Due to my presence at Episcopal Youth Event this past week in Oklahoma City, I didn't write out a homily. The following is a brief description / reflection of what I preached yesterday at Holy Cross Wilkes-Barre.
The appointed Gospel for this past Sunday is as follows:
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 (NRSV)
Jesus went out 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 the 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. Let anyone with ears listen! 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 the world 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.”
Jesus shares a parable with the crowds that uses a familiar topic: Scattering seed. Those who did so for the purpose of planting and harvesting did things differently than do we. They scattered the seed everywhere. We on the other hand go to great lengths to remove weeds and rocks and anything else that we believe will be an impediment to seeds germinating and bringing forth growth. And if we cannot get rid of impediments, we don't plant in that spot.
Only Jesus isn't speaking about planting seeds that being forth physical growth. Jesus is speaking of spiritual growth. And when Jesus challenges us to plant spiritual seeds, he invites us to scatter that seed everywhere, as did those who scattered physical seeds in the generation that first heard this parable.
The reason why this is so important is that when we do anything other than this, we are determining with human wisdom where we should scatter seed and where we should not. This becomes an issue for us because our human wisdom and vision is lacking in clarity and understanding. When the prophet Samuel was sent to the House of Jesse to anoint a King for Israel, he thought that the eldest son, strong and mighty, was the chosen one. God challenges Samuel to look for divine vision. And the result of this, much to the surprise of the prophet, is that the youngest son is the chosen one. This would have been the last one chosen by Samuel. And yet it is this one chosen by God, David, who becomes the standard by which all the kings who follow him will be judged in generations to come.
Now go back to this parable. If we scatter the seed of the Gospel everywhere, we might just be surprised to find that it is in the last one in whom we would expect to find one who is receptive to Christ and bears fruit for the Kingdom of God. We might also be surprised to find that amo g those we think might be receptive, there is no growth that comes from the proclamation of the Gospel.
Having been in Oklahoma City and at the memorial to the victims of the 1995 bombing, there is an image that comes to mind that speaks of this surprise. Across the street from the location where the truck bomb exploded, one finds an American Elm tree. It is a beautiful tree. But for some time after the bombing, it was ugly and seemingly dead. The shock wave had blasted much of the tree's branches from the trunk. Much of what remained was on fire after the explosion. When the memorial was built, they almost tore that tree down. But as they planned to do so, someone observed new growth. That growth was small, but it gave hope. Today you would never know that it had been scarred and brought so close to death. Today they call this beautiful tree "The Survivor Tree."
This Gospel gives us hope for growth in the last place where we would expect it. And so we scatter the Gospel everywhere, waiting with hope to see growth and faith even where we think that such growth will be impossible.
Father Timothy Alleman, Rector
The Church of the Holy Cross
No comments:
Post a Comment