The Scripture Readings for this week are:
Isaiah 55:10-13
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
The Sermon Title is Seeds Everywhere!
Early Thoughts: How do we plant? Do we carefully find the best places or do we scatter and hope?
It seems that only a very foolish gardener or farmer would sow seeds like the Sower in this parable. What a waste to scatter seed on the path, or in rocky soil, or among weeds! Well it is unquestionable that sowing by hand can be a challenge -especially on a windy day- in a culture where all sowing is done by hand people would ecome very practiced at ensuring the precious seed went only where it had a good chance of being productive.
THEre are a variety of places we might place ourselves in this parable. Are we the seed, scattered whereever we might fall? Are we the various soils? Are we possibly even the sower? Matthew offers an interpretation of the parable, offered (as the story is written) to a select group in a private time--insider knowledge perhaps? But rarely can it be said that a parable has only one meaning. MAtthew's version has us as the soil, responding to the seed (the Word) in various ways. But what if we see ourselves as the seed? The seed scattered to the world to bear fruit? Or what if we are called to be the profligate sower, spreading our resources broadly, trusting what may happen?
On Sunday we may well explore these various options. It is a parable after all. Parabolic meaning is only found in exploration and testing.
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