Delivered by Amy Higgins on June 16, 2023

Scripture: Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

The Parable of the Sower. There’s the path, the rocky places, the thorns, and finally the good soil. Now, we naturally see ourselves and others in the types of soil. It is after all, part of the parable. The condition of our soil, that is our hearts, is important. It should be well tended and prepared to receive the seeds for our faith to grow. But, if we are not careful, we can focus so much on our soil being good soil, we can find ourselves comparing ours to the soil of others. We want to know if our neighbor’s soil is better or worse than our own. We just cannot help but peak over the fence. We don’t want our neighbor’s soil to be better than ours but, we also don’t want it to be so bad that it might infect our soil either. And if there isn’t a fence, we’ll put one up. Fences exist for a reason after all. But, we can mess up The Parable of the Sower by making it all about ourselves as the good soil and others as the bad soil. 

It is easy to look at others and think we know the condition of their soil. Those who struggle, no matter what it may be – poverty, addiction, even struggles with faith – they must live that way because their soil, their hearts, must be thorny or rocky ground. And in those circumstances it would be difficult not to be that way but, if we stay on our side of the fence we cannot know if that thorny heart is the cause of their circumstances or the effect. And while we may see those living in the thorns and the rocks and see ourselves as having the good soil, our soil is not 100 percent good, 100 percent of the time.

Just our comparison, our judgment of another damages our conditions. And to tell ourselves and others it does not is just a lot of, well, fertilizer. But it is not just our need to compare. It is also recognizing that with the seasons of our lives our soil may change. The loss of a loved one, the loss of a relationship, an abusive relationship, the loss of a job, a change in one’s health, the loss of one’s church, nearly any loss of normalcy, of what might have been can create thorns and rocks where soft, rich soil had once been. And that’s human nature, that’s normal. It is a part of life. And in those seasons we may have the thorns and the rocks, but there is also rain. And probably a lot of it. But no matter what we may think, neither the seed nor the rain is wasted on those thorns and rocks.

Psalm 65:1-9 says (and this is my personal paraphrasing)

“God waters the land with the tears of our joys and our sorrows
And it makes the soil richer
The water is necessary to receive the seed 
It softens the soil and blesses the crop
And at the end of the season there is a bounty to be harvested
We are blessed with abundance
The grain is multiplied in the wilderness 
and the valley, as well as in the meadow
And they all shout for joy”

As important as it is for us to focus on the soil in the parable, we must not overlook that this is not The Parable of the Soil, it is The Parable of the Sower. If the seed will not take root along the path, on the rocks, or among the thorns why not be more careful? Why let it fall where it will be wasted? But is it truly wasted? To us it is. In our mortal, limited world we are conditioned to scarcity and waste. Sometimes to disparage others, to deem ourselves more worthy of the harvest. So much so, we sometimes fail to see that the seed has to die in order to germinate and bloom. In our fear, we want to intervene and stop the dying thinking that will save it. But we must let it go to seed that it may multiply, not just for our own sakes but for everyone. Because where we see that it has been buried and wasted, God sees what has been planted.

Even on the paths and among the rocks, God scatters the seeds of His love and grace. He scatters the seed on the soil we see as bad, in others and within ourselves, because He knows soil can always be improved. But not only that, He never sees it as a waste. He knows that it is in the scattering on the rocks and the thorns, and in the rains that the soil is changed. He never waits for the conditions to be perfect. God has so much love and grace to give, He gives it freely without regard for who deserves it or how it will come back to Him. 

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
And do not return to it without watering the earth
And making it bud and flourish, so that it yields 
seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
So is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
But I will accomplish what I desire and achieve
The purpose for which I sent it.
You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace;
The mountains and hills will burst into song before you,
And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,
And instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord’s renown, 
For an everlasting sign, that will endure forever.

Isaiah 55:10-13

No matter the season we are in or the condition of our hearts, He will never stop sowing, for God’s love and grace are abundant. God is abundance. And if we must see this as wasteful, then yes, He delights in wasting grace on us. On ALL of us. That is the very definition of grace. So if we are gonna spread something, how about some grace of our own?