Year A
\u00a0Genesis 25:19-34
Psalm 119:105-112
\u00a0Romans 8:1-11
\u00a0Matthew 13:1-9,18-23<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We all know the story of Jacob and Esau\u2026 that as the firstborn son\u2026 Esau would have inherited two-thirds of Isaac’s estate\u2026 but he sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of lentil stew and some bread\u2026 the text says that Esau despised his birthright\u2026 but the meaning of the root word bayza<\/em>\u2026 which is translated as despised\u2026 is to accord little worth to something<\/em>\u2026 so the bible doesn’t indicate that he hated his inheritance\u2026 but that he undervalued it\u2026 so we may wonder if Esau truly understood what he was giving up\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n But one of the central teachings of the Jewish Scriptures\u2026 is that God\u2026 God’s people\u2026 and the real estate which God gave them\u2026 were bound together\u2026 and since God remained the sole owner of the land\u2026 God attached certain conditions to the Israelites\u2019 occupation of it\u2026 one condition was that if the land was to be sold\u2026 it could not be a permanent sale\u2026 as outlined in Leviticus 25:23 which says\u2026 the land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; with me you are but aliens and tenants<\/em>\u2026 and if someone became so poor that he had to sell his parcel\u2026 his nearest kinsman was to redeem it (Leviticus 25:25)\u2026 so even though Jacob\u2026 who became Israel\u2026 bought his brother’s birthright\u2026 it was not really his to pass down to his descendants\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n David Bland\u2026 Professor of Homiletics at Harding University Graduate School of Religion in Memphis writes\u2026 God chose Abraham\u2026 not for privilege… but for the responsibility of being a blessing to the nations\u2026 and so that future generations could learn God’s ways\u2026 ] and God chose Jacob\u2026 who becomes Israel\u2026 not because of who he was\u2026 a schemer\u2026 a finagler\u2026 and a cheat\u2026 not because of his character\u2026 and not for privilege\u2026 but because of who God is\u2026 God chose Israel for responsibility\u2026 and the church which arose\u2026 did not rise for the purpose of self-serving elitism\u2026 but for the purpose of mission\u2026 the whole story of Jacob and Esau revolves around the divine decision to elect one person\u2026 who represents one people\u2026 to carry on the divine blessing\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n In our time\u2026 there may be some uncertainty about exactly how\u2026 and at whose hands\u2026 and just when God\u2019s promises and blessings come true\u2026 because they depend partly on how corporate humanity chooses to use its collective free will in response to God\u2019s invitation\u2026 and while we know\u2026 that no one parable can contain the entire truth of the Gospel\u2026 and while we are invited to consider today\u2019s\u2026 we must remember that sometimes\u2026 hyperbole\u2026 exaggerated statements not meant to be taken literally\u2026 may be the parable\u2019s point\u2026 which is\u2026 to get us to think\u2026 and it’s ironic that Jesus\u2019 first parable in Matthew\u2026 is about this sower scattering seed\u2026 because the Greek word parable\u2026 means\u2026 to\u2026 throw\u2026 alongside<\/em>\u2026 to throw alongside\u2026 and the sower\u2026 throws seed\u2026 along side four different kinds of soil\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are some scholars who believe that Jesus\u2019 words ended with v. 9\u2026 which says\u2026 Let anyone with ears hear<\/em>\u2026 but the explanation\u2026 which begins with v. 18 can limit our vision to just the four kinds of soil\u2026 and the explanation makes us think about four kinds of people\u2026 in whom the Word is either eaten up\u2026 or withers\u2026 or is choked\u2026 or falls on good soil and yields a great harvest\u2026 and the explanation tends to make us wonder\u2026 What kind of soil am I<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n But as John Shea writes\u2026 it’s more realistic for us to consider that we each possesses each kind of soil\u2026 because at one time or another\u2026 every person loses the Word to the evil one\u2026 or is enthusiastic but not persevering\u2026 or pursues riches at the expense of the soul\u2026 or also bears abundant fruit\u2026 and we can’t know just how specific people will grow or change\u2026 but this realization helps direct us away from value judgements about what kind of soils we believe others to possess\u2026 and how we see the soil of our own hearts\u2026 and this insight helps direct our vision back to the sower\u2026 which is an important insight\u2026 because it keeps us from either \/ or thinking\u2026 and helps restore us to unitive thinking\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n So we can also imagine ourselves to be the sower\u2026 and in that role\u2026 we don’t want to waste seeds as this sower does\u2026 we don\u2019t want to be seen as people who waste God\u2019s Word\u2026 we bring an attitude of scarcity to our generosity and our giving\u2026 we are frugal with our resources\u2026 we want to give to those who will give back to us\u2026 or to something that will\u2026 in some way\u2026 provide a good return on investment\u2026 in other words\u2026 we don\u2019t want to throw a single seed around\u2026 we want every seed to be placed in fertile soil and germinate and provide an abundant yield\u2026 and I think those of us who garden can understand this\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact\u2026 the John Deere Corporation manufactures an air hoe seeder\u2026 computer controlled equipment that plants seeds with puffs of air\u2026 so each seed lands in a perfect depression\u2026 at the right depth\u2026 at the right distance apart\u2026 for optimum growth\u2026 the idea of a seed planting machine that parables seed\u2026 that just throws it around willy nilly\u2026 would probably make the real John Deere turn over in his grave\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n But that\u2019s just exactly what our egregiously generous Jesus does\u2026 he doesn\u2019t worry about wasting God\u2019s Word\u2026 but lavishly throws it around into whatever kind of soil our hearts contain at any given moment\u2026 into hearts that expand and shrink\u2026 that are sometimes open and are sometimes not\u2026 God speaks God\u2019s Word into ears that sometimes hear… and ears that sometimes don\u2019t\u2026 but our lavish God never stops scattering God’s seed\u2026 its source is endless and its soil is everywhere\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n So let\u2019s ask how can we be more like the sower in the parable\u2026 let\u2019s ask how can we scatter broadly and widely\u2026 without regard to whether we think people are worthy\u2026 or whether the Word will take root\u2026 or whether we think it\u2019s wasted\u2026 instead\u2026 let\u2019s ask how we have been watered and nourished by God\u2019s Word\u2026 and by the Incarnate Word\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hallie and John\u2026 baptism is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace\u2026 in his baptism today\u2026 Erich will be grafted onto the body of Christ\u2026 and you and the communities of which you’re a part\u2026 or will become a part\u2026 will do all you can to raise him up with a love of God\u2026 a willingness to listen to the whispers of the Holy Spirit\u2026 and a desire to follow Jesus on The Way\u2026 and you will scatter the seeds of God’s Word in his heart and mind\u2026 but remember\u2026 scatter lavishly\u2026 those seeds cannot be wasted\u2026 they can only take root\u2026 and flourish\u2026 and bear fruit\u2026 so that\u2026 as the prophet affirmed\u2026 God’s Word will not return empty\u2026 and so that Erich\u2026 your firstborn son\u2026 will not undervalue it\u2026 but will lovingly learn to embrace it\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year A\u00a0Genesis 25:19-34 Psalm 119:105-112\u00a0Romans 8:1-11\u00a0Matthew 13:1-9,18-23 May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026 We all know the story of Jacob and Esau\u2026 that as the firstborn son\u2026 Esau would have inherited two-thirds of Isaac’s estate\u2026 but he sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of lentil stew and some bread\u2026 the text says that Esau despised his birthright\u2026 but the meaning of the root word bayza\u2026 which is translated as despised\u2026 is to accord little worth to something\u2026 so the bible doesn’t indicate that he hated his inheritance\u2026 but that he undervalued it\u2026 so we may wonder if Esau truly understood what he was giving up\u2026 But one of the central teachings of the Jewish Scriptures\u2026 is that God\u2026 God’s people\u2026 and the real estate which God gave them\u2026 were bound together\u2026 and since God remained the sole owner of the land\u2026 God attached certain conditions to the Israelites\u2019 occupation of it\u2026 one condition was that if the land was to be sold\u2026 it could not be a permanent sale\u2026 as outlined in Leviticus 25:23 which says\u2026 the land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; with me you are but aliens and tenants\u2026 and if someone became so poor that he had to sell his parcel\u2026 his nearest kinsman was to redeem it (Leviticus 25:25)\u2026 so even though Jacob\u2026 who became Israel\u2026 bought his brother’s birthright\u2026 it was not really his to pass down to his descendants\u2026 David Bland\u2026 Professor of Homiletics at Harding University Graduate School of Religion in Memphis writes\u2026 God chose Abraham\u2026 not for privilege… but for the responsibility of being a blessing to the nations\u2026 and so that future generations could learn God’s ways\u2026 ] and God chose Jacob\u2026 who becomes Israel\u2026 not because of who he was\u2026 a schemer\u2026 a finagler\u2026 and a cheat\u2026 not because of his character\u2026 and not for privilege\u2026 but because of who God is\u2026 God chose Israel for responsibility\u2026 and the church which arose\u2026 did not rise for the purpose of self-serving elitism\u2026 but for the purpose of mission\u2026 the whole story of Jacob and Esau revolves around the divine decision to elect one person\u2026 who represents one people\u2026 to carry on the divine blessing\u2026 In our time\u2026 there may be some uncertainty about exactly how\u2026 and at whose hands\u2026 and just when God\u2019s promises and blessings come true\u2026 because they depend partly on how corporate humanity chooses to use its collective free will in response to God\u2019s invitation\u2026 and while we know\u2026 that no one parable can contain the entire truth of the Gospel\u2026 and while we are invited to consider today\u2019s\u2026 we must remember that sometimes\u2026 hyperbole\u2026 exaggerated statements not meant to be taken literally\u2026 may be the parable\u2019s point\u2026 which is\u2026 to get us to think\u2026 and it’s ironic that Jesus\u2019 first parable in Matthew\u2026 is about this sower scattering seed\u2026 because the Greek word parable\u2026 means\u2026 to\u2026 throw\u2026 alongside\u2026 to throw alongside\u2026 and the sower\u2026 throws seed\u2026 along side four different kinds of soil\u2026 There are some scholars who believe that Jesus\u2019 words ended with v. 9\u2026 which says\u2026 Let anyone with ears hear\u2026 but the explanation\u2026 which begins with v. 18 can limit our vision to just the four kinds of soil\u2026 and the explanation makes us think about four kinds of people\u2026 in whom the Word is either eaten up\u2026 or withers\u2026 or is choked\u2026 or falls on good soil and yields a great harvest\u2026 and the explanation tends to make us wonder\u2026 What kind of soil am I\u2026 But as John Shea writes\u2026 it’s more realistic for us to consider that we each possesses each kind of soil\u2026 because at one time or another\u2026 every person loses the Word to the evil one\u2026 or is enthusiastic but not persevering\u2026 or pursues riches at the expense of the soul\u2026 or also bears abundant fruit\u2026 and we can’t know just how specific people will grow or change\u2026 but this realization helps direct us away from value judgements about what kind of soils we believe others to possess\u2026 and how we see the soil of our own hearts\u2026 and this insight helps direct our vision back to the sower\u2026 which is an important insight\u2026 because it keeps us from either \/ or thinking\u2026 and helps restore us to unitive thinking\u2026 So we can also imagine ourselves to be the sower\u2026 and in that role\u2026 we don’t want to waste seeds as this sower does\u2026 we don\u2019t want to be seen as people who waste God\u2019s Word\u2026 we bring an attitude of scarcity to our generosity and our giving\u2026 we are frugal with our resources\u2026 we want to give to those who will give back to us\u2026 or to something that will\u2026 in some way\u2026 provide a good return on investment\u2026 in other words\u2026 we don\u2019t want to throw a single seed around\u2026 we want every seed to be placed in fertile soil and germinate and provide an abundant yield\u2026 and I think those of us who garden can understand this\u2026 In fact\u2026 the John Deere Corporation manufactures an air hoe seeder\u2026 computer controlled equipment that plants seeds with puffs of air\u2026 so each seed lands in a perfect depression\u2026 at the right depth\u2026 at the right distance apart\u2026 for optimum growth\u2026 the idea of a seed planting machine that parables seed\u2026 that just throws it around willy nilly\u2026 would probably make the real John Deere turn over in his grave\u2026 But that\u2019s just exactly what our egregiously generous Jesus does\u2026 he doesn\u2019t worry about wasting God\u2019s Word\u2026 but lavishly throws it around into whatever kind of soil our hearts contain at any given moment\u2026 into hearts that expand and shrink\u2026 that are sometimes open and are sometimes not\u2026 God speaks God\u2019s Word into ears that sometimes hear… and ears that sometimes don\u2019t\u2026 but our lavish God never stops scattering God’s seed\u2026 its source is endless and its soil is everywhere\u2026 So let\u2019s ask how can 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