Good Soil
An Excerpt From a Sermon Delivered at Kihesa Lutheran Church
Iringa, Tanzania 23 Feb 2014
The Text: Mark 4:1-9 - The Parable of the Sower
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| Fertile Hillsides Near Lutangilo (Not-so-steep) - Feb 2014 |
The passage from the Gospel of Mark that we have read this morning is one of my favorites - the Parable of the Sower and the Seeds. What I love about this parable, and all parables in general, is the way in which Jesus uses common items (like seeds and soil) to teach us about huge and important things - like the Kingdom of God.
What I also like about this parable is the way in which this simple story is, in fact, very complex. Three different preachers will approach the same text and come up with three different sermons.
One preacher might start with the character of the Sower - who is He and what can we learn from him?
Another preacher might start with the seeds - what are they and how can we learn from them?
A third preacher, this preacher, might start with the soil and ask questions like this: What is the church’s role in preparing the soil? And, what kind of soil are you?
Before I proceed any further, however, I have a confession to make: I am not a farmer. I have never planted a field of corn or harvested a field of wheat. My profession is a pastor and a teacher, the tools I use are books and a computer - not a hoe or a panga.
The same is true for many Americans. Last Sunday a group from Como Park Lutheran Church was visiting their companions in Itungi. After the worship service several of the women gathered around one of the women from Minnesota - an office worker. They stretched out her arm and felt the palm of her hand. “Your skin is so smooth!” they said, “You must not know how to farm!” they joked.
Now, I wonder, how many of you know how to farm? How many of you grow your own corn or beans or vegetables in your yard or on your shamba? I suspect that many of you are experts and can teach me what you know - not only about farming but about the meaning of this parable. Some day I would like for you to teach me. . .
What kind of soil are you?
A danger of simple parables like this one of the Sower and the Seeds is that we can use it to affirm our own understanding of this world rather than to see it how God might see it.
In this case, there may be an easy temptation to divide the earth - and its people - into Good Soil and Bad Soil. The truth is far more complicated and, from the graceful perspective of God, there may be far more fertile soil than you or I can imagine.
This is a lesson that I learned again the other day as I travelled with Rev Msigwa and my colleagues to Lutangilo Secondary School when we went there to visit nearly 90 students who receive scholarships there through the Bega Kwa Bega partnership.
On our way to Lutangilo we first went through the valleys near Ipogolo and made our way up to Kilolo. At first the terrain was quite flat and there were many shambas and plots of land that were being farmed. This looked like rocky but good soil. As we kept on going higher into the mountains, however, the hills became steeper and the terrain seemed fall away from the side of the road.
There were large trees and tall grasses - “There’s no way someone could farm here,” I thought. “With such steep terrain, this is bad soil.” Imagine my surprise then, when we kept on going higher and higher and corn was being grown on incredibly steep mountainsides! I was shocked and amazed! My eyes could not see and my brain could not imagine that that was possible. Even on the sides of mountains, faithful and hardworking farmers have found good soil!
I wonder if the same might be true when we try and apply this parable to our lives. I wonder if our limited, human sight might prevent us from seeing the good soil and opportunities for growth in those who around us.
Just as I looked at those mountainsides and said, “there is no way anything can grow there,” I wonder if we do the same with others. . .
Do we think, “That drunk or that lazy person . . . God could never do anything with them. God’s love could never grow in their bad heart?”
I wonder if we do the same with ourselves sometimes - Thinking that God’s word and God’s love could never take root in our own lives.
My friends, the Good News for us this morning is that God sees good soil and the opportunity for growth all around us. In the same way that farmers saw the possibility to grow crops on the steep slopes of mountains, so to God sees the opportunity to turn the burned and hardened places in our lives and our communities into soil that is good and fertile and fruitful.
As you leave here today, I encourage you to see the world around you as God’s field. Join with one another in preparing the way of the Lord - smoothing over the rough places and making the crooked ways straight. At the same time, walk carefully and with humility - knowing that the grace of God can make even poorest soil healthy and blessed.
For this Good News we can all give thanks.
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