Refreshing lives, transforming faith, at the heart of the community Haere Mai, Piki Mai
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A Sermon by The Reverend Allen Michel
Nelson Cathedral
Sunday, 1 June 2008
Readings
The Gospel of Luke - Chapter 8.verses 4 to 15
Have you noticed a growing trend in our society to classify people according
to personality types?
You might have heard of the Briggs Myers test which is used by many firms
when employing people.
In the world of advertising, a research team in the United States,
developed a theory that divides people into different groups based on their
supposed lifestyles. According to this theory of classification two of these
groups are those who want to belong and those who want to achieve.
Belongers are those who want more than anything else to do the accepted
thing. Therefore, to sell a product to people in this group an advertiser will
stress that the product is the most popular product of its kind and everyone
should buy it.
That same marketing will not work with a group of achievers.
Achievers, so the theory goes, are financially successful people who would
not want to buy the most popular product.
They only want to own things that most people can′t afford.
People are different.
Jesus knew that people are different and told this parable:
"Listen!" he said, "A Sower went out to sow and as he sowed,
some seeds fell on the path, and was trampled on and the birds
of the air ate it 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."
Later, as we heard in our second reading, Jesus interpreted this parable for
his disciples.
Basically his interpretation tells us that different kinds of people respond
to the gospel in different ways.
Some do not understand the gospel - the pathway in their heart is too hard
for the seed to bury itself and develop roots - so the seed is snatched
away by the first flock of birds that comes along.
Some receive the word with joy but the soil of their heart is too rocky
and so the word endures in their lives for only a short time
it never develops the roots that it needs to survive hard times
the times when it seems that faith might cost us something a bit more
than simply saying "I believe" that it might actually cost us our
wholehearted trust in God..
Still others, Jesus tells us, allow the living word to be choked out by the cares
of this world, by the lure of wealth or power or prestige - or by their constant
neglect of those things needful for growth - the pruning back of activities that
crowd in upon the most important activities we can indulge in - the hearing of
the word - prayer - and the fellowship of other believers.
And then of course there is the good soil - the people who hear the word and
understand it, who indeed bear fruit and yield, up to hundredfold.
What kind of soil are you and I?
How do we respond to the seed that is cast into our life?
People are different.
People respond to the Gospel in different ways.
As a result some people suggest that the parable of the Sower
- as this parable is traditionally titled, should be titled the Parable of the Seed.
Perhaps this suggestion is not a bad a idea because it focuses our attention on the question: what kind of soil are we?
How do we respond to Word of God and to the various acts of God
in our lives?
Do we allow trials and tribulations of this world to overwhelm the tender
seed growing within us?
Do we pull back when people challenge us because we are believers?
Do we decide that because things are not working out the way we think
they should that God doesn′t care for us, that he is powerless and weak
and not to be heeded?
Do we allow the cares of this world, our ambitions and our desires for
success and happiness to choke out the messages that God sends us,
through the various events of our daily lives and through the various people
we encounter?
How we respond to the Word of God is the key to how fruitful the gospel is
going to be in our lives.
And, unlike the situation in nature in which seed and various kinds of soil
encounter each other, we do have control over how we receive and respond
to the gospel message; we can, as it were, change the kind of soil that we are.
We are not passive receivers of the Gospel, at least we don′t have to be.
We have power over how we respond to the Gospel. God has given us this
tremendous freedom to either say "Yes" to him or "No" to him.
And in saying either "Yes" or "No", God also has given us the freedom and
the power to have hearts that are fruitful for him or hearts in which the word
disappears or quickly withers and dies.
When you think about it maybe we should call this parable, the parable of the seed.
Yet for centuries it has been known as the "Parable of The Sower" and I think
I can understand why. I think it has been called the parable of the sower because this title focuses our attention
on just what it is that God does and how gracious he is in everything he does.
You see there are many seeds that God casts into our lives and all of them
are meant to land in good soil and to produce abundant fruit.
But, as any good farmer knows, some seed is going to fall in places where it
simply will not thrive.
Knowing this, however, does not prevent the farmer from sowing seed
nor does it prevent him from praying for and expecting a good crop.
When God deals with us, God deals with us even more generously
than does the best farmer.
God allows the seed to land on the hard paths and the rocky ground and in the
weedy places of our lives in the hope that in those places it will find a place to
mature and bear fruit in the hope that those things which stop growth
will be removed. In the hope that the soil might be just a little deeper than it
at first appears to be in those rocky places.
The Sower sows everywhere knowing that when he does he will end up with
an abundant harvest.
God does not discriminate between the good ground and the bad ground
when he goes forth to sow. He accepts the fact that some of the seed will be
snatched away, that some of it will grow quickly and then wither,
that some of it will be strangled, but he sows anyway.
And so should we. We must sow the word of God′s love as generously as
God sows. We must trust that what we sow will, in the end, produce a harvest.
Even when it appears that the there is little chance for it.
Even when it appears that every inch of ground is worthless.
Tonight′s parable is a farmer′s parable; it is a parable about a Sower and about
seed and what happens to it. It′s message for us is that there is hope for a harvest; it′s
message is that we should not discriminate in our sowing of God′s seed. That while there are
many kinds of people, and many kinds of soil, ultimately the seed that God sows, and the seed we
cast in God′s name will produce even to a hundredfold.
Next Sunday is mission Sunday in our Cathedral parish and The Reverend Robert Kereopa, Executive Officer
of the Anglican Missions Board, will be talking to us about the church’s mission and our mission in the world.
So let us put this parable in our hearts as we consider what our mission is,
as we scatter the seeds of the gospel of Jesus Christ, in our community and in our world.
Let us pray.
Gracious God, your loving word has been sown in our hearts.
We thank you that even when the ground seems to others to not be good
you continue to sow and how in the end, when we are willing,
the yield is abundant.
Make us willing to let you have your way, willing to grow, willing to produce further seed and to sow it in the lives of others.
Amen
The Reverend Allen Michel
This sermon was written and delivered by The Reverend Allen Michel at Nelson Cathedral, 1 June 2008 at 6pm
