What’s the condition of your soil?

(I preached this sermon on Sunday, July 12, 2020. The Gospel reading was Matthew 13:1–9, 18–23. You can find the entire worship service at www.ststephenlc.org)

I know nothing about farming. I know very little about gardening. We tried having a box garden in our backyard a number of years ago. We got some green beans to grow. There were a few pumpkins that would start to grow — but they stayed small. There may have been a few other things that we were able to grow, but overall, I’m a terrible gardener.

Which is why I’m not all that crazy about today’s Gospel reading — at least on a surface level-reading of the parable. But even for someone like me, when we dig into a bit, there’s something rich in the soil of this parable.

Jesus spoke this parable to a group of people who understood agriculture and growing things. These were people who were in touch with the land after all. The land was about their survival. Have a good crop and you’d survive a bit longer — have a really bad crop and you might starve to death.

Today, we find Jesus out in the country. A great crowd has gathered around him. A multitude of people. All coming from different places, doing a variety of things. Why did they come to hear him? We aren’t told. We are just given that a large crowd gathered.

I wonder if Jesus looked out on the crowd and discerned something — that these people aren’t just numerous and have different professions and are in different stations in life. I wonder if…