Reckless God Matthew 13:3, And he told them many things in parables, saying: A sower went out to sow.

Transcription

1 Reckless God Matthew 13:3, And he told them many things in parables, saying: A sower went out to sow. Many people call today s Gospel reading The Parable of the Grounds. The question that we have to answer seems obvious what type of ground are you? It s a bit of an unnerving question. Are you the ground along the path, where the seed falls but is immediately devoured by ravenous birds? Or are you rocky soil where the seed immediately sprouts up only to be scorched by the blazing sun because your roots are too shallow? Perhaps you are the ground where the seed starts to grow. You re nutrient rich and the seed can send down deep roots, but thorns also share the ground and choke the plant to death. Or are you good soil producing 30, 60, even 100 fold?! What type of ground are you?! Well, we could spend the next 15 minutes analyzing what each of these grounds might be and how you can figure out which you are. But the truth is that this parable isn t about that. As a matter of fact, this parable isn t about you at all. No, I ll go a step further. None of Jesus parables are about you. They re about the Kingdom of God. Jesus parables are about God s reign on earth. They re about what God in Jesus Christ is doing. And this particular parable is about a Sower. But He s not a very good Sower, is He? No, He s careless. He s absolutely reckless. He ignores the tangled mess of thorns. He ignores the hungry birds lurking nearby. He ignores the rocks and the scorching, sweltering sun. He doesn t care about 1

2 them at all. No He s careless. He doesn t take His time to plant like He should, carefully laying each seed in furrows carved in the earth. He doesn t meticulously pinch the seeds out one at a time between two fingers. No, He s a careless Farmer. He charges through His field. He plunges both hands into His satchel and flings the seeds as far and as wide as He can. And when He reckons this isn t enough He throws them about by the bucketful! He is a reckless Sower! But this is nothing new, is it? No, extravagance is simply part of His nature. We ve seen it time and time again in the Sower s autobiography. He has been reckless ever since time began. Creation in itself is an extravagant thing, isn t it? It s not as if He needed something. It s not as if He lacked anything of any kind. But He chose to create. Out of nothingness He brought into existence the whole universe solar systems, suns, planets, and stars of all colors and size and brightness. But that still wasn t enough for Him. He walked this earth and filled it with all kinds of glorious things. He hurled His triumphant life throughout creation plants so small your eye can t see them, trees so high you have to strain your neck to see the tops of them. But that wasn t enough! He made mountains and waterfalls, oceans, and lakes, and seas. He filled them fish and all kinds of creatures, both stunning and mysterious. He filled the skies with birds and on the ground He created creature after creature after creature. And finally He created man and woman. This is not a careful 2

3 Sower. He didn t create just enough. He made more and then more and more and more! He walked the earth carelessly casting seed by the fistful and then by the bucketful. It s not that He didn t know what would happen to His creation. It s not that He didn t know that Adam and Eve would sin and corrupt themselves and His good earth. He saw that coming. But it didn t stop Him from His creative work. It didn t stay His hand from casting the seed. He s a reckless, extravagant Sower. And He remained so. Out of sheer extravagance, He chose Israel to be His own nation. He made a covenant with them. They would be His people. He would be their God and would dwell in the midst of them. He would shower them with His gifts. He gave them land, and wealth, and power. And He never stopped, not even when they chased after foreign gods. Not even when they ignored His commands. Not even when they were choked by the thorns of their own idolatry and withered by the white hot sun of their own lusts. They ran from Him again and again and again. He restored them again and again and again. He carelessly, recklessly cast the seed of His mercy to them by the fistful. But nothing grew. He cast the seed, but the grounds remained barren. The birds were fat and full. The thorns grew thick and wild. The sun baked and cracked the earth. But this reckless Sower would not stop. He could not! 3

4 It was not in His nature. He would give and give until the seed took root. He would cast His seed, He would scatter more and more until He had a harvest. And so this wild Sower did the absolutely unbelievable. He was so extravagant toward His field that nothing was too much for Him to sacrifice for it. He was so bent on having a harvest that no cost was too high. And so He watered the parched earth with His own blood. He saturated the ground with it, because His love for the ground was infinite. It was a wild and a reckless love that took Jesus all the way to the cross. Isn t this the type of love He has toward you? He claimed you at the font, didn t He? And what could you offer Him then? You were born in sin. You were born naturally opposed to Him. You didn t understand what was going on. And if you had, you would have resisted it. You couldn t even bring yourself to those waters. Someone else had to bring you. Then, when you were a helpless, clueless creature, when you were His enemy then is when He claimed you to be His own. How reckless?! But it doesn t stop there, does it? Oh, no. Nothing can tame this wild Sower. You come to Him day in and day out, marred and stained by sin, the sin that you have chosen. And He continues to forgive you again and again and again! He is not a careful God! He is not pragmatic or calculating. He doesn t give you just enough. He gives you more and more, mercy upon 4

5 mercy, grace upon grace! He is wild. He is reckless. And just when you begin to think that He can t possibly forgive you again, He does! Just when you think He can t possibly give you even more grace, He does! In Baptism, in Communion, in Absolution, in the Word, more and more! But this Sower still isn t done. No one can stop Him. Nothing will stand in His way. He charges through the field with the wild, determined look of a fierce love. He thrusts His hands into the satchel again and again, casting the precious seed. He doesn t just fill your cup. He pours out His grace until it reaches the brim and then He keeps pouring. More and more until it gushes over. He promises to raise you from death. He promises to raise you to life with Him forever! He is a wild. He is a reckless sower! But what about you? What type of sower are you? Are you like this reckless Sower? Are you as wild in casting the seed as He is? Or are you more careful? Are you the cautious, meticulous type? It does seem foolish to be a reckless sower, doesn t it? It doesn t make sense. It seems so imprudent, so extravagant. Just think of all the waste! No, you want a good return for what you plant. You want to plant only where you know you will get a good yield. So you make a study of the grounds. You examine them carefully to make sure they re worthy of the seed. Are there crows nearby? The birds will eat it all up. Well, it would be foolish to sow the seed there. Is the ground 5

6 shallow and rocky? The sun will rise and wither the plant as soon as it sprouts. There s no way it would do any good. Well, it really wouldn t make sense to plant seed there. Is it a rough-looking field? Is it covered by a tangled mess of thorns? Well, surely the thorns will choke out the seed. It would be very injudicious to cast seed on that ground, looking the way it does. So you pick out one seed at a time. And you clutch the News of the Gospel between your fingers until you find a spot of ground you think is worthy of the sowing. But we re not just scanty sowers with the Gospel. What about in the giving of money for the furthering of the Kingdom? What about in the giving of your time to the homebound brother or sister in Christ? What about in the giving of your attention to the stranger? What about in the sharing of your talents? No, you re very careful with these things. We don t want to be extravagant. You want to make sure that you keep plenty back. You want to make sure that you have plenty left in the satchel. Casting the gifts God has given you is a very reckless thing! Just imagine would it could lead to! It could lead to disciples leaving everything behind to follow a Teacher. How reckless! It could lead to the preaching of forgiveness by men who would not be stopped by whip, or prison, or sword. How imprudent! It could lead to a group of people sharing everything they have so that no one in their midst lacked anything. How irresponsible! It could lead to a woman 6

7 pouring perfume worth a year s wages on the feet of One whom she loved! What a waste! You see, this parable is a remarkably accurate metaphor for life. The parable isn t about you. It s about a wild and a reckless Sower. Life isn t about you. It s about Jesus. It s about a wild and reckless God who spares no expense for His creation, who spares no expense for you. It s about a God who gives and gives and gives some more. Mercy upon mercy. Grace upon grace! And it s about a God who calls you to be His reckless steward. So go ahead. Be reckless. Be careless. Be wild and join the evangelism team. Be reckless and donate those savings to a struggling seminarian. Be wild and give up your golf day to host a small group Bible study. Pour out your riches on Jesus feet. Don t be stingy in your discipleship. Plunge both hands into the satchel. Cast the seed He gives you far and wide, by the fistful and then by the bucketful. That s the type of Sower God is. And by His reckless grace, that s the type of sower you are too. Amen. 7