than four verses in our Bibles. Half of the parables in Mark are located in chapter 4, and the Parable of the Sower gets the most elaborate treatment

Transcription

1 Nothing But Dirt Mark 4:1-20, I Corinthians 3:5-9 Pastor Dave Carver First U.P. Church of Crafton Heights March 11, 2018 To hear this sermon as preached in worship, please visit In recent months, we have begun an intensive and intentional exploration of the Good News the euangellion the Gospel of Mark. In this time, we ve seen the urgency with which this writer describes the ministry of Jesus. Mark doesn t spend any time telling us about Jesus birth or childhood; most of the ink that has been spilled thus far has told us about what Jesus did and how people reacted to him. Some embraced him with great enthusiasm and even gave up everything to become his followers (disciples) or emissaries (apostles). Some, on the other hand, rejected him outright and thought of him as a threat. And some, not surprisingly, didn t care much one way or the other. Mark 4 represents a significant shift on the part of the author because it presents one of the longest sections of Jesus actual teaching contained in the gospel. For the first time, we are not reading about what Jesus said or did, but rather, we are given a front-row seat to one of the informal teaching sessions on the beach. If Mark decides that this is the time to stop talking about Jesus and start listening to Jesus, well, it must be significant. To illustrate my point, I ll mention that the author of the Gospel of Luke loved the parables of Jesus so much that we can find as many as twenty-seven such stories there. The Gospel of Matthew contains twenty-three parables. Mark, on the other hand, gives us only nine sayings that could be called parables, and only two of those are longer 1

2 than four verses in our Bibles. Half of the parables in Mark are located in chapter 4, and the Parable of the Sower gets the most elaborate treatment of any such story in this Gospel. Given that the Gospels are emphatic in their assertion that Jesus often taught in parables, it would make sense for us to explore the one that Mark seemed to think was the most important of the bunch. As we listen to this story, we hear some very familiar words, at least for some of us. Most of us know this tale about the man who scatters seeds and the conditions that threaten to limit his harvest. In that familiarity, we have a problem. The more we know a thing, the more we think we understand it, the more familiar we are with it, the more we think we have it tamed. So when the preacher mentions the sower and the soil and the seed, heads in the sanctuary nod approvingly and lovingly. "Oh, the one about the seeds - that's my favorite!", we gush. But, as I've said, there's a problem there- because the more that we domesticate the words of Jesus, the less able we are to hear them in the midst of our daily journeys. The Jesus of the Gospels is a Jesus who often spoke, thought, and acted in some very controversial ways. He was confusing. He was threatening. He was irritating - and the things that he said often did more to confuse his listeners than they did to clarify things. People came to Jesus looking for a book of rules, a checklist, an easy guide - and he spoke to them about farms and fishnets and fig trees. And what's worse, in the parables anyway, things never come out the way that we think they should. As theologian Robert Capon has said, "They set forth comparisons that tend to make mincemeat out of people's religious expectations. Bad people are rewarded (the Tax collector, the Prodigal, the Unjust steward); good people are scolded 2

3 (The Pharisee, the Elder Son, the Diligent workers); God's response to a prayer is likened to a man getting rid of a nuisance (The Friend at midnight), and, in general, everybody's idea of who ought to be first or last is liberally doused with cold water (The Wedding feast, Lazarus and the 1 Rich Man)" Do you see what I mean? Sometimes we hear a thing so often and we think we've got it figured out and it loses its power to really impact us. Our reading for today, the Parable of the Sower, is given the Marquee Billing in the collections of Jesus' parables that Matthew, Mark, and Luke put together. It is the one story to which they give the most attention and the greatest amount of space. 2 You ve heard what happens. First, Jesus tells a story. Then, there are questions from the disciples about parables, and about this parable in particular. Then, Jesus interprets the parable for them. Because we are so familiar with this story, we don't think of it as surprising or irritating that Jesus should gather a crowd around him and then go on to tell a pretty straightforward story about a farmer, tell the folks that it was really important, and then sit down. But I think if I came up here and read you a paragraph or two from Architectural Digest or The Burpee Seed Catalogue and then sat down, you'd react in pretty much the same way that the disciples did. Why are you doing this? Is that supposed to make sense or something? But that's what Jesus does. And that's what the disciples do. Parables of the Kingdom (Eerdmans, 1985), p.10 The Sower, Van Gogh (1888) 1Capon, 2 3

4 And then Jesus, rather than simply clarifying the whole mess like we'd really prefer him to do, muddles it even further. "Look," he says, "You don't understand much of anything about this Kingdom of God movement, do you? But one thing you DO get is the fact that it works in very mysterious ways. And as you go through your journey, the fact that you know it is a mystery will help you understand it. There are some people who can't accept mysteries at all. Those people, when they journey through life, will find that less and less seems to be making sense to them - even the things that they used to think they understood." And then Jesus sighs a bit and says, "You know, I think old Isaiah had it right. The more they depend only on their eyes and only on their ears, the less they are able to see and to hear. But you, you have the gift of me. Listen up, and I'll tell you what I meant with that last story." 3 And then Jesus proceeds to talk about the parable. But instead of providing his students with a nice little explanation about a straightforward farming story, his discussion introduces new interpretations that are anything but simple. If we are honest in our approach to this story, we'll see that rather than providing us with an open-and-shut exposition, Jesus asks us to look at things in a whole new light. For instance, who is the farmer in the parable? Because it s church, our first guess is that it has to be Jesus - the one who goes about scattering his seeds. And I've also heard some sermons that tell us that now, the church - you and I are the sowers. It is our task, these messages say, to take the seeds of the gospel to new places and plant it on God's behalf. Well, we have been commissioned to take the 3 The Parable of the Sower, Leighton Autrey (c. 2012) 4

5 gospel, but you don't find that in here. What you find here is a farmer, planting his seed. Allow me to suggest that the farmer in this parable represents God the Father the One who walks throughout his creation planting the seed, which is the Word. And God is not a sparing planter, either. He takes handfuls of the seed and throws it as high and as far as he can. God is a generous, flagrant, lavish sower who tosses the seed everywhere in creation. And what is the seed? As Jesus said, the seed is the word. The LOGOS. And when the New Testament speaks of the Word, who is it talking about? Jesus, the word become flesh who dwelt among us. Jesus, the word become flesh who was literally buried. Jesus is the seed that is being so generously scattered throughout creation. Jesus is the seed that comes from the hand of God the Father - the seed that is being planted in the hearts of people everywhere. And what's left? The dirt. That's us - the creation of God. Jesus goes on to say that there are four kinds of dirt - four types of people - in the world. Some of us have been hardened, for whatever reason, and are not able to let anything break the shell with which we have surrounded ourselves. And so the word that God so desperately longs to speak to us bounces off our thick exterior and is taken away from us. Some of us are shallow. We want so badly to be receptive, to be able to open up, but sooner or later we pull back. The seed that we thought was going to be such a beautiful plant ends up as something else, or maybe we really can't afford to give of ourselves, and so the seed dies 5

6 within us, because there's not enough space in our lives for it to take root. And some of us are cluttered. Oh, great, give me some of that seed, we cry out. Plant it in us. Let it take hold. But sooner or later, we see so many other things that we want - that we need. There's too much happening, and the word of God simply gets crowded out of our lives. And some of us are fertile soil, says Jesus. Some of us are able to receive the seed, tuck it inside, and wait for it to grow, for it to spread its roots. In some of us the seed - the word of God - is free to do what seeds are supposed to do, and because of that, the seed turns into a plant that bears great fruit. Now, if that's true - if the sower is God the Father, the seed is the word of God and the word is Jesus Christ, and we are the dirt if that is true, then what does it mean? What are the implications? First, I think we need to recognize that the word of God is at work in the world all the time, everywhere, in everyone. Many of Jesus' hearers were angry at him, because they wanted to know that Israel was superior in the eyes of God; they wanted to lock those other people out. And here is Jesus, telling a story that seems to include the whole world as candidates for receiving the attention and love of God. One thing that Jesus might be saying in this parable is that there is no need for we Christians to adopt a condescending posture towards the world - the world that must wait for us to bring the seeds to it - because the world has already had the seed scattered in and through it. And, like the seed, the Word of God is complete. It has everything it needs to grow 6

7 the Word can grow without someone like me hovering around all the time. If that's true, then how does that affect the way that I think about the young people who are a part of our After School program? How do I look into the eyes of the children who crowd into Pre School each morning? I am able to encounter these folks holding on to the truth that Jesus says there is already a seed of the word of God planted there by his Father. And it's not just these kids, either. How do you approach your ex-wife, or that teacher you really can't stand, or that boss who mistreats you? How do you pray for those folks? The kingdom of God is at work in them. The seed has been placed in their hearts. The Kingdom of God is active in our world -- all over our world. And that's another implication of this parable: like a seed, the Kingdom works in a mysterious way. When I plant my beans or peas, I take a seed and I hide it in the earth. It disappears from my sight. It grows in secret. As you and I observe the fields that lie all around us, we have no right to judge where the seed has failed and where it has not -- because we are not privy to the mystery of the kingdom. We act in as faithful a way as we know how, and then we realize that the end result is up to God - and we need to be prepared to be surprised by the results. The Kingdom of Heaven grows in secret, and in places we do not know. And perhaps the most important implication for us this morning is the recognition of what is necessary for the seed that is planted to bear fruit. Please note that the ground that does host the seed that is fruitful does nothing -- the only thing that it does is to NOT get in the way! 7

8 For centuries, we have been tempted to think of the Christian life as amassing a resume of good deeds. According to this parable, that's not true. The Christian life is more a matter of letting the seed that has been planted in us grip us, take root in us, and bear fruit in us. It's about nurturing the gift of God that is within you. In the course of my ministry, I've had a number of really tired folks come into my study. I'm tired of trying, pastor. I'm tired of never matching up to what they expect of me. I'm tired of never feeling good enough for my parents. I'm tired of being poor. I'm tired of being tired. To tell you the truth, pastor, there are some times when I feel as though I'm nothing but dirt. Imagine our surprise when, after saying something like that, God leaps up and says, EXACTLY!! You are nothing but dirt. I am the farmer. My Son is the seed. So be good dirt - don't crowd out the seed, don't choke it, but let it do what seeds are designed to do. Don't get in the way! The seed will grow - not you. But as the seed grows and bears fruit, you will be changed - your very essence will be different. You will be full of roots and covered with fruit. But let the seed in, and let it grow. You worry about being good dirt. The Apostle Paul catches that theme when he writes to the Corinthians: You, he says, are God s field. There is something going on in you and it is God, not you, who is making it happen. Lent is a time for remembering that I'm nothing but dirt. Lent is an opportunity for me, and for you, to consciously explore the ways that we are called to receive the person and work of Christ. This week, I hope that you can find some time and space to reflect on the ways that your life is 8

9 able to be receptive to the mission of Jesus. Let s look for time in which we can do the work of confession and repentance and sorting out that can open the way for the surprising and miraculous work of God in Christ. Amen. 9