Matthew 13:24-30

[Jesus] put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field, but while everybody was asleep an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he replied, ‘No, for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’ ”

Parables leave much to be desired. They are often unclear, leaving us with more doubt than certainty on their meaning. They are evocative, yet simple, using common elements from everyday life. Most parables don’t come with interpretations, which is why I didn’t read the one assigned with this text. Interpretations were often added later, much like the one given for our parable today and they can veer from the parable itself, allegorizing or assigning emphasis in a way that it wasn’t meant to. And so if we take the parable just as it is, we wonder “what is it about”?

Perhaps it's about evil. Even without the interpretation, its not a stretch for someone to read the weeds as bad things and the enemy as the devil. Yet, if its about evil, we don’t really get answers to the questions we might have. Surely it's not as simple as God wasn’t paying attention and the devil saw an opportunity. And nowhere in the parable are we told why evil is still a present force. If anything the parable simply confirms our experience in the world, that evil does in fact exist. We see it, we’ve experienced it, and if we’re honest we’ve likely participated in it, knowingly or unknowingly.

So if the parable isn’t about evil, what else then?

Perhaps it’s about who gets into heaven. Are we wheat or are we weeds? That’s what we really want to know after all: am I going to the barn or the burn pile? But this raises even more questions than the problem of evil. Is it eternally decided that you are a grain of wheat or a weed? How can you know? If you are a weed, is there any way to become wheat or vice versa? Science and gardeners would say no. You can’t plant an onion and get a tomato. So how could that ever be fair? If that's what the parable is about, God seems to be nothing more than an unjust gardener.

Yet, I don’t think that’s what this parable is about either..

More than anything, the parable is about ambiguity, decisions, and hope. The sower had a choice: pull the weeds and risk the wheat, or wait and live with the weeds growing right there beside the wheat. We too live in a world full of good and bad, wheat and weeds. And every month, every week, every day we are faced with decisions where the answers or the right choice isn’t so clear.

The parable exemplifies this more than we English readers realize. The word for “weeds” here does not apply to just any old weed, but rather something more specific. In Greek, the word is zizanion which is a type of weed we call darnel. Darnel looks just like wheat.

Take a look at this picture. Can you tell which is wheat and which is darnel?... When both crops are unripe and green, you can hardly tell the difference between them. When they are ripe, the seed of the darnel becomes darker than the wheat. If one consumes a lot of darnel, it is poisonous, causing awful damage to one’s insides, sometimes resulting in death. It can be a deadly error, mistaking weeds for wheat and yet it can be so hard to tell them apart.

The same is true in our own lives no? It can be so hard to tell the difference between right and wrong, good and bad, the just choice vs the unjust. Yet, we still have to make decisions:

Do I take this new job thats full of potential and uncertainty or do I stay in the life sucking, yet stable job that I’m in now?

Do I help my addict family member and if so how? Money? A place to stay? And yet will my family be safe?

Do I continue treatment that's worse than the disease or do I cut my life short?

Do I go to the school that’s the best or the most affordable?

Do I approach that family member, that friend about what they said or did or do I keep the peace?

Some decisions are harder than others no doubt. And often it’ll take time to know if we made the right choice, if we get to know that at all in this lifetime. What we do know is that we won’t always make the right decisions. As a congregation, in your families, and for yourself, we haven’t and we won’t always get it right. In thinking we are doing something good, we will pull wheat instead of weeds. And just when we think our crop is nothing but darnel, the harvest turns out to be the most beautiful wheat.

The decisions we face are difficult. The promise in this parable isn’t that because of our faith we will always make the right decision; Nor is the promise that our decisions are easier for us than for anyone else. And that's okay… because the truth is we aren't saved by our decisions, but by the grace of Jesus. The promise, then, of this parable is that regardless of our decisions, right and wrong, somehow God will sort it all out in the end.

That’s the hope by which we are saved, as Saint Paul says, meaning we need not fret or worry about every decision we get right or wrong. Instead, we are freed by grace: to live in the moment, to make our reverent best guess, and to trust that the only absolute in this life is the absolution we receive every time we confess when we got it wrong, just like we did today.

I am reminded of one of my favorite poems, one by Boris Novak aptly titled Decisions. He writes,

“Between two words

choose the quieter one.

Between word and silence

choose listening.

Between two books

choose the dustier one.

Between the earth and the sky

choose a bird.

Between two animals

choose the one who needs you more.

Between two children

choose both.

Between the lesser and the bigger evil

choose neither.

Between hope and despair

choose hope:

it will be harder to bear.”

Regardless of what decisions are before you or the ones you’ve already made, do not despair.

Choose hope, trusting not in your own decisions, but in the grace of Jesus, and believing that God will sort it all out in the end, judging not with fairness, but with mercy and love. Amen.

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on a path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, 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 among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. If you have ears, hear!”

“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 the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet such a person has no root but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

Today we are going to be talking about soil; and at the very same time, we are going to be talking about our minds and imaginations. The activity of “cultivating” applies equally – quite poetically – to both. We have here in Matthew the very familiar parable of the sower; though perhaps is should be called more accurately “The Parable of Four Soils”.

Jesus says to the crowd, “a sower went out to sow, and lots of the seed did not find fertile ground and grow, or it germinated briefly but was not able to flourish. Some of the seed did find fertile ground, and in some places the soil was Excellent and the yield was 100 fold. In other places the soil was very good and the yield was 60 fold. In other places, the soil was pretty good and the yield was 30 fold.”

Jesus makes clear here that the seed is the Word of the kingdom of God. I love how this seed is spread indiscrimately. The sower does not focus their efforts merely on the excellent soil, but instead gives it away to all kinds of soils in all kinds of places. This is good news! Rejoice! The Word of God, Jesus Christ himself, is for all people.

The focus of this parable, though, is not on the seed or the sower. It is on the soils; it is a parable about reception, about receiving and bearing the fruit of the Kin-dom of God. Jesus describes four possible kinds of soils for us, that represent four different states of mind and heart.

The first three soils result in failed harvests:

1. The Path: The Word is not understood, so it is taken from us and has no effect.

2. The Rocky Soil: The Word is received with joy, and it takes root, but, alas, the roots of the Word are not deep enough to endure.

3. The Thorny Soil: Here the distractions of the world and money choke the Word of God out.

The Word is not able to grow and flourish in these three soils, or in people with these qualities of mind. Lets think for a min about why that might be:

The Path is too hard and inflexible, it has been treaded down solid – perhaps in our analogy between soil and mind, this is someone whose mind is made up. Nothing grows in the path because it is too compressed. Water rolls right off. Even if a plant springs up, it is crushed underfoot. There is no way into this ground.

The Rocky soil is too shallow – the quality of the soil might be fine, as we are told the seed germinates, but it is not deep enough or broad enough to sustain lasting and enduring growth. This is a mind that is perhaps open to be persuaded by new insights or welcomes different perspectives, but it does not go deep enough to bring forth fruitful and faithful action.

The Thorny Soil is too crowded – is obviously soil that can sustain an abundance of life – yet, it is not growing edibles but weeds. Thorns are rooted so deep and are so broadly plentiful in that there is no space for a new seed to grow, a new idea to flourish. This is a person who is distracted by life.

Then we have the fourth soil,

4. The Good Soil:

Jesus explains, “But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit”.

This soil or person hears the Word of God and, unlike the other three soils:

i. a) understands it,

ii. b) allows it to take deep root,

iii. c) grows and endures through the seasons, and

iv. d) bears fruit for harvest.

b. **the reception of the Word bears forth in growth, action, change. Good soil does not merely receive the seed, but creates the conditions for flourishing.

So obviously we want to be good soil; but what if we are not good soil? What if we are hard soil? Or shallow soil? Or crowded soil?

Something that I think can be overlooked in this passage is that the parable never says that the soil is destined to stay how it is described. As the gardeners and farmers in the room know, good soil can be cultivated.

It is slow, hard work. It depends on a multitude of other creatures and processes to assist the farmer’s or gardener’s efforts – the cycle of decay and renewal, the presence of bugs, worms and microbes breaking down organic materials, plants that add nutriance back into the soil, rainfall, and merely time. But it can be done.

I have a spot in my backyard, just under my kitchen window that is SOLID CLAY. Weeding this portion of the yard is tough and thus it is currently fully of weeds…because I have children. When it rains this section becomes a standing pond because the water does not penetrate easily.

Last fall, however, I did have one weekend to devote to a very small section of this clay. I spent two exhausting days digging up the bed, pulling out the seeming miles of weedy vines underground, sifting through it to pull up rocks, ammending the soil with manure. This summer, unlike the section right under my window, I have a three foot garden bed where my peonies are flourishing.

Similarly, this parable is calling the Christian disciple to do the hard work to become good soil. The Path need not stay compacted, the rocky soil can increase its depth, and the thorny soil can be weeded. Afterall, that is why Jesus calls us to become disciples, students; to learn and grow into his image by the power of the Spirit.

This summer we have been focusing on hearing God’s Word in New ways, but not just from this pulpit: we have also been doing individual work of plowing and tilling our imaginations to understand the implications of the gospel in light of the current racial and economic disparities in our country. Pastor Cogan, for example, just began a book study this last week on the book Caste. A group of you attended racial equity training. Many others have picked up a great variety of adult and children’s books from the Narthex.

This is an amazing start. It is timely for us, then, to hear this parable as the summer is coming to an end. In what condition is the ground of your mind and my mind? What will be the “harvest” of our congregation’s focused concern with race and racism? Will we have a harvest?

Will our congregation be like The Path, where these new perspectives “roll off like water on a rock?” Are we as a community compacted so tight that we cannot be opened up by new loves, new concerns? Will our congregation be like The Rocky ground where we receive these various books and sermons with joy, yet do not able to allow it to root deeply enough to endure over the long haul? Or will our congregation be like the Thorny Ground and eventually get distracted? Or bored? It is easy to feel fatigue wrestling with issues that feel impossibly large. Can we avoid it?

This summer is mainly about the first step towards becoming good soil – understanding this Word, hearing the gospel in voices from the margins, taking off the blinders of our minds and hearts. If by grace we are enabled to do this, we have successfully avoided become like the soil of The Path. We have been opened up and turned over, air and light and nutrients have been added in. But, will we allow it to penetrate deep into our community?

I have faith that if we continue to attempt to cultivate our minds, hearts and lives we can become good soil; this is because the grace of the Spirit to take our mere graspings and bear fruit for God’s kingdom. The Spirit of Christ is eager to partner with us in this truly life-long project. So when the books have been read and the summer class over, how do we continue to cultivate imaginations to be able to think expansively and inclusively from multiple perspectives? This will involve the typical suspects – volunteering, advocacy, voting, and serving our community – but it may also involve something you might not expect: stories.

I am a theologian by trade, and I research and teach various classes in theology, the arts, and the formation of the Christian imagination. Many theologians in my area of study have noted how our imagination is formed through many seemingly innocuous cultural habits and stories.

We become the people we are through the narratives we inhabit, the stories we tell ourselves about who we are, where we came from, and where we are going.

And the stories that most white North Americans inhabit are ordered by a white imagination; Even TV shows or books or movies that with characters of color may be reproducing a white racial ordering of the world – think of how so many of the black characters in TV or movies are treated as comic relief or as a support for the white hero.

So one answer to the question “what do we do when the books are read and the class is over?” is immerse yourself in the imagination of those who are not white.

There are non-white novelists, poets, painters, directors, and more that are producing excellent stories in every genera and media, from horror to romance to nature poetry to children’s books. Do you read poetry? Start reading the Black Indiana poet Ross Gay or Native American poet Joy Harjo. Do you like science fiction? Try reading Octavia Butler and other authors in Afrofuturism. Do you like visual art? Look up the monumental paintings of Kehinde Wiley who paints black subjects in epic and humanity-honoring images.

The deconstructive work that many of us have been doing is critically important – we need to take the blinders off to see the hurt and oppression in our society. But we also need stories about Black joy. Native American hope. Asian American Love. Indian American beauty. Pacific Islander flourishing. We need to hear, and see, and feel other people’s stories, to be able to imagine with them what a better future looks like for all.

Jesus calls us to imitate good soil: to receive God’s word, to tend it over the long haul, to improve our minds and hearts so that the Kingdom of God is embodied in our actions, our community, and our stories.

Wheat, Weeds, and Hope

The Parable of the Four Soils