Lent: 3/11/09
March 11, 2009
Genesis 42:18-28
1 Corinthians 5:9-6:8
Mark 4:1-20
“Parables”
“And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” –Mark 4:20 (NRSV)
I think that it is a safe assumption that we all are somewhat familiar with the parables of Jesus. Most of us have heard about them in sermons. We have been taught them in Sunday school. We may even read adaptations of them in literature or interpreted in cartoon form. For all we know about the parables of Jesus, perhaps we know too much.
We are conditioned to look for a moral. We have been taught to look of a simple lesson to be learned from such stories. If our past experiences are correct, the moral of Mark 4:1-20 is “be good soil.” But if you think about it…this does not really make much sense. Was the failure of the “path”, “rocky soil”, and the “thorny ground” one of the will? Could they have been “good soil” if they had only tried a little bit harder? Was the failure that of the “sower” who should have been more careful and intentional with his “seed”? Or is the fault of the finicky “seed” that required ideal conditions to germinate and grow? We can ask these sorts of questions all day long, but they never seem to bring us any closer to understanding what Jesus was saying.
This might be because parables (even when an attempt at an interpretation is offered) were not originally intended to bring easy answers. Parables were told to entice the imagination and stimulate the mind. They were intentionally told to shock, puzzle and provoke us into seeing things in a different way. Parables are knotholes in the fence around our world that allow us to look into the Kingdom.
Personally, I think that this parable is an apologetic defense of the extravagant and wasteful ministry of Jesus and by extension ours. Jesus spent his earthly ministry sharing the good news of the kingdom with many who would not or maybe could not receive it. Rather than carefully selecting those like-minded individuals who would understand and respond in a favorable manner, he just flung God’s grace as far and as wide as he could. Why? Because some would fall on “good soil” and the yield of such encounters would transform the world (tenfold would be the best that any farmer would expect but Jesus spoke of thirty and sixty and a hundredfold…WOW!). Ultimately, the course of history would be changed by just a few, but the benefits would affect everyone.
Today we take heart in the words of this parable. We are not responsible for how the gospel is received. We are not charged with carefully planting God’s love where we know it will grow. We are charged only with proclaiming the gospel as hard and as far and as wide and as long as we can. Of course most of it will come to nothing (if we choose to measure it in numbers of baptisms or new church members)! That is not the point. The point is if we are faithful in our evangelistic task, some of the seeds of the gospel will take root and produce yields of biblical proportions. This is enough to make the task more than productive, but vital.
Proclaim the gospel… in all times and in all places.
Preach the gospel… in season and out of season.
Speak the gospel… when it makes sense and when it does not.
Share the gospel… when you are fresh and when you are tired.
Sow the gospel with an extravagant and reckless abandon… and the harvest will come.
Let us pray…
Lord Jesus,
Today I am going to let you be in charge.
I am going to act like you know what you are doing.
I am committing my trust to you and do my best with the hope that you will make up the difference.
Today I am going to share your love with everyone I meet,
and leave the rest up to you. Amen.
