Pastor
~ “A sower went out to sow…”
Those simple words begin one of the most memorable parables in the gospel – a story that has much to teach us, not really about gardening and growing, but about listening. Listening to the Word of God. Being receptive to it. Being open to it. And that can be hard to do, when there is so much noise in the world distracting us from God and trying to drown out His Word.
Yet there is something striking and very hopeful to this parable that I invite you to consider today. We hear this parable and I think we tend to think of ourselves. What kind of soil am I? Am I rocky ground or fertile ground for God’s word. That’s all well and good, but it’s good for us to remember that Jesus’ parables are always first and foremost about God, not us. Really, this is a story about God’s extravagant generosity, God’s boundless love, God’s deep desire so sow into the hearts of those he loves.
Consider this: the sower does not discriminate, doesn’t pick and choose. He scatters his seeds — his Word, Truth, grace, love, providence — God scatters those seeds anywhere and everywhere. He doesn’t hold back. He is generous beyond measure with what he has to offer. He knows that it will somehow reach the richest soil. It might even be in the most unexpected of places.
Consider someone like Thomas Merton. Many of you may know him as a Trappist monk and the author of many spiritual books, like “The Seven Storey Mountain” or “Thoughts in Solitude.” But Thomas started out life as a jaded, jazz-loving, cigarette-smoking, girl-chasing writer who drifted from being an indifferent Protestant to being a communist – and then, in the middle of his wanderings, discovered the poetry of the Catholic writer William Blake. That led him to explore the Catholic Church and eventually to convert. He fell madly, deeply in love with God, today he is known as one of the most influential Catholic writers of the 20th century and a towering figure in the life of the American Catholic church. You see, even among the thorns of Merton’s confused and complicated life, God’s seed found rich soil.
Do you ever think that about your own life? That it’s confused and complicated? I have, and the secret is that all of us – at one time or another – think our lives are so complicated, that we’ve made a mess of things, that we’re sinners – that God can’t possibly find a way to break through.
But it happens again and again in our history – from St. Paul to St. Augustine to St. Ignatius to Dorothy Day and beyond. The soil they sprang from wasn’t always ideal. We are a church of strugglers and sinners, besieged by rocks, and thorns, and birds – and yet, amid this vast and surprising garden, God’s smallest seeds find fertile ground. God’s Word takes root.
Which brings me to one other significant point in this parable that bears noting. In this story, the sower doesn’t change. The seed doesn’t change.
What changes is the soil.
What changes are the conditions, the environment that lets the seed bear fruit.
What changes, in fact…is us.
And we never know where, or how, it will happen.
God’s grace can break through into the most surprising places, into the most hardened hearts, into the most curious situations. So we must never judge a person or his or her situation and say, well, that’s hopeless. Because as the Scriptures remind us, nothing is impossible for God. I have seen God’s grace break through in my own life, in what I thought was the most worst of situations, and grace has come. I have thought to myself, I don’t know how I’m ever going to get out of this. I have damaged this relationship beyond repair. I have made a huge mistake with my life. And yet, again and again, God’s grace and mercy breaks through in my life. So, friends, I hope that you can look into your own heart to see God’s grace at work. For God has planted his seed… deep within you.
Today, every day, God sets about doing His great work: a Sower goes out to sow. He sows in a world tangled with doubt and disbelief, shaded and clouded by forces that don’t want the seed to grow…
And yet: God sows. With abandon. With exuberance. With love.
God never stops.
Face to face with God’s extravagant generosity, we confront the question buried in the heart of this gospel: are we willing to help Him?
Are we willing to listen? To keep our minds and hearts open to God’s word?
Are we willing to clear away some of the weeds and rocks in our lives – whatever pride or cynicism or distraction or sin is getting in the way — and give those seeds a chance?
Are we ready to receive what the sower has to offer?
Are you ready to receive God’s extravagant, overwhelming grace and love?
No matter what the condition of our soil, no matter how barren the ground or thorny the field, each of us can bring forth a great harvest.
Are you ready and willing to help God’s garden grow?
