Sunday's Message - Lessons for a New World

Here's the message I offered during the celebration service in the Presbyterian Church of Hopedale, Hopedale, Ohio on Sunday, July 12.

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23, CEV

That same day Jesus left the house and went out beside Lake Galilee, where he sat down to teach. Such large crowds gathered around him that he had to sit in a boat, while the people stood on the shore. Then he taught them many things by using stories. He said:

A farmer went out to scatter seed in a field. While the farmer was scattering the seed, some of it fell along the road and was eaten by birds. Other seeds fell on thin, rocky ground and quickly started growing because the soil wasn’t very deep. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched and dried up, because they did not have enough roots. Some other seeds fell where thornbushes grew up and choked the plants. But a few seeds did fall on good ground where the plants produced a hundred or sixty or thirty times as much as was scattered. If you have ears, pay attention!

Now listen to the meaning of the story about the farmer:

The seeds that fell along the road are the people who hear the message about the kingdom, but don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches the message from their hearts. The seeds that fell on rocky ground are the people who gladly hear the message and accept it right away. But they don’t have deep roots, and they don’t last very long. As soon as life gets hard or the message gets them in trouble, they give up.

The seeds that fell among the thornbushes are also people who hear the message. But they start worrying about the needs of this life and are fooled by the desire to get rich. So the message gets choked out, and they never produce anything. The seeds that fell on good ground are the people who hear and understand the message. They produce as much as a hundred or sixty or thirty times what was planted.


Lessons for a New World

Every morning, I take Coco Channel for a walk. And right after I leave my daily “A Joke from Dad” on Instagram, I listen to “Golic and Wingo” on ESPN radio. Now that’s my daily routine. And for the last month or so, Progressive has been running these commercials that starts with the announcer saying “Sounds from the Old World.” And then a woman says something like, “Baker, party of four. Baker, party of four. Baker, party of...oh there you are.” And at the very end, the announcer says, “You’ve just been listening to sounds from the Old World, brought to you by Progressive, saving customers money since 2019.” Now that’s the commercial.

And I’ve got to admit, I find it really clever, because given what we’re facing right now, just waiting to be seated at a restaurant seems like some relic from the past. I mean, we’ve been through an awful lot in these last five months or so. COVID-19 has changed everything. At least it has for now, and so much of what we just took for granted last year this time isn’t happening and probably won’t be happening in the near future. But I think we’d all agree that this probably won’t be the case after we develop a vaccine. I mean, even though some things may never be exactly the same, when that happens, we’ll return to something that’s a heck of a lot closer to normal than it is right now.

And I’ll tell you, when that happens, we’ll be able to look back for all the lessons that this shared experience might have for us. I mean, good night nurse, COVID-19 and how we responded can teach us an awful lot, can’t it? For example, I think we’ve all learned that surviving a global pandemic is tough. Let’s face it, it’s not like getting through the flu-season, something folks were saying back in February. This is something we’ll remember. And as the recent spikes in Texas and Florida have shown us, you just can’t hurry through the process, at least, not without paying some very unpleasant consequences. That’s something else I think we’ve learned. But along with that, I think we’re also learning that in spite of the mistakes we’ve made along the way, we are really fortunate to have some really, and I mean really smart people all over the world working to fight this disease. And you know, I don’t know about y’all, but I’m absolutely convinced that within six months, not only will we have better treatments, but we’ll have a vaccine. At least, that’s what I believe. And I’ll tell y’all, those are just three things I think we’ll be taking with us into the future, lessons that we can and should be learning right now.

And you know, it’s interesting; the passage we’re looking at this morning is also about some other lessons that we can take into the future. Of course, I’m talking about the parable Jesus gave about the farmer scattering seeds and the interpretation he offered his disciples a little bit later. You see, in these verses, I think Jesus offered them and offers us three pretty important lessons about what being a Christian is all about, and in particular, what it’s going to take to share the good news. And I’ll tell you, these are lessons that I think we need to take in and allow to shape how we see ourselves disciples.

For example, first, I think Jesus was really clear that sharing the good news requires some effort on our part, and understand, I’m not just talking about folks who are actually talking about their faith or rolling up their sleeves and putting what they believe into real, tangible action. No, this is something that I believe applies to all of us. You see, according to the parable and its explanation, we’re all like farmers sowing seed; that’s what we’ve been called and equipped to do. But you know, when you consider what he said, Jesus really didn’t define how it’s done. I mean, what does it mean to scatter the seed? Of course, I think we can get a good idea about what it involves when we read the end of the Gospel, a passage I think we’ve looked at before. “Jesus’ eleven disciples went to a mountain in Galilee, where Jesus had told them to meet him. They saw him and worshiped him, but some of them doubted. Jesus came to them and said: ‘I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth! Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to do everything I have told you. I will be with you always, even until the end of the world.’” [Matthew 28:16-20, CEV] Now that’s the job he gave his disciples.

And brothers and sisters, I think that’s our job too. And I’ll tell you, it can be accomplished by taking some pretty dramatic action, you know, like verbally sharing the gospel to as many people as we can or by showing that we really believe that a nation is judged by how it treats the hungry and the sick and the stranger. Man, we can do that kind of thing. Or we can reduce our field to our community or to our family or to one other person. Now also that’s possible. But even if we don’t feel comfortable doing that kind of thing ourselves, we can make the decision to support those who do, and I’m talking about those who, through their words and work, actually scatter the seeds in the field. That’s an option too. And so we certainly have more than one possible course of action.  But take it to the bank, the one thing all three have in common is that we really have to decide to do something, in other words, to use the time and the talents and maybe the money we have to act. And doing that, that demands an effort on our part, because let’s face it, the easiest thing that we can do is to do nothing at all. And so, as we look for the lessons in this passage, I think the first one clear: Letting people know about Jesus requires effort.

And as to the second one, well, I think that involves a virtue that I know I struggle with. You see, according to what Jesus taught, letting people know about him, man, that requires patience. I mean, just think about what Jesus said in the parable. As the sower is doing his thing, three quarters of the seeds fall on places that are bad for plants, and I’m talking about roads and shallow ground and soil that’s full of weeds. And in his explanation, Jesus was clear about what these soils represent. Remember, he said, “The seeds that fell along the road are the people who hear the message about the kingdom, but don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches the message from their hearts. The seeds that fell on rocky ground are the people who gladly hear the message and accept it right away. But they don’t have deep roots, and they don’t last very long. As soon as life gets hard or the message gets them in trouble, they give up. The seeds that fell among thethornbushes are also people who hear the message. But they start worrying about the needs of this life and are fooled by the desire to get rich. So the message gets choked out, and they never produce anything.”  [Matthew 13:19-22, CEV] Now that’s what he said, and I’ll guarantee, if we close our eyes, we can probably visualize at least one person who fits into each soil type. And my friends, like it or not, that is our field.

And to work in that field, man, it’s going to take patience to keep scattering, fully aware that a whole mess of our time and our talent and our money will result in nothing positive. And just knowing this, it’s going to take a whole lot of patience to keep going and not just to throw up our hands and start blaming the soil or the seeds or maybe worst of all, ourselves. Of course, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t learn to do our scattering more effectively; that’s what personal growth is all about. Still, our job isn’t to work the soil in the way we think it should be worked. And it sure isn’t to develop a bunch of hybrid seeds that we’re convinced will grow better on asphalt. No, our job is to scatter the seeds we’ve been given and I’m talking about the good news about Jesus Christ, and to do it in the world that we’ve got and not necessarily the one we want. And that my friends isn’t going to be easy. It’s going to demand that we develop some endurance, to say nothing of a thick skin. And so, as we look for the lessons in this passage, I think the second one is also clear but not all that exciting: Letting people know about Jesus requires patience.

And as to the last lesson in these verses, well, if the second one isn’t all that exciting, in my opinion the third one certainly is. You see, I believe letting people know about Jesus requires focus, and in particular, a laser beam focus on that fourth type of soil. Remember, Jesus said, “But a few seeds did fall on good ground where the plants produced a hundred or sixty or thirty times as much as was scattered.” [Matthew 13:8, CEV] And as he explained what this meant, he said to his disciples, “The seeds that fell on good ground are the people who hear and understand the message. They produce as much as a hundred or sixty or thirty times what was planted.” [Matthew 13:23, CEV]

Now that’s what Jesus taught, and just think about what that means. Let’s face it, scattering seed, sharing the gospel regardless of how we do it, man, it demands a genuine effort on our part.  And given the fact that we’re doing it in a world where three quarters of the people whom we’ll encounter are not going to be receptive or strong or productive; to keep pitching, in that kind of game, it demands real patience. And for that reason, I think it’s important to focus on those few seeds that fall on good soil, in other words, on those folks whom God has already prepared to hear and to understand and to respond and who are champing at the bit to get going. You see, before we give up or start playing fast and loose with the message, these are the folks on whom we need to concentrate our attention, because when we see what God can do through them, man, it’s going to make our efforts and our patience all worthwhile. And we’ll be able to keep going, to keep doing what God has called us to do, trusting that the coming harvest is secure. And so, as we look for lessons in this passage, I think this third one can make all the difference: Letting people know about Jesus requires focus.

Now, like I said a little while ago, the time’s coming when we’re going to hear all those “Sounds from the Old World” again, because eventually this pandemic will pass. And based on what we’ve gone through so far, including the recent spikes, I sure hope we’ve all learned, particularly our leaders, that, one, getting through a pandemic is never a cake walk and that, two, opening everything too soon may only make things worse and that, three, this too will pass. In other words, this pandemic will come to an end, because they always have and given our accumulated knowledge, we’re in a much better place than when our ancestors struggled through the bubonic plague or small pox or polio or even the Spanish flu. I mean, even if we do something incredibly irresponsible or downright stupid, we’re going come out the other side. You see, I think these are some of the lessons from that we can learn.

And as it relates to the lessons offered in this parable and the explanation that followed, a passage that dealt with the job we’ve been given as followers of Jesus Christ, I hope we take seriously the three lessons he gives us right here, that letting people know about Jesus requires, first, effort and second, patience and third, focus. And I’ll tell you, these lesson we can claim regardless of the world within which we live.