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An old Native American tale states that one day an opossum visited his good friend, a raccoon, at his home near the river. The opossum marveled at his friend’s lush garden and asked if he could grow one like it. The raccoon assured his friend that he could do so while cautioning him, “It is hard work.”
The opossum eagerly vowed to do the hard work necessary, then asked for and received some seeds. He rushed home with his treasure, buried them amid much laughter and song, went inside to clean up, ate, and went to bed. The next morning the opossum leapt from bed to see his new garden.
Nothing. The ground looked no different than the day before!
Furious with anger and frustration, the opossum shouted at his buried seeds, “GROW SEEDS GROW!” He pounded the ground and stomped his feet. But nothing happened. Soon a large crowd of forest animals gathered to see who was making all the commotion and why.
The opossum’s good friend the raccoon came to investigate with all the others. He asked, “What are you doing? Your racket has awakened the whole forest.” The opossum railed about having no garden, then turned to each seed, and commanded it to grow. When the animals began to mock the opossum for his silly actions, he only screamed louder. At last the raccoon spoke up once more.
“Wait a minute, Possum, he said, “You can’t make the seeds grow. You can only make sure they get sun and water, then watch them do their work. The life is in the seed, not in you.”
As the truth sank in, the opossum ceased his yelling and began to care for the seeds as the raccoon instructed, watering them regularly and getting rid of any weeds that invaded the garden. (On some days though, when no one was watching, he still shouted a bit.)
Then one glorious morning the opossum wandered outside to see that multitudes of beautiful green sprouts dotted his garden. Just a few days’ later, gorgeous flowers began to bloom. With uncontrollable excitement and price, the opossum ran to his friend, the raccoon, and asked him to witness the miracle. The raccoon took one long look at the thriving garden and said, “You see, Opossum, all you had to do was let the seeds do the work while you watched.”
“Yes,” smiled the opossum, finally remembering the wise words of his friend the raccoon many days before, “but it’s a hard job watching a seed work.”
Open your Bible to Matthew 13:1-9.
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. And great crowds gathered about Jesus, so that he got into a boat and sat there; and the whole crowd stood on the beach. And Jesus told them many things in parables saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched; and since they had no root they withered away. Other seeds fell upon thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundred fold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.”
In studying Jesus, His Words are always like a picture as Jesus spoke of camel’s creeping through the hole of a needle
(MATT 19:24), and, before you judge another remove the speck from your own eye so that you may see clearer (MATT. 7:5) and of the yeast of the Pharisees (Mark 8:15).
Jesus liked to tell His stories in “Parables,” such as this morning’s Scripture Lesson, which is a real-life story from which one or two basic truths are drawn.
In this morning’s parable of the sower, the seeds and the soils, the parable accurately reflects the sowing process done by a Galatian farmer in New Testament times.
In the Year 2008, the farmer makes sure they have enough gas for their tractor and hooks the tractor up to a plow so they may plow, plant and fertilize their seeds as they grow in the field.
In the Galatian era the farmer did just the opposite, as they scattered seeds
indiscriminately and then they came later and plowed the seed under.
Lets examine this mornings parable beginning with Matthew 13:1-2, which is God speaking of the beginning of time when God made heaven and earth.
In Matthew 13:3, what Jesus is addressing is; God is the sower, the seed is the Kingdom, and the soil is one’s heart.
Listen: Jesus told many parables, saying:
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. And great crowds gathered about Jesus, so Jesus got into a boat and sat there; and the whole crowd stood on the beach. And Jesus told them many things in a short true story saying:
God went out to sow. And as God sowed, some of the Kingdom of God fell along a hard heart, and evil came and devoured them. Other parts of the Kingdom of God fell on shallow hearts and as the Kingdom of God sank in it was only to a shallow depth. Other parts of the Kingdom of God fell upon a heart strangled by things of this world and the things of this world strangled the spiritual and the spiritual went by the wayside. Other parts of the Kingdom of God fell on an open heart that was open to the Kingdom of God and that individual grew in the Word of God and their life was enlightened and made richer not by that of this world but by God’s presence in their heart.
He who has an open heart let him hear the Kingdom of God.
So what does this have to do with me at this very moment in my life? How does this apply to me? It applies with an e-mail I received recently. “When we was at the hotel, there was these construction workers, Debbie and David bought a gas grill, they needed a new one at home, but while we was there, we decided to use it. The guys seen us, On my God, we must of looked like a bunch of hillbilly’s, we put our tables out in the handicap parking spot with lawn chairs, we had place mats, decorative ones too, we acted like we was home, the first couple days we got looked at like we was nuts!!!! (well we are) by the 3rd day the workers were eating with us, laughing, joking, sitting outside enjoying the sunset and just felt like we knew each other, an it was so funny, they asked us, “Why are you being so nice to us?” We cooked, we cleaned up and it went on clear to the last night. They was strangers, but time we left we knew a part of each one of their lives, we may never see them again, but I felt God was there, showing us what these guys needed, they had families at home, who they don’t see much of, maybe every 2-4 weeks they get home for couple days, they called home nightly on cell phones, but it wasn’t the same. As we sat on the “Veronda” waiting for them, waving as they rolled in, whether it was 7PM or 9:30PM, they knew we would be there waiting for them, and it felt good, to make a difference in a person’s live, besides your own family or friends.”
In 2008, Jesus (through David and Debbie and Denise) sat in a parking lot in Missouri as the construction workers came to be fed, in the seed of God through an act of love and food. They did not recognize God through His work of sowing a seed through His children and right there in that parking lot were hearts of various aspects of life that were being sown the seed of God. Where they were at that time in their life God only knew but they kept returning to be fed more and their hearts were taken back by the love from someone they did not recognize in the night; ‘Jesus’, in an act of unconditional love.
You see the beauty in this story that Denise shared with me is that God knows what the soil before Him is like but God does not give up trying to sow the seed of Kingdom of God within us.
Some hearts have been hardened on the path of life by sin, rejection, pain that is unbearable. Some hearts have had rejection, maybe by family, a love one, life, and they fall away for in the words of God, they were never born again to be a child of God. Things of this world and their being choked of have strangled some hearts from the meaning, the importance of life, a gradual process that consumes and chokes life out of them.
Did you notice the title of this sermon? The sower, that is you and I, not a big tractor full of gasoline pulling a plow and or a planter, the seed, not that which you buy to plant in the earth. The seed is the love of God within our own heart that we plant in another’s heart by our actions:
‘Oh my God, we must have looked like a bunch of hillbilly’s, we put our table out into the handicap parking spot with the lawn chairs, we had place mats, decorative ones too, we acted like we was home, the first couple days we got looked at like we was nuts!!!! (well we are)’
And the souloil, what you asked is this? Where did Pastor Walter come up with that wording? What is a “souloil?”
‘by the 3rd day the workers was eating with us, laughing, joking, sitting outside enjoying the sunset and just felt like we knew each other, an it was so funny, they asked us, Why are you being so nice to us?.
David, Debbie and Denise reached out and touched these construction workers souls and in the process planted a seed in their soul’s soil. Thus they cultivated their souloil
(s{oul}oil) and the construction workers, like many in this world, who were far from home, felt at home in the presence of God’s unconditional love for them.
The sower, the seed and the souloil have one something in common,
‘as we sat on the “Veronda” waiting for them, waving as they rolled in, whether it was
7:00 PM or 9:30 PM, they knew we would be there waiting for them….’
“Jesus is calling; calling for you and for me to come home, you who are weary come home.”
And for some the only way their hearts, (the soil they walk upon), may hear Jesus’ call is by our actions. Our actions, which may be the only sermon, they will see or hear. “Why are you being so nice to us?” AKA, “What’s the catch here, what do you want?”
Matthew 13:9: “He who has ears, let him hear,” not necessarily ears on our head to hear with but within our hearts to hear the unconditional love and acceptance of who I am, not what I have. In the closing of Denise’s e-mail to me,
“and it felt good, to make a difference in a persons life, besides your own family or friends.”
We, you and I, are being called by God to go out and sow the Kingdom of God among those we meet and to remember our sermon text, Matthew 13:18-23:
“Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in his heart; this is what was sown along the path. As what was sown on rocky ground, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, he immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is he who hears the word but the cars of the world and the delight in the riches choke the word, and prove it to be unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is he who hears the word and understands it; he indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.
“My God, they act like they’ve never ate before.” It doesn’t matter if we are speaking brownies or hot dogs and hamburgers. What matters is that they are being fed the word of God by our actions of unconditional love.
“by the 3rd day the workers was eating with us, laughing, joking, sitting outside and just felt like we all knew each other,”
Genesis 1:12-13:
The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its own kind. And God saw that is was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.
Let us pray,
Father God in this world may we remember you are the Potter and we are the clay. In your wisdom you mold us and shape us to serve you unto this world. Thank you for David and Debbie and Denise who stepped out into the parking lot of life to be a sower of the seed of you God in the souloil of those they met. Some may say, “but it’s a hard job watching a seed work.” May each and every one of us follow this act of love in our lives and know that the reward is not what we see with the naked eye. The reward is yet to come but it is worth the wait. Amen
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