Proper 10, Year A, 2011

Matthew 13:1-9; 18-23

The Rev. Ronald N. Johnson

There is a fundamental question that has played upon the minds of Christians from the beginning.  It is one for which most of us struggle for an answer.  If we had an answer to this question, we think, it would certainly make the task of discipleship easier.  The question, directly stated, is, “If Christianity is such a good religion, why is it that so many reject it and spurn the good news of Jesus Christ?”  This is a question that has plagued the Church from generation to generation.   If Jesus brings redemption and eternal life, if the gospel proclaims peace and love, compassion and understanding, if it gives life abundance and fulfillment, why would anyone turn it down?

Even though this question is not exactly stated in the gospel reading this morning, it must have been one much on the minds of our Lord’s immediate disciples, for it certainly is the question that Jesus answered in his parable about the sower.  There have been attempts to answer it by theologians over the centuries, answers that have often led to heresy.  Even some of the big names and major theological players have fallen into the trap of trying to provide an easy answer.  You will find Universalists in every denomination, those who tend to think that no matter how sinful one’s life is, that God’s redeeming grace in Jesus Christ will ultimately win out, that the gates of hell will open wide and will be emptied of every soul.  It is certainly an attractive heresy, easy to buy into because it feels so good.  Christ’s love is universal, and Christ’s love can never be defeated, so ultimately his grace prevails and you have universal salvation.  The only problem is that, at least to orthodox minds, it is wrong because it deprives humanity of responsibility.

Or, you can go the other way, and many, many have.  That explanation as to why some respond to the gospel and accept Jesus as Lord and Savior while others reject it out of hand is that God determines who accepts Jesus and who does not.  The doctrine is called predestination and it teaches that God preordains some to accept Jesus and others to reject him, a doctrine that was anathema to Lutheran and Anglican reformers, as well as to the Roman and Orthodox Christians, and was the basis for much of the discord within Christianity.  Even though it is markedly different from the concept of universal salvation, it shares universalism’s failure – it is wrong because it deprives humanity of responsibility.  A central and essential piece of Judeo-Christian understanding is that when God created humanity he gave us the ability to choose between good and evil, and he assigned to us responsibility for our choices. 

Even so, we still struggle with the answer to the riddle, why do some choose Jesus while others do not?  I think the only answer we’ll ever find is what our Lord had to say, as he reflected upon human nature.   There are those in this world that hear about Jesus but never come to know him.  Christ, for them, is superficial.  Whatever circumstances there are, the gospel of Jesus remains an unopened book on the bookshelf, never explored, never pondered never engaged.  Jesus is something for others.  These are people anchored in some other harbor.  Graciously, we can say that some of them have found another faith that has meaning for them.  But for many, if not most, the reality is that they place their hope in more mundane and secular things: wealth, comfort and pleasure.  If these needs are met, they look no further; but, again, the reality is that such needs are never really met, and their lives are engulfed by the culture of narcissism.  In seeking to serve only the self, they sink deeper and deeper into a hopeless void of emptiness.  Theirs is the seed sown on the pathway and snatched away, leaving them empty.

There are others who hear the good news of Jesus and come to it with some hope and expectation.  Somewhere, somehow, God touches them and they respond.  A lamp is lit; they want to know more.  The seed has found a place where it can germinate and grow.  Faith is possible.  But reality is that we live in a complex and demanding world, and we have before us many choices and many options.  We have to manage our time and our resources and decide where we will focus and what we will nurture.  Few plants thrive without the gardener’s attention, and faith is no different.  The seed endures for a while, but the world catches up and the kernel of faith that once held such hope dies before its harvest.

Jesus said that some seed falls on fertile ground.  It germinates and grows mightily.  We hope that we are fertile ground.  Growth in fertile ground results in a strong and vibrant plant with deep and abundant roots.  So it is with faith.  When faith is solid, when it is living and healthy with good, solid roots, it can weather the trials and tribulations of life.  For all of us, there are times in our lives when we live in spiritual drought, or when the weeds of life threaten to choke us.  Strong faith prevails; strong faith endures.  And, how do we build strong faith?  We build it by careful and attentive gardening, by nurturing, tilling and pruning our faith, daily, in prayer and meditation.  We nurture it through biblical study.  We nurture it through worship.  We nurture it through reaching out to others so that we yield the fruit of the faithful, which is the love of God and neighbor. 

Is this chance?  Is it our destiny to have the type of soil we are determined for us?  I think not.  It seems to me that faith is more than fate, and while God’s grace is universally offered and freely given we still must accept the grace offered and nourish that grace within our souls until we grow into the fullness of our redemption.  In other words, we choose the type of soil that we will be.  We can be fertile or we can be barren, or we can be somewhere in between.  We, alone, make the choice.  Gardeners know that there is no soil that cannot be improved.  A skilled gardener knows that he can make even the desert bloom.  We can choose to be fertile, but to be so we must make the effort.  It requires hope, commitment and years and years of work.  But from that work comes the harvest, and the harvest is discipleship.  As disciples, we are the fruit of the Lord’s vineyard, and we go out into the world making Christ known, helping others to become good soil, to find and develop the basis for faith.  And at the end, when the harvest is in, our Savior can look to us with joy and say, “I planted well.”  Amen.