Year A
 Genesis 25:19-34
Psalm 119:105-112
 Romans 8:1-11
 Matthew 13:1-9,18-23

May the words of my mouth O God…  speak your truth…

We all know the story of Jacob and Esau…  that as the firstborn son…  Esau would have inherited two-thirds of Isaac’s estate… but he sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of lentil stew and some bread…  the text says that Esau despised his birthright…  but the meaning of the root word bayza…  which is translated as despised…  is to accord little worth to something…  so the bible doesn’t indicate that he hated his inheritance…  but that he undervalued it…  so we may wonder if Esau truly understood what he was giving up…

But one of the central teachings of the Jewish Scriptures…  is that God…  God’s people…  and the real estate which God gave them…  were bound together…  and since God remained the sole owner of the land…  God attached certain conditions to the Israelites’ occupation of it…  one condition was that if the land was to be sold…  it could not be a permanent sale…  as outlined in Leviticus 25:23 which says…  the land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; with me you are but aliens and tenants…  and if someone became so poor that he had to sell his parcel…  his nearest kinsman was to redeem it (Leviticus 25:25)…  so even though Jacob…  who became Israel…  bought his brother’s birthright…  it was not really his to pass down to his descendants… 

David Bland…  Professor of Homiletics at Harding University Graduate School of Religion in Memphis writes…  God chose Abraham…  not for privilege…  but for the responsibility of being a blessing to the nations…  and so that future generations could learn God’s ways…  ] and God chose Jacob…  who becomes Israel…  not because of who he was…  a schemer…  a finagler…  and a cheat…  not because of his character…  and not for privilege…  but because of who God is…  God chose Israel for responsibility…  and the church which arose… did not rise for the purpose of self-serving elitism…  but for the purpose of mission…   the whole story of Jacob and Esau revolves around the divine decision to elect one person…  who represents one people…  to carry on the divine blessing… 

In our time… there may be some uncertainty about exactly how…  and at whose hands… and just when God’s promises and blessings come true…  because they depend partly on how corporate humanity chooses to use its collective free will in response to God’s invitation…  and while we know… that no one parable can contain the entire truth of the Gospel…  and while we are invited to consider today’s… we must remember that sometimes… hyperbole… exaggerated statements not meant to be taken literally…  may be the parable’s point…  which is…   to get us to think… and it’s ironic that Jesus’ first parable in Matthew… is about this sower scattering seed… because the Greek word parable… means… to… throw… alongside…  to throw alongside…  and the sower… throws seed… along side four different kinds of soil…

There are some scholars who believe that Jesus’ words ended with v. 9… which says…  Let anyone with ears hear…  but the explanation…  which begins with v. 18 can limit our vision to just the four kinds of soil…  and the explanation makes us think about four kinds of people… in whom the Word is either eaten up… or withers… or is choked… or falls on good soil and yields a great harvest… and the explanation tends to make us wonder… What kind of soil am I…

But as John Shea writes… it’s more realistic for us to consider that we each possesses each kind of soil…  because at one time or another…  every person loses the Word to the evil one… or is enthusiastic but not persevering… or pursues riches at the expense of the soul… or also bears abundant fruit… and we can’t know just how specific people will grow or change… but this realization helps direct us away from value judgements about what kind of soils we believe others to possess…  and how we see the soil of our own hearts…  and this insight helps direct our vision back to the sower… which is an important insight… because it keeps us from either / or thinking… and helps restore us to unitive thinking…

So we can also imagine ourselves to be the sower… and in that role…  we don’t want to waste seeds as this sower does… we don’t want to be seen as people who waste God’s Word… we bring an attitude of scarcity to our generosity and our giving… we are frugal with our resources… we want to give to those who will give back to us…  or to something that will… in some way… provide a good return on investment… in other words… we don’t want to throw a single seed around… we want every seed to be placed in fertile soil and germinate and provide an abundant yield… and I think those of us who garden can understand this…

In fact… the John Deere Corporation manufactures an air hoe seeder… computer controlled equipment that plants seeds with puffs of air…  so each seed lands in a perfect depression… at the right depth… at the right distance apart… for optimum growth… the idea of a seed planting machine that parables seed…  that just throws it around willy nilly…  would probably make the real John Deere turn over in his grave…

But that’s just exactly what our egregiously generous Jesus does… he doesn’t worry about wasting God’s Word… but lavishly throws it around into whatever kind of soil our hearts contain at any given moment… into hearts that expand and shrink… that are sometimes open and are sometimes not… God speaks God’s Word into ears that sometimes hear…  and ears that sometimes don’t…  but our lavish God never stops scattering God’s seed…  its source is endless and its soil is everywhere…

So let’s ask how can we be more like the sower in the parable… let’s ask how can we scatter broadly and widely… without regard to whether we think people are worthy… or whether the Word will take root… or whether we think it’s wasted… instead… let’s ask how we have been watered and nourished by God’s Word… and by the Incarnate Word…

Hallie and John…  baptism is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace…  in his baptism today…  Erich will be grafted onto the body of Christ…  and you and the communities of which you’re a part…  or will become a part… will do all you can to raise him up with a love of God…  a willingness to listen to the whispers of the Holy Spirit…  and a desire to follow Jesus on The Way…  and you will scatter the seeds of God’s Word in his heart and mind…  but remember… scatter lavishly…  those seeds cannot be wasted…  they can only take root…  and flourish…  and bear fruit…  so that…  as the prophet affirmed…  God’s Word will not return empty… and so that Erich…  your firstborn son…  will not undervalue it…  but will lovingly learn to embrace it…