If you push past some religious snobbery and gatekeeping here, Jesus’ parable about a farmer who scatters seed is going to be a real challenge besides a cute nature lesson on more than one level. Maybe that’s why he told it from a boat, so he could make a fast getaway if needed. Earlier that day he had a small tangle with religious lawyers and then even dismissed his own mother and brothers as being family to him. So yeah, that dinghy he sat on gave him good acoustics for the immense crowd to hear him and a clear view in case somebody tried something slick.

Surface Soil

Like most of Jesus’ stories told to illustrate a moral or spiritual premise, on the surface it sounds simple enough. For the disciples especially, it answers the question as to why some people don’t get it. The Pharisees didn’t get it. His own family had their doubts about what he was doing. Even John the Baptist of all people had questioned if he was the Messiah. (Matthew 11:2-11) In all of them, there were enough questions to go beyond honest doubt to full rejection of Jesus’ message and claims. His story prepared his followers for what’s coming in their mission.

It’s a familiar setting, both in that context so heavily dependent on agricultural processes as well as for the dedicated organic gardener of today. Seeds have to be planted. But this farmer? He’s either sloppy or overly generous with his seeding. He just throws it out and lets the seed fall where it may. Some hits the footpath, some in shallow rocky soil, some gets swallowed right between thorns, thistles and weeds, and some in really premium loamy dirt. No surprise which seed thrives and produces a good crop. The wild part is how the good-soil seeds multiply to the point of thirty, sixty, even a hundred times what was planted in total, including those seeds that landed in poor dirt. In the end, the farmer did not work so hard. Just broadcast the seed everywhere he can, and the return of his labor still will be great. Bring in the harvest!

But Jesus wasn’t moonlighting as a divine agricultural extension agent. Granted, he could spin a good yarn, particularly when it ended well for all concerned. But his stories have layers. Almost used to that, the disciples ask why he couched his message in these kinds of stories. Jesus commends them for asking because they want to know what’s behind them, what's the meaning Jesus is giving in teaching this way. He had his reasons, some of them based in knowing how people remember the illustrations in sermons more so than the message, and some in being able to hide in the stories meanings from those who would twist them, use it against him. He breaks it down.

Soil Depth

The seed? That’s the Good News — God loves this world and wants real relationship. But this world is messy. People get caught up in stress, drama, chasing money and status, “the cares of this life..” Simply put, for some it doesn’t take root and dies off.

Ok, that’s a message for the top twelve. Fast-forward into today’s context. Who gets to hear this parable? Mostly those who have heard and accepted Jesus’ message, who make themselves familiar with his proclamation, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) It’s a call to both abundant life and eternal life, and all who call upon Jesus’ name will be “saved”, saved from the worst of themselves and saved to know the best of themselves as created by God. Saying this to the disciples and saying this to the “saved” sounds like it’s a big secret, insider info. The seeds on the bad soil don’t get it, and those who reject Jesus won’t know it. That’s the tension: hearing the story doesn’t guarantee understanding.

Deep Soil Work

Ok, back up a little. The seed didn’t do well in the poor soil, and the seed which fell on good soil thrived. Anyone who has puttered in a garden understands that good soil doesn’t usually just happen. You have to work it. Hard work it is. It means getting down in the dirt and pulling those weeds, struggling with rocks and stones, and lots of hoeing. More so, dirt needs support and raked into it must be the best forms of composting, aged leaves and grasses, vegetable peelings, and good baking in the sun for time to help it decompose. Building good soil is back-breaking, sweaty, dirty work. It’s more than a notion to get soil fertile enough where the tiniest seed can sprout and grow. The farmer can throw out any amount of seed and hope for the best, but if it’s a good harvest you want, you have to put the work in.

So, is this story then about the soil? Or the farmer?

The Smug Check

Whoops! Anyone out there ever thinking, “I’m saved, I’m good,” ticket to heaven punched, you’re in, and that’s all you need? Then this parable is NOT for your liking. Jesus is calling out folks who think they can play in the good dirt and not get dirty in those last places a Jesus-fearer should be. Good soil means getting dirty in the places you’d rather avoid.

It means walking those footpaths that feel like concrete alongside others who find life just as tough. It means making friends with the loud ones, the messy ones, those who would rob you blind and not think a thing of it. It means drying the tears of those who have found themselves in life situations never imaginable and sharing counsel so rocky times are made smoother. It means watching out for those who travel in dangerous lifestyles where slippery slopes can take a person into deep fathoms. It means taking big risks in generous living so Good News seeds can actually land somewhere.

Yes, it’s risky but no less risky than what Jesus did himself. He rolled with tax collectors and prostitutes, the least, last and lost, children and the child-like .  He told people go the extra mile for those in need, turn the other cheek toward one from whom you could require revenge, forgive seventy times seven, and love your neighbor but especially your enemy.

Throw the Seed Anyway

God doesn’t ration grace to the safe and secure, the ones who will give good return on crops planted. So throw out that seed far and wide. Good soil, bad soil, hopeless soil, even dangerous soil. Be there in the middle of it. Fight against whatever keeps people from knowing and understanding God’s mercy and grace. 

May the kind of soil you work and the kind of soil you are grow a wild, abundant harvest for the love of Jesus.

“Anyone who is willing to hear should listen and understand!”

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

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The Trouble with Jesus: Considerations Before You Walk Away by Constance Hastings

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