Finding the Crack
It is that time of year when incredibly stubborn plants, usually weeds, grow in the cracks in my driveway. Don’t they know that they are not supposed to do that? Can’t they figure out that the reason so much concrete was poured there was to keep anything from growing in that space? Don’t they know that just three or four feet away, there is grass… and dirt… and the opportunity to survive for a season… because if they stay where they are, I’m coming tomorrow with my “Round-Up” spray.
That said, I will say that plants that defy all logic like that fascinate me. I love those plants that grow out of rocks on the sides of mountains. I love the flowers that grow in tiny clusters in high mountain passes where the snow falls early and the ice stays late. I love the trees that grow in water… or out of sides of steep cliffs. And, most of all, I love weeds that spring up in unexpected places and have the audacity to bloom in a city block that cannot grow grass… in highway medians choked by car fumes… and in those tiny cracks in the driveway where nothing should grow at all. What are the odds that the seeds from which they grew would have found soil with enough nutrients to support growth… enough water to sustain life… and remain undisturbed long enough to push above the ground and bloom? I silently applaud each weed in my driveway as I yank it out by its roots and spray the spot where it was… taking the time to quote Ecclesiastes 3:2 to it as I go: “There is time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted. It’s your time, Baby.”
Why is it that the flowers we most enjoy as a child are considered weeds by the adults in the world? Who among us, as a toddler, did not collect a handful of bright yellow dandelions for our mothers… or laugh with delight when we watched her blow the seeds away when those yellow dandelions turned into white puff-balls of seeds? Who among us has not marveled at the delicate tracery of Queen Anne’s Lace in a field of untamed growth… or smiled at a patch of white daisies stubbornly ringing a fencepost in the middle of nowhere? The beauty and tenacity of weeds might explain why daisies are my favorite flower.
Jesus’ parable today is about the kingdom of God. One could argue that Jesus’ whole purpose in life was to tell us about the kingdom of God and to show us, in ever more vivid ways, what the kingdom of God was meant to be. In today’s text, Jesus compares the kingdom to a sower going out and sowing seed. But in the days to come, he will compare the kingdom of God to a mustard seed… to yeast… to a treasure in a field… to a merchant in search of pearls… a net cast into the sea… to a landowner with a vineyard. Indeed, Matthew has more “the kingdom is like” stories than any other gospel. And one might argue that we never “got it,” so the ultimate story of the extravagant love and grace of God was finally vividly told in Jesus’ death and resurrection. And, still, some of us don’t get it. What does it take, I wonder?
“Listen,” Jesus says, “A sower went out to sow.” And the first thing that we can all observe is that the sower is extravagant with the seed. There is no thought of conserving any seed for tomorrow…or of gently planting each seed in carefully prepared soil. No, this sower generously casts the seed and lets it land where it will. Some of it falls upon hard ground and is unable to take root. Some of it falls on shallow ground, and although it initially sprouts, it later withers away. But some seed falls upon good earth and comes to fruition and produces a great harvest. We are supposed to understand, of course, that the sower is God and that the seed is the Word of God which is shared with all through the words of God that are scattered far and wide. The various types of soil, of course, represent us… you and me… everyone who hears the word of God. On the surface of it, of course, it doesn't sound as though God is a very careful… a very frugal farmer. After all, most of the seed that is strewn about never takes root. But this is not really a story about the sower… or even about the seed. It is a story about you and me… the different types of soil into which the seed falls… or to put it another way, the responses of different types of people to all the beauty… the bounty… the wonder… the opportunity… and the extravagant grace that the kingdom has to offer. The question is really, what is the state of our hearts when the seeds are sown? You see, the seeds are not just sown once… at the time when we first heard the gospel and responded to its grace. No. The seeds are always being sown… bountifully and indiscriminately… and they fall upon us sometimes when we are not paying attention… or when we are busy with “other things”… or worse, when perhaps we have decided that the word of God is absent… or does not exist in a certain place. This parable cautions us, for it tells us that the seeds are falling in our lives today and every day… even when our lives… or our hearts… have become too rocky… too shallow… too arid… or too compacted to allow new seeds to take root and grow. With that in mind, let us examine the various conditions of the heart that are mentioned in this story. The first heart mentioned is the hardened heart. And, oh, how easy it is for our hearts to get hardened! Something happens that offends us. Some decision is made that does not fit our vision of mission. Some individual does something that, in our mind, does not fit our ideal of what it means to be Christian. Suddenly, we withdraw. We build walls around our souls and defend ourselves against all comers. Or, in the analogy used in this parable, we pave over the rich soil of our loving hearts and dare any seed to find a crack.
How can new seeds take root in such an environment? How can the word of God thrive in an asphalt heart? In Isaiah 43, God says, “Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing.” Are you looking for the new thing that God is doing in your heart… in this church… or have you decided that you are done with new things… that God is done with you? In Matthew 18, we read that when Peter came to Jesus and asked him, "Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?" And Jesus said to him, "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. And, in Matthew 6, Jesus clearly says, “If you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive you.” Have our hearts been hardened? Have we paved them over so that no seed of God can reach the soil below? Can we afford to allow it to stay that way? Can any of us?
The second heart mentioned is the distracted heart… not that any of us suffers from this in this world. No. Our focus, of course, is on God and God’s action in our lives… not on the constant merry-go-round of activity that occupies our days… or the whirlwind of life we are caught up in Monday through Friday… and sometimes Saturday and Sunday. We really intend to spend time reading God’s word, but today we need to mend that fence… or buy those supplies… or pick up some snacks… watch this documentary… play that video game… call that friend… get some gas… wash the car… take a nap… check our email… see that game… or whatever. It’s not that any of these things that we choose to do with our time are bad… or wrong… but there are times when we give them priority over time with God and time in God’s word. And it seems as though, even when we do set aside time to spend with God, we spend most of it thinking about all the other things we could… or should …be doing instead. How can God’s word speak to us when we are too busy listening to something else? How can the seed of God’s word take root in our hearts when we have crowded it out with so many other things? When will we stop what we are doing long enough to receive the new seeds that God is casting our way? And how will we protect this new growth until it has time to grow roots and bear fruit? The third heart mentioned is the defeated heart. This heart was open and joyful in the past, but now it is bent and broken with all the cares and troubles that have come crashing down upon it. Illness and injury… pain and poverty… harassment and hunger… anger and avarice… death and despair… have all conspired to take the joy from life and burden the soul with care. So we come to believe that the mountain before us is too big for us to climb… its sides too steep and slippery for us to gain a foothold… and we are convinced that there is no hope for the future. The world hates us… we have bad karma… or we are simply not one of God’s chosen ones. Unlike those around us, we are predestined to a life of misery… even God does not love us. What kind of heresy is this? And yet, there are those among us who believe it. There are those among us who believe that John 3:16 was talking about another world… a parallel universe perhaps… another planet, maybe. These individuals believe that God cannot love this world… cannot love them… not so much that God would give his only begotten Son to die for us… for me… or for you… well, certainly not for them! They do not believe Paul, in his letter to the Romans, when he says that the Spirit of God bears witness to our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ… and that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. These individuals are not focused upon God and God’s word at all… their attention is wrapped up in their own lives… and the trial and tribulations that they are experiencing. The suffering and persecution they are experiencing is so great that they cannot even see the pain that is drowning the person next to them. Have we become so self-centered that all of life revolves around us and our problems? Are the tentacles of self-pity choking the life out of the new seeds that God has cast into our lives? How long will our own pity-party continue… until we have driven everyone else away?
But, perhaps I exaggerate… for the parable does talk about the hopeful… the joyful heart, as well… And, perhaps, that is where your heart is now. Perhaps, your heart is open and receptive… waiting for the seeds of life that God is casting to land on rich, fertile land. Perhaps, you have cleared away the weeds that were choking any new growth. Perhaps, you have busted up the concrete that buried your heart below the ground… or hid it behind walls to protect it. Maybe the powerful sun of God’s love has cracked that asphalt enough that some of these new seeds can find the rich soil below. Maybe you are ready to see life differently… to experience the new thing that God has brought in… the new life that God has given. Where is your heart today? Where is mine? Are we ready to receive the gifts that God is giving… the seeds that God is sowing today? Are we ready to try again? Are we open to being hurt again… for that is part of being human… and part of living with other humans? Today, will we castigate and condemn… disparage and destroy… detract from or disregard… wail and whine… weep and whimper? Or… will we reach out and grab those seeds that have been cast to the wind… the seeds that God is sowing today on the breath of the Holy Spirit… and pull them down into our hearts… and bury them in the deep richness of our souls… to water them… shelter them… nurture them… protect them… and to gently coax them to take root and grow… knowing that God is at work through the power of the Holy Spirit… today and every day… showing us the kingdom and inviting us to join him in the work that must be done? Bust up that concrete! Crack that asphalt! See the seeds that God is casting our way! Hear the word that God speaks today! Who knows what that next weed might do in God’s name! Let us be more like little children… reveling in the new growth we see… and less like the grownups that are looking for the “Round-Up” spray. Amen.
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23