Meditation on Matthew 13:1–9, 18–23
First Presbyterian Church of Smithtown
Pastor Karen Crawford
July 16, 2023
I took a walk around my garden yesterday, after the rain. And before the storm this morning!
While the spring flowers and bulbs have finished, many of the summer flowers are blooming in vivid colors.
Red roses, bee balm, geranium and tall, spikey cardinal flower. Bright yellow: black eyed Susans and daylilies. Blue: forget me nots, hosta, and hydrangea. Purple catmint, lavender, sage, veronica. Dainty white daisies. Other plants have the look of blooming soon. Phlox. Butterfly Bush. Rose of Sharon. Coral bells.
And yet, this is the time of year when I have mixed emotions about the garden. I am happy that many of the plants have done well. But I also see where my efforts didn’t pay off with good results: seeds that never sprouted, though they had good soil, water, light and warmth. Plants that started out great—and now have leaves eaten by beetles and slugs. Or choked out by weeds and vines, including poison ivy. I have the telltale blisters and rash on my arms that I have, once again, come in contact with the plant that I try so hard to avoid.
Gardening is a dangerous thing.
You’d think I get used to it. Or maybe I would just quit gardening and take up another hobby. You know, something safe and comfortable, that you can do inside, in the air conditioning. So much work: weeding, deadheading, trimming, watering. Spraying deer and rabbit repellent once a week—or there wouldn’t be a garden at all.
This time of year, in spite of the many flowers in bloom, I begin to question if it is worth all the time and effort.
Reading the parable of the sower and the seed through the perspective of my own gardening experiences, I can’t help but wonder why the sower is scattering seed in places where the seed won’t grow well. Why are they throwing seed on the path for the birds to eat? Why do they throw seed on rocky ground or among thorns? Why are they being so wasteful?
The answer is that the sower isn’t a gardener or farmer in this story. They do one job and one job alone. They scatter the seed and move on. The sower doesn’t prepare the soil. They don’t remove rocks and weeds. They don’t add soil conditioners or organic matter. They don’t fertilize or water.
They scatter the seed and keep going.
They don’t stick around to watch over and care for the plants through the stages of growth, doing what they can to help them form healthy roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruit, and seeds.
They scatter the seed. That’s all. Predictably, with mixed results.
The great crowd of people, who have followed Jesus and are listening to him teach from a small boat put out a little way from the shore, is thinking the same thing, “Why did the sower do such a poor job?”
They know that only the seed planted in good soil will grow to maturity and bear fruit and yield an abundant harvest. And this is the point of the story—knowing what it means to be the one who is planted and plants in good soil and bears fruit.
This is the promise for the one who hears the word of the Lord, understands it and lives by it: you will bear fruit and yield an abundant harvest. The one with a good foundation in Jesus Christ will endure in the faith when the evil one tries to make us stumble in our walk with God. The one rooted in Christ will not lose our joy when persecution and suffering comes. Those planted in good soil won’t be distracted by the cares of this age or the lure of wealth.
What I can’t stop thinking about is the sower who scatters the seed and keeps walking, regardless of whether the seed falls on rocky or thorny ground or in the path.
That just seems wrong to me.
I believe that we do have the responsibility to help people hear God’s word and understand it, take it to heart and allow it to change their lives. We do that by staying in loving relationship with one another and to those whom God calls us to reach with the gospel. Hearing the word and coming to understand it with our minds and hearts takes time, patience, and being in loving relationship.
We are God’s gardeners—called to tend the garden of humanity, all the world that God so loves. Tending the garden means sowing seeds of kindness, of faith, hope, love, peace, grace, endurance, forgiveness, gentleness, patience, and generosity. We tend even though the work is dangerous, frustrating, tiring, and in spite of persecution or suffering. We are called to be the Lord’s Gardeners, with God’s gracious help.
But we are not just God’s Gardeners, workers for the Kingdom Harvest. We are also God’s Garden. We are the seeds being scattered and sown. And we have the seeds of kindness, of faith, hope, love, endurance, forgiveness, gentleness, patience, and generosity given to us by the Spirit, dwelling within us. The Lord is tending us, carefully and lovingly, helping us to grow each day. Like my garden that is far from perfect, we are not perfect; in God’s eyes, we are still beautiful and loved with an everlasting and unconditional love.
The Lord doesn’t just scatter seeds and keep going, like the sower in the story. God who created us in the divine image breathed life into us with God’s own breath. The Lord can see what we WILL be, someday, when the work of the Spirit is done, and Jesus comes again to gather His Church. What a glorious day that will be!
This time of year, though I have mixed emotions about the work—and I hate the heat, humidity, and bugs!—something compels me to keep going back to the garden. I sense that I am called to care for the plants and animals, for they matter, never thinking that they belong to me, to do whatever I want to do with them, because they are in my yard. They belong to God, and I am entrusted with this Holy work.
I always have hope that things will better next year. I try to learn from my experiences—and from talking with other gardeners. It’s often trial and error with gardening, isn’t it? Just when I am ready to give up and find a new hobby, I have a burst of energy and creativity In the fall. Fall is the best time to dig and plant. While I work, I will be dreaming, once again, of my beautiful garden in spring.
This is what I pray for all of you: when you get mixed emotions about your call to be God’s Gardeners, when you get tired of sowing seeds and not seeing results: that you will be strengthened to continue in God’s work. That you will keep a good foundation for your life in Jesus Christ, with prayer, worship, Christian fellowship, and studying scripture. That you will see how important your work of sowing is for God and humanity. For sowing seeds is a Holy mission. The lives you touch with your Holy work are lives that belong to God. Therefore, be gentle and gracious with all people.
Also remember, dear friends, that you are God’s Garden. You are the seed God has planted and is nurturing to eternal life. The Lord isn’t finished with YOU, yet. Or anyone else! The work of the Spirit goes on. So be patient with yourself—and with others. Everything we see is temporary.
As we leave from this place today, as God’s Gardeners and Garden, let us hold onto the promise that God is with us, never a sower that scatters and keeps going. The Lord is nourishing us to endure in the faith. From seed to root, stems and leaves, God is at work in and among us!
Hearing the word and coming to understand it with our minds and hearts takes time, patience, and being in loving relationship.
May we bloom and bear fruit, ever so abundantly, serving God and neighbor, our community and world!
Let us pray.
Holy One, thank you for calling us to be your Gardeners and your Garden, creating us in your image and breathing in us your very breath, your Holy Spirit. Help us, Lord, in this Holy Work of sharing the gospel with our community and world. It isn’t always comfortable or easy. Give us courage to be faithful to sow seeds of kindness and peace, grace, gentleness and generosity, hope and love, and to not be disappointed if we don’t see the results we want to see. Guide us to trust in you to do the work of growth in us and others as we seek to understand and keep your word in our hearts and minds and be obedient to your call. In the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
Sharing God's Love and Grace 