Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 is the Gospel text
for the lectionary on July 12.
Jesus used “comparison” (parable in
Greek) to teach about the Kingdom of God.
Here it was aimed at those who struggled to survive under the oppressive
yoke of Rome as they grew crops on which to survive, though many of them were
taken to feed the Roman Military machine.
They knew about survival through fishing, growing and herding, so Jesus
taught them about their survival under and resistance to empire through
comparisons.
The sower indiscriminately spreads the
seed. Perhaps in desperation to have
enough, people who desperately needed everything they could grow may have done
this to get at least SOME crops, even out of bad soil. They knew this all too well.
The path is the well-worn place where
the dirt becomes like concrete over time, due to the foot traffic, rain and
constant packing down. It had a low
probability of producing grain, as others, desperately competing for their own
survival would come and eat the seed meant for planting, rather than wait for
it to grow.
The rocky soil was a low yield endeavor
because there was no depth of rich soil left after overgrowing, and it is hard
to grow crops on stones. The harsh
conditions did not help, and the soil may have started to grow, but could not
be sustained on the few nutrients available, like many of the people under
empire, and it died.
The thorns competed for whatever
nutrients were left in the soil. Like the
weeds in the wheat, they sucked up what little was left for themselves and
choked out the good crops, and they died.
The good soil produces. It has enough richness left to produce for
others to benefit. Perhaps few had such
good soil available to them, but because of them multitudes of desperate people
could at least survive under empire.
Verses 10-17 include a teaching by Jesus
on why parables are used in teaching.
Jesus wanted the truth of the Kingdom to be conveyed to those who would
listen and understand. There would be
others who would not do so. Jesus wanted
people to see the true picture of what was going on in the world, under empire,
and some would just go along with its ideologies and unjust systems, even embracing
them in order to get whatever they could for themselves, rather than resist
empire and its values for the sake of God’s children around them, who were also
suffering under empire’s yoke.
The seed is the Word of Liberation in
the Gospels. The Sower here is Jesus, in
our time, the Holy Spirit pointing to Jesus in the Good News of Jesus.
The evil one snatches the Word from
those who are well-worn and hard headed, who have such strong embedded beliefs, attitudes and ideologies (economic, political, social, theological) that they are in collusion with empire and its values, and cannot comprehend
the message of the Gospel. They do not
understand their need for and ability to resist empire in their lives, because
they are so inundated with its values.
The rocky soil receives the Word of
liberation at first with joy and enthusiasm, but when the resistance becomes
too difficult or dangerous, gives it up and returns to participation in the unjust
system. They are not willing to make the
sacrifice toward justice, and prefer the sacrifice of life under empire.
The thorny soil receives the Word and
rejects it because they have whole-heartedly bought into the empire values, and
believe somehow that they can benefit from participation in the ideologies and
practices of empire. Their personal
greed chokes out any concern for others and justice. As long as they can get more for themselves,
even whatever little they can under empire, they don’t care about the liberation of
anyone else, and even falsely believe themselves to be "liberated."
The good soil, of course, hears the Word
of Liberation, understands it and applies it to how they live. They resist empire out of Agape Love and
Grace, and produce life sustaining things in the lives of the whole
community. They give hope for the
oppressed and speak truth to power, resist the evils of empire and live the
values of the Kingdom of God, which brings Shalom in sustainable life for all.
There is Grace in this. The seed (WORD OF LIBERATION – GOOD NEWS OF
JESUS) is given indiscriminately, even on those who would not be good soil and
produce good fruits. It is a shame that
some folk are too hard-headed, some too afraid and some too greedy for personal
gain to be good soil that produces Shalom in this part of God’s Kingdom, here
and now, but that is the truth.
Those who resist empire now, especially
those who heed the Good News of Jesus in doing so through the living of Agape
Love and Grace, are relatively few, but they make a huge difference.
Some are so used to the well-worn path
of empire and cannot get it into their thick skulls that there is another way,
so evil snatches any hope of them being good soil for God.
Some get a bit of it, but they are fair
weather advocates of the Kingdom, and when they meet resistance to their
faithful words and actions, they back down and buckle under, in fear of
personal distress.
Some are hard-core, empire loving, koolaid
drinking folk who believe that the values of empire are prevalent and therefore
must be of God, though they are not, and they kill Agape and Grace at every
turn with their normalized greed, hatred, lust for power and desire for status
above others.
But what we are seeing in action right now
is the work of God’s Word, the Good News of Jesus. Out of Agape Love (committed action on behalf
of the other), millions are standing up to empire and demanding justice on
behalf of those who have been disenfranchised and marginalized, victimized by
the oppressive injustice of empire. These
are the good soil who GET IT. Are you
one of them?
“Let anyone with ears to hear, listen!”
Pastor Jamie
No comments:
Post a Comment