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Isaiah 55:10-13
Romans 8:1-11
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
Whenever I have planted a garden, I am very careful about prepping the soil, adding in fresh soil, compost and other things that will help retain moisture and provide nutrients for the seeds I am about to plant. Then I till all that together and make nice rows, remove all weeds and rocks I might find. After planting, I give it care each week, making sure that I can yield the most out of my planting. I give my full attention and love to my garden.
God seems to handle the garden of humanity, very differently. How God works the garden can seem foolish. It is not that God does not care about how many of God’s children flourish, on the contrary, that is important, but to reach everyone, the Spirit is sent into the world, regardless of who may reside there. A single person amidst a group of non-believers is just as important as a group of believers to be cultivated. God love’s all of God’s creation, is treated equally.
We as Disciples of Christ, help to bring the Word, Spirit and thus the gospel to the world. When Jesus said, go out and make disciples, this included the entire world and never did hey say, start in a particular place nor did we get told to only go to places that produce the most fruit. If it were about getting to the greatest quantity or quality of believers, then we would be putting a price tag on God’s love. Instead God’s love is priceless and lavishly and freely given.
We are assured in Isaiah that God’s word goes out from God’s mouth and will not return empty handed. We can be assured that wherever the Word goes, there will be a return. The amount of the return is not what is at stake; only a return is at stake. That return, no matter how big or small is grounded in God’s love. God is a high roller going against all odds, no matter the stakes.
Take the parable of the talents, where the master entrusts his slaves with money, some made a better return on their investments than others and were commended for the return. However the one who did nothing but buried the money, was scolded and the money was taken from him and given to another. God asks us to try, try with God’s help, the Spirit has been sent to be with us always. The Spirit is God’s love for us, so we and others can succeed in showing others, God’s love.
In the Gospel today, even when the seed was sown into good soil, the outcome is not guaranteed to produce a hundredfold each time. Sometimes it is less and significantly but that is okay too.
Ultimately, the Spirit has been sent to us all. We are the hands and feet of our God to help others in the world to become aware of the Spirit in them and for them to be able to respond to what God did and does for them. This may sound intimidating but again, we are given the Spirit to help us along our journeys, because God loves us and wants us to succeed.
Evangelism is scary for so many people. I think this is because that so many of us have been confronted or know of someone who has been confronted with some very in your face evangelism. I don’t want to be seen as one of those people who might be standing on the street corner with a bullhorn telling all that pass by, that if they do not repent and follow Jesus, they are doomed to hell! Let’s face it; those people seem just a bit, okay a lot, crazy! Their actions do not seem grounded in love and surely not the love that God has for all of us.
Jesus’s message from the Father was one grounded in love, not fright, not intimidation or scare tactics. It is not to say there are not consequences for our actions or inactions but that is not how Jesus presented it, not how God presents it and not how we can present the Gospel, the Good News of the Love of God in Christ for all of the world.
The Gospel, the Bible and God are all about the Love. All people need to be loved and for us to decide whom, when and where is discriminating God’s love to only certain people.
The Parable of the Sower is a call to action by God. It is a call to action by disciples, to make more disciples, spreading the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ, no matter what, indiscriminately, lavishly, even if perceived as done foolishly, ….for the entire world.
Here is a story for you about an Evangelist.
Evangelist, Sower of the Word under a bridge
There was a woman evangelist on a street corner.
Another woman on the opposite corner was speaking against all the evangelist said, snatching away all of the evangelist’s words from all that could hear.
The evangelist stayed on the street corner for several days, while the other woman did not. The people were excited and praised God.
However, each day the ones that returned were no longer excited about the good news they had heard. They seemed to be all dried up and their excitement had just withered away.
Next the evangelist went to a church she had heard about.
When she arrived she could hear people arguing amongst each other.
She began to tell her story and tell everyone of the good news of God and what God had done for them, her and all people.
They stopped, listened and began to also speak of the good news. There was no longer fighting.
Shortly after she left, people began to speak poorly of each other, cutting them down with their words. Even as others attempted to remind them of the good news of God, they continued to poke, cut and finally put down all that spoke of the good news of God, until there was no good news left in the church.
Lastly, the woman went to a bridge where she saw some homeless people. She spoke the words of God and told them of all the good news. She told them of what God has done, what God does and what God will do for them and all people.
They were excited and began to tell others. They were excited and had ears, minds and hearts that were willing to listen and share. All that heard the good news shared with other homeless until all the homeless in that city had heard and all were excited by the news of God.
It did not stop there; they began to tell others in the city who became excited by the news. All those that heard, believed in the good news of God and told people in other cities.
This is still going on today and maybe you have been told the good news of God for you, by someone that was told the news from someone who heard it all the way back to the bridge……..just maybe……..the Gospel, the good news of God’s love for you.[1]
[1] Douglas Dill, Evangelist, Sower of the Word, Under a Bridge, Illustration, n.d.