Luke 8:1-15
“What’s the Buzz? Tell Me Whats a Happening”
We live in dark times, and yet You and I have something which the darkness cannot overcome.
At the same time, we are surrounded by flesh and blood persons just like ourselves who are mourning, who feel they are losing life’s battle.
Within the homes surrounding our church, people are hurting: physically, mentally, spiritually.
Teenagers are turning to drugs.
Adults are being choked by the worries of trying to put food on the table.
And many, many folks are isolated from any kind of supportive community, such as East Ridge United Methodist Church.
We gotta do something!!!
What are we to do?
How can we help?
This morning we see that Jesus is travelling from one town and village to another, “proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God,” and yes, the twelve disciples were with Him as were a number of women.
This crazy looking group would have been every bit as strange, from a first-century Palestinian point of view, as the story from last Sunday where a woman let her hair down and kissed Jesus’ feet!
We can only imagine the looks this motley crew band of followers would get, and the things people might say about such a group!
But the crowds were gathering and flocking.
God was doing something.
God was offering something that people needed and desired.
Lives were being transformed.
Community was being built!!!
What was God doing?
The people wanted to know!!!
And Jesus was making sure that everyone had the opportunity to be a part.
So He travelled to the small towns.
Places like East Ridge.
He went to where the people were.
He didn’t just wait for them to come to Him.
And on one such occasion Jesus told the Parable of the Sower.
I think it’s fair to say that if Jesus were telling this story today, He might well include some other categories as well.
What about seeds that were planted in good soil but were ruined by acid rain?
What about the plants that were coming up nicely but were bulldozed in order to make room for a new road or building?
But of course, what Jesus was doing was not making comments on farming problems.
He was explaining the strange and mysterious way in which the Kingdom of God was arriving in people’s hearts.
Suffice it to say, many of the folks listening were expecting something big and obvious to happen:
For a new king to overthrow Herod…
…a new legitimate priest to oust the current high priest…
… and most assuredly for a Jewish movement to get rid of the hated pagans who were their ultimate masters.
But none of this was happening, at least not in the way they thought it would happen.
So, in this parable, Jesus was letting the people in on what God was actually doing!
If we take a few steps back, we can see the sort of folks Jesus is talking about in this parable.
Here are the villagers in the synagogue at Nazareth, hearing Jesus’ sermon on Isaiah, but unwilling to accept what He’s saying.
The Word is trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air are snatching it away.
Here is the Pharisee at a table: he has invited Jesus to dine with him, and obviously wants to hear what Jesus is about, but what Jesus does and says is so unexpected and shocking that he tries to distance himself from it as far as he can.
The seed has landed in among the stones of his prejudice, and nothing can get near to nurture it and allow it to grow.
Here are the people of “this generation” who have other things on their minds, and don’t want a prophet like John or Jesus.
The seed has landed among thorns, and is being choked.
But ahhh…
…wait a minute…
Here is a Gentile centurion who believes that Jesus has the authority to command even serious illnesses to depart.
Here is Levi the tax-collector leaving his shady business and following Jesus.
Here is the unnamed woman whose extravagant behavior shows that she has experienced God’s forgiveness and new life deep within her heart!
Here are many, many, many more who show that the Word Jesus is speaking is producing fruit!!!
Talk about transformation!
Talk about a radical overthrow of the dark powers of evil!!!
Talk about extremely difficult lives and situations that are being turned upside down and right side up!!!
And all this is happening because the Word of God is being scattered, and there are people whose hearts accept it, retain it, and by a faith journey of perseverance produce a crop!!!
What about our hearts?
How much mature growth, how much fruit is the Word of God producing in our own lives?
When the Word of God is being sown, there is nothing but potential.
And when people accept it with joy, and then begin the rituals of coming to Sunday school, worship, Bible study, small groups, and tithing, no matter what may be going on in their lives on the outside…
…they begin the process of sowing the Word themselves!
Their lives change, and their friends and family members take notice.
Their outlook on life becomes brighter, more peace-filled…
…and others come to want what they have.
And when their days on this earth come to an end, wow!!!
Whether they are aware of it or not; the seed which fell on their hearts yielded a huge crop, a hundred times what was sown!
I want to live a life like that, how about you?
Jesus finished His parable to the crowds with this: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
It’s a call for them to understand His message and apply it to themselves!
Yes.
This is what God is doing!!!
But when the disciples ask Jesus what His parable meant, He speaks some puzzling words, “The knowledge of the secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, ‘though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.’”
It sounds as if Jesus is saying that He spoke in parables so that people would not be able to understand, but that makes about as much sense as spending your days talking to a wall.
Matthew 13:13 puts it slightly differently.
He says that Jesus spoke in parables because people could not rightly see and understand.
In this view, parables are a way of helping people see what Jesus is talking about by speaking in a language they can understand…
…most people were farmers…
…most people could most certainly relate to seeds and soil!
Matthew immediately quotes Isaiah 6:9 and 10, which says in effect, “I have spoken to them the word of God and the only result is that they have not understood a word of it.”
Jesus is talking about results.
And anyone who has done some evangelizing knows what He is talking about.
As we witness to our friends and neighbors, as we take, for instance, cantaloups from house to house this coming Saturday, when we give out school supplies in July, when we throw a block party next spring…
…many persons will not come closer to Christ, not decide to join us in worshipping God…
…but as we persevere, some people will…
…and when they do, their lives will be changed dramatically!!!
They will be given a peace and joy of which the world can never know.
A new crop will sprout up!!!
And all the effort will have been more than worth it!!!!
What Jesus really means is this: “Yes, people can be hard hearted, and closed minded when God’s truth comes so that when God’s truth comes to them they can’t see it.
People can become too mentally lazy or prejudice; so unwilling to see anything they don’t want to see.
Some people receive God’s Word right away, but when they find out that it is not going to solve every problem in the book—like magic—they fall away.
Some people are so caught up in worries, in riches, in so-called pleasures that the Word won’t get very far with them.
But many, many people will hear it, understand it, stick by it and be saved!!!”
To some, the Word of God makes about as much sense as a woman being the first to experience and tell others about Jesus’ Resurrection, would have made to your average first century Palestinian Jew.
So what are we who have heard the Word to do?
Perhaps we are to look out our windows at the people walking by.
What sort of soil is the seed being sown in today?
What can we do to better plough up the rough ground, to remove the stones, and to weed out the thorns?
What can we do to sow the Word of God more and more successfully?
This is not only something to think about corporately, but also during our individual prayer and devotion times.
We are surrounded by a world that is lost and hurting.
So many are wandering about, in a sad and dark funk.
If we were to read on to the next verse following our Gospel Lesson for this morning we would see that Jesus continued by saying, “No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed.
Instead, he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light.”
You and I, we are the light of the world!!!
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!!!
Amen.
