1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.

Transcription

1 Matthew , That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: "Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. 6 But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 Let anyone with ears listen!" 18 "Hear then the parable of the sower. 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom 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. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet 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. 22 As 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. 23 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."

2 Isaiah For 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, 11 so 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. 12 For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall be to the Lord for a memorial, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

3 Matthew , Isaiah Today s reading from Matthew s Gospel is in two parts. In the first part, the parable of the sower, Jesus is teaching the crowds, and the Disciples are there listening. The second part of the reading is later in the chapter, when He is explaining privately to His Disciples the parable of the sower. That explanation that Jesus gave may not make things much clearer. He explains to His disciples that the seed is the word, which is sown by the sower in people s hearts. It s obviously powerful stuff, this word. In Luke s the account of the early Church, in Acts of the Apostles, it s all over the place! But many of those who heard the word believed Acts 4:4 they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness. (Acts 4:31) The word of God continued to spread; the number of the disciples increased greatly in Jerusalem (Acts 6:7) Now those who were scattered went from place to place, proclaiming the word. (Acts 8:4) and that s just the first few Chapters! So what is this WORD? This is a word in the sense that someone might say, Can I have a word with you about something, or in the sense that we call the Bible the word of God. This is the message of the Kingdom of God also called the Gospel, which means the Good News. The Good news in summary is this: 1. God is perfect He is perfectly just and perfectly loving. He loves you personally, and has a wonderful and fulfilling PLAN for your life. 2. But humankind became separated from that abundant and fulfilling life, because they wanted to be independent and they went their own way separating themselves from God, who is the source of life. 3. Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, voluntarily died on the cross to pay the price or the just penalty for the sins of ALL those who choose to come to Him as their Lord and Saviour, and has bridged the gulf that separated us from God. He rose from the dead, and is alive today, and comes to live in the hearts and the lives of all those who invite Him. 4. This is a free gift and like any gift, we can t deserve it or earn it, and like any gift, we only have it once we decide to ACCEPT THE GIFT. That s the gift of Jesus Christ who rose from the dead and is alive today, living on our hearts through His Holy Spirit, as our SAVIOUR the one who has SAVED us, and as our LORD leading and directing our lives, as we live, no longer for ourselves but for Him, the one who, with God the Father, created us in the first place.

4 So if the seed is the word, who is the sower, and what is the soil? 4 There are two ways to understand Jesus explanation to His disciples of the parable of the sower, and both of them are in agreement with the rest of Scripture, and both are important. The first way of understanding the parable of the sower is that Jesus is talking to the hearers of the WORD. So the minds and hearts of those who listen are the soil. There s one important difference between soil and our human hearts and minds; soil doesn t have a mind of its own so it doesn t have the choice to do anything to influence what grows in it or fails to grow. We, as rational thinking beings have choice about whether or not we choose to be open to an idea, or a message, or what the Bible calls a WORD. So the question for us becomes, Am I are you open to God s word are open to taking God s word into heart and mind, and allowing the Holy Spirit to use truth of God s word to change the way you experience and understand the world we live in, and your understanding of God s purpose for you? Or is my and your response the shallow response that does not allow the word to take deep root in my heart, in your heart, or do we go away without understanding the word, or do we allow the material cares of this world to choke the living word. That s the first way. The second way for us to understand the parable of the sower is that Jesus is speaking to those who are, or are going to become, sowers themselves. This doesn t just mean priests and readers and preachers and evangelists. Whenever we teach our children about Jesus, or read them Bible stories, whenever we answer questions from our neighbours or our friends about why we go to Church, about what Jesus means to us, or the reason He went to the cross, we are sowing God s word in their hearts. The Bible makes it clear that not everyone is called to be an evangelist but that every disciple is called to witness to tell others and to lead a life that shows to others the wonderful ways that God has worked in his or her life. When people know that we are Christians, AND when we live lives that show Jesus to the world when we show in our lives and in our attitudes to others Jesus love, joy peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, humility and self-control, then we are witnesses to Christ. Saint Francis of Assisi said this to those he taught: Witness for Christ each day, and use words if necessary So HOW do we know when we are doing effective sowing, and when we are wasting our time? WE DON T, any more than the sower in the parable. Our responsibility is just to sow because we never know when the seed of the Gospel will take root. A couple of examples of this:

5 5 Some years ago, I had been meeting from time to time and corresponding by with an intelligent and very thoughtful man who wanted to discuss spiritual things. We had lots of clever discussions that led nowhere, and I felt like it was a waste of time. Then one day he sent me yet another full of clever intellectual points, and my reply included this: In the end, this is the point: we Christians are not following a philosophy, or a system of self improvement, or even a religion. Each of us Christians is following a supernatural person who is alive today, and who is the ultimate perfect goodness. Eight days after I send that reply to his , he ed me again. This is what he wrote. Sent: Tuesday, March 18, :55 AM Subject: RE: Good news It is hard to find the words. But today is the seventh day since I invited the holy ghost of god to take over. It is challenging. Things that made little or no sense before make some or great sense now. Nothing is the same. Nothing that I have constructed seems of value at all. All that matters is what God will will. Therefore I must wait until it is revealed. All my values are being reconstructed. Its early days and I strive to put pride aside. It is exciting and then deeply upsetting, tears well and do not as of yet appear. I crave to be in my local church, I struggle to explain what I am going through for fear of prideful melodrama or rushing before I can walk. I look at Christianity with bafflement. But I know this Holy Spirit in my life is reconstructing me and it is a great great relief and adventure. He kept in touch for some months, until he was an established member of his local Church. A few weeks ago, I was talking to another member of the same Church, and she mentioned his name. He is still a disciple of Christ, and an active member of his Church. Some years before that, I had a conversation about Jesus with another man then I saw the blinds come down, and I changed the subject. A few months ago he contacted me, for the first time in about 10 years. He told me the things I d said had stayed with him, and he had thought about them many times, and a few weeks ago, he d given his life to Jesus. We ve met a few times since then. Our task is to sow the word of the Kingdom. As God says in our OT reading: so 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. The point is this: we sowers are responsible for sowing in good soil, in stony ground, on the pathway, among thistles wherever and whenever God gives the opportunity. We are not to be discriminating, or to save the seed for what we judge to be fertile ground. And we re not responsible for whether or not the seed takes root! So be encouraged! As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, talking about his own witnessing to them: I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. Let us pray. Father, we pray for ourselves, that you will give us grace to open our hearts and minds to your word, and we ask you to give to each of us opportunities to sow your word in the hearts and minds of those who do not yet know you, and in the hearts and minds of those who do. AMEN