fact, it is probably a prime example of how not to do it. Pioneer and Monsanto would definitely disapprove. If we were taking a course at the university, we would probably fail the test in Ag Science.


If we think of ourselves as the seed, then there are other options with other pitfalls. We have the potential of producing a hundredfold, but we need a place to land and be nurtured. This understanding of the parable might be best used for our children or those who are new in the faith.


What I want you to understand is: how you think about the story and where you put yourself in it determines what you put alongside it. And, what you put alongside the story helps us think about the story and its meaning for us today.


Today, I want you to think about this parable and concentrate on the seed. Further, I want you to think about that seed as being our ministry. Christ has commissioned us to go out into the world to cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the unclean, and cast out demons. As we are going out, cast there by the sower who is broadcasting the word of Jesus Christ, it is important for us to know that some of our seeds of ministry are going to fall on the path, some on rocky ground, and some among thorns. So, understand this, some of our efforts are going to fail. The birds will eat up some of our ministry seeds before they ever get a chance to germinate. On the rocky ground, it may look good for a while, but that ministry will ultimately fail too. Some of our ministry seeds will be choked out by the demands of our culture.


BUT, there will be those seeds that land on fertile soil, and those efforts will ultimately shape us in the ministry we are called to. In the meantime, we are called to continue broadcasting the seeds of ministry everywhere, because we don’t always know where the best soil is. We depend on the work of the Holy Spirit to complete the work we have begun and we know that with God, all things are possible.


In the previous chapter of Matthew, chapter 12, which the lectionary skips this year, Jesus says, “A house divided will not stand” because he is being charged with using the power of Beelzubul in his healing. He is healing on the Sabbath, and the priest and the Pharisees are upset. Jesus concludes his defense with these words, “If it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you.”


In this same chapter, it is this kingdom of God, with its radical sowing, that Jesus alludes to when he says, “If you are not with me, you are against me. If you do not gather with me, you scatter.” So, this whole image of the sower going out to scatter seed is our ministry going out into the world. We are not in the time of gathering yet; now we are being scattered. Our scattering is in anticipation of a harvest and those who will bring it in. We scatter that all may know the kingdom of God,not to know the here-after kingdom of God, but to know the work of Christ in the spirit of God that reveals the kingdom of God to us today. We scatter that all may know the that kingdom we proclaim when we pray “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”


We come together this day, casting out our seeds of ministry, understanding that some will fail, but some will flourish, and we will find our place in ministry through the bounty of God’s yield in the holy ground outside our doors. Let us recklessly broadcast our ministry seeds, being profligate with God’s abundance accompanied with the Holy Spirit, knowing that where we think the path may be there might be fertile ground, and where we think there is fertile ground may actually be the path. Let us learn that where we think fertile ground is, weeds may be lurking to choke out our work, and that rocky ground is everywhere. Yet, without the Holy Spirit and these seeds, our ministry cannot grow.


Hear then the parable of the sower.