Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 July 12, 2020
The Rev. Jonathan Linman, Ph.D.

The holy gospel according to Matthew. Glory to you, O Lord.

      ¹That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. ²Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. ³And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. ⁴And in the sowing, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. ⁵Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. ⁶But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. ⁷Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. ⁸Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. ⁹Let anyone with ears listen!”

      ¹⁸“Hear then the parable of the sower. ¹⁹When anyone hears the word of the dominion of heaven and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. ²⁰As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; ²¹yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. ²²As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. ²³But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

The gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ.

Having lived in intense urban settings for the last 30 years, I am relishing my renewed exposure to the delights of greenery in Arlington. I am especially enchanted by all the trees, how the leaves shimmer in the breeze and the branches wave in the wind. I am fascinated with the intricate structures of trunks and branches and twigs and leaves and how it all unfolds high into the sky. I am drawn to imagine how what is visible is paralleled by root systems as intricate below the ground that we cannot see.

And the wonder of it all – these towering, magnificent organisms, so very essential to the possibility of life on earth, have their origins in comparatively tiny seeds. The contemplation of this wonder causes me to erupt in praise and thanksgiving to our creator God. All the genetic material that makes a tree possible, that makes a tree a reality, is contained in a seed. Wow. Isn’t that magnificent?

Which brings us to the parable of the sower, the focus of today’s gospel reading. Today’s gospel is all about seeds, how they are scattered, and under what conditions they grow and thrive and bear fruit – or not.

God’s word is likened to seeds – scattered, growing, bearing fruit among God’s people.

When you think about it, a word is very much like a seed. Each word contains the potentiality to become what the word signifies, what the word means. The word ‘love’ can lead to the embodied expression of true love. Shouting the word, “stop!” can make people stop. So it is with words.

But sometimes words are just words – talk is cheap, they say. Cheap words are those scattered amidst conditions which inhibit germination, taking root, growing, and bearing fruit.

Still words do in fact sometimes become what they signify. As I am fond of saying, we combine words into sentences which become ideas. And ideas shape policies. And policies become realities governing how we live.

So it is also with God’s word, words which have great efficacy in the power of the Holy Spirit. The prophet Isaiah, in the passage appointed as the first reading today, makes this point:

¹⁰For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
      and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
   making it bring forth and sprout,
      giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
¹¹so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
      it shall not return to me empty,
   but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
      and succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10-11)

What makes the difference between words that are mere words and words which have the power to become the reality to which they point?

Jesus makes this pretty clear in his explanation to the parable of the sower. The seed of God’s word could not take root and bear fruit on the path, on rocky ground and among thorns, and he compares such conditions to conditions of the human heart which inhibit the fullness of growth.

In contrast, the seed of God’s word comes to fruition in the good soil. And good soil is characterized in this way by Jesus: “But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” (Matthew 13:23)

The one who hears the word and understands it bears fruit with a variable, but good yield, a hundredfold, sixtyfold, thirtyfold. Hearing and understanding – that’s what makes the difference between mere words and words that do things and create realities.

Hearing and understanding. How best do we cultivate the conditions in which we can hear and understand God’s word?

One way is to take the time and spend the energy to really dwell with God’s word of scripture – such dwelling is especially opportune at this time of fasting from assembling in person on Sundays for the Eucharist.

I am eager to introduce to you a practice of scriptural engagement that helps us really hear and understand God’s word. It’s a practice rooted in the Benedictine tradition called lectio divina, or sacred reading. Suffice it to say for our purposes here, lectio divina involves reading the same Bible passage multiple times so that you can really listen for and hear the passage’s main points.

Lectio divina is also a method of scriptural engagement that builds on traditional Bible Study, encouraging participants to listen prayerfully and in quiet to what the Spirt may be saying to God’s people in our own day. In these ways, lectio divina helps us understand God’s word, because we hear it more deeply.

But there are any number of ways to engage the scriptures for deep listening and toward deepened understandings. The main point is to slow down when you read the scriptures and really let the words soak into your heart, mind, soul, and body.

So, I encourage you: be about those practices that can nurture the conditions for you to really hear and understand God’s word such that the seeds of God’s word can germinate, take root, grow and bear fruit.

But I leave you with this crucial, final thought: germination, taking root, growing, and bearing fruit are not the result of our efforts, our activity. Rather it is God who gives the growth.

Consider trees once again. They are not mobile in the way animals are. Aside from waving in the wind, trees are stationary. They don’t go anywhere. They don’t do anything in the way we and other animals try to do things. Their growth, their fruit-bearing is emergent, organic; it unfolds over the course of years because of what’s in the seed, even as the trees stay put, growing where they’re planted.

So it is also in the Christian life. We can scatter the seed of God’s word with reckless abandon amidst all types of soil conditions in our lives and in our world. We can attend to the conditions of our individual and communal soil – through deeply hearing and seeking to understand God’s Word. But any fruit that we bear emerges organically through the power of the Spirit acting in God’s word, we merely being the vessels of God’s activity in us. Again, God gives the growth.

Therefore, trust the power of the seed of God’s word planted in you, for it contains everything necessary to become what it signifies, and to accomplish that for which God sent it. To God be the glory. Amen.

Here are some questions for your quiet reflection and/or holy conversation. If you’re watching the video, pause it if you like:

• How would you describe the “soil conditions” in your life right now in terms of how receptive you are to deeply hearing and understanding God’s word?
• What would it take to improve those conditions for better hearing and understanding?
• Where do you see God’s word bearing good fruit in your life and in our world?

God in Christ bless your dwelling with these questions, your reflections, your conversations toward bearing fruit in the power of the Holy Spirit.