July 14, 2002
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Mindekirken It’s Useful! Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 A week ago I moved into a new house in Bloomington. One of the things I had been looking forward to was putting my hands in the soil and working in the garden. In front of the house I prepared a small bed where I planted summer flowers. I saw before me a beautiful bed with red and yellow flowers. But what happened? The day after I saw that the rabbits of the neighborhood had had that feast in my flowerbed. Only some small green stalks were left of the summer flowers. It’s not easy to be a gardener in the land of rabbits. Now the sad leftovers from the rabbits’ meal are carefully put in a box and evacuated to the deck - eight feet above rabbit level. It’s not the end of the world if the rabbits of Bloomington have a grand banquet paid be a garden lover. It would be worse if the peasant who has to live off the land experienced such natural damages. It’s a catastrophe if the crop is lost. If he doesn’t get the crop in his barn, it may mean poverty and famine. At least that’s what it was for the immigrants on the prairie 150 years ago, and for the peasants of Galilee at the time of Jesus, too. In Norway, the going out with the seed was almost regarded as a holy act in olden times. The seed was "borrowed from God" As if he were in church, the peasant took off his hat when he would go out to sow. He did it in respect for the wonders of nature. He knew that the creator himself participated when the seed died in the earth and rose with a new stem. The seeds in the fold of his robe were the beginning of a blooming yellow field. Therefore it was so important that it was taken care of in the very best way. With this background, the picture of the peasant in the parable of Jesus turns out to be more than strange. How does he sow? He throws the seed and sows everywhere. The seeds that land on the road become food for the birds. Where the soil hardly covers the rocks, the sun burns everything that sprouts. Amongst the thorns, nothing can be harvested, but the peasant sows there, also. Is he irresponsible, stupid, or totally crazy? To defend him, we might admit that some say that they sowed before they plowed, in Jesus’ time. If that were the case, it would be logical that he so carefully sowed everywhere. He was supposed to plow over the whole thing afterwards. Such an explanation puts the peasant in a nice light, but it’s hardly right. Some of the point is that everything that could go wrong went wrong. The peasant acted so carelessly that the local natural catastrophes were not to be avoided: the birds took some, as did the drought, and weeds. But the peasant doesn’t’ seem to have done anything to avoid these dangers. This story is not an agricultural lesson. It might eventually be an example of fear and warning. But what may we then learn from the "crazy" peasant? This week an amateur video has been shown on TV. It shows an incident where the police were unnecessarily brutal during an arrest of a young man. The debate about police violence and racism has lit up again. It’s very simple that others regard some groups in society as hopeless. The soil was different where the farmer went. But he sowed optimistically in all places. Two children come to kindergarten. One is received with delight by the staff, the other is hardly seen by them. Maybe it happened because one of the children was shining like the sun and the other was shy. Some are more easily overlooked than others are. In our everyday life we sow with smiles and friendly words. But it’s not easy to be equally nice to everybody. We have a tendency to be friends with the ones we like. That’s not necessarily wrong. But if we’re only together with the ones who like us and don’t care about the rest, it turns out to be wrong. Of Peer Gynt, Ibsen says "He was himself, enough". That may also describe a closed group of people. It’s easy to be scheming, you don’t waste away your time and attention on people who don’t give anything back. We don’t sow on the rocky ground. In this way, we act reasonably. But Jesus teaches us that love goes beyond reason. The "Craziness" of the peasant challenges us. Sow the good without conditions and expectations of getting something back. In our life together, it might be felt from time to time that one only is giving without receiving. Such times are a trial of love. J But the one who is patient may harvest in due time. This is said in full respect of the fact that living together sometimes comes to an end. Maybe the role as a parent is your sowing work. Children might be demanding, but that’s no reason for giving up. In many situations in life we have to look forward despite disappointments and backlashes. The peasant failed three places before he came to the good soil. Close to Mindekirken is the Marie Sandvik Center. It goes by the name of a young girl who came from Norway to Minneapolis and saw the need to help poor people, prostitutes and drug addicts. She became a sower where some said it was no use to sow. But history shows that the good soil was to be found in the most surprising places. The love that has been sown has borne fruit. Thousands of people have met the love of God through someone’s practical care, and many have received the gospel through the work that was started by Marie Sandvik. Profoundly seen, the picture of the peasant who never gave up is the self-portrait of Jesus. He sowed the love of God everywhere, without regard to rank and status. Jesus didn’t differentiate between people. He never said, "he or she was hopeless". He gave everything, even his own life. "Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing", was Jesus’ prayer on the cross, and that prayer includes both you and me. We are loved unconditionally. While we still were sinner, Christ died for us, says Paul in Romans 5, v. 8. The seed is the word about the love of God that set us free from guilt and sin. It’s words about our endless worth, that we are loved and made worthy. Jesus sows everywhere. There is no human being in this world that is not included in the endless love of God. What do we do with the seed, God’s declaration of love to us in Jesus Christ? In the parable, some of it fell on the path. It’s a picture of people who neither hear nor understand. The word goes in one ear and out the other. Some are like the rocky ground. They receive the gospel with joy, but it doesn’t really get deep roots. If they meet antagonism for the sake of their faith, they fall away. Personally, I think the thorns give the best picture of the danger in which we stand today. The cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, as Jesus says about the thorns. We live in a culture that easily mistakes happiness with consumption. Jesus warns about wealth because it may take the place that God should have in our lives. You cannot serve both God and Mammon. Matthew 6:24. Materialism is hard to combine with Christian faith. And maybe it’s like the words in a song that "Money is the great concern for both poor and rich." It’s not how much you own that matters, but who owns your heart. Either we have more, or less, it’s important to see what we have as God’s gifts. And then we have to pray for his help to use it as he wants. The good soil – what is that? It’s the place where the sowers’ work was a great success. It was there, despite all the setbacks; an overwhelming result came at last. To be a Christian is to receive God’s endless love. It’s not to be a perfect human, but it’s about being forgiven. Paul says it so beautifully in Romans 8:1 that we had as the second reading today: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Glory be to God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen.
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The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church · 924 E. 21st St, Minneapolis, MN 55404-2952 · (612)874-0716 |