Sunday, October 19, 2014

What is THIS parable about?

• Twentyninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
on Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23, 
the parable of the Sower, and its interpretation.


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Last week I played from “Moonlight Sonata,” asking “what's it mean?” and I shared that you might call a parable a poem that human language does not know how to qualify.
Understanding a parable requires three things: gift, effort, humility...
And the result of wrestling with Jesus' parables:
 you're drawn into relationship with God.
Nevertheless, What's This One About?
What's the parable of the Sower about?

This is a parable about God. God who wants a harvest and who goes about it the old-fashioned way: scattering seeds. (familiar) (today might be planting a garden or growing a lawn) (not the kind of effort as in Creation when God spoke and it happened)
By the way, in scattering seeds, God is taking risks. God does not carefully choose where to plant... and remembering that the seed is the word, this word is going OUT... on the path, among the rocks, among the weeds, in the good soil... and God anticipates a variable harvest.
God is also willing to get God's feet dirty. (different effort than Creation). Which leads to:

This is a parable about Christ. Literally about the incarnation, God not only sowing the seed but BEING the seed... the seed is the word, and Jesus the Christ is the Word. Interacting with the world in its settings, again, not just the good soil, but a message IN the world to ALL the world.

This is also a parable about the Evil One. Jesus speaks of The Evil One in the world, and this isn't the only place. We learn a few things about TEO, the one opposed to the sower and the harvest. And knowledge of TEO is vital for those who wish to stand against TEO.
1. TEO seeks to snatch the word.
He doesn't want people to receive Jesus.
(path/birds/lack of understanding)
2. TEO seeks to frighten or sap those who do receive the word.
He doesn't want people to be disciples.
(rocky soil, no roots, no strength)
3. TEO seeks to mislead those who receive the word, to distract them, to nurture a false word. (worries and false appeal of wealth)

When we gain knowledge of TEO, we can learn about resisting and countering TEO, and
this is a parable about people.
Be doers of the word, and not hearers only (James 1:22)
• So the seed on the path with the birds, snatched away?
Let us accompany the hearer.
• The seed on the rocky soil, with no strength?
Let us encourage the hearer.
• The seed among the weeds, choked out by other things?
Let us teach the hearer.
• Remember it by “Let's EAT” (encourage, accompany, teach)... 
because God has a harvest

Our mission is to share the love of God 
with people in a hurting world...
How great is God who chooses all of this, who chooses us...


Hymn 77 How Great Thou Art


Matthew 13:18-23 CEB
18 “Consider then the parable of the farmer. 
19  Whenever people hear the word about the kingdom and don’t understand it, 
the evil one comes and carries off what was planted in their hearts.
This is the seed that was sown on the path. 
20  As for the seed that was spread on rocky ground,
this refers to people who hear the word and immediately receive it joyfully.
21  Because they have no roots, they last for only a little while.
When they experience distress or abuse because of the word,
they immediately fall away. 
22  As for the seed that was spread among thorny plants,
this refers to those who hear the word,
but the worries of this life and the false appeal of wealth choke the word,
and it bears no fruit. 

23  As for what was planted on good soil, this refers to those who hear and understand, and bear fruit and produce—in one case a yield of one hundred to one, in another case a yield of sixty to one, and in another case a yield of thirty to one.”

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