A sermon on Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 by Dr John Sampson

As you heard the text for today is from Matthew’s account of the parable of the sower. 

Our Bibles contain three versions of this story, in Mark 4, Luke 8, and Matt 13.

It is also found in the gospel of Thomas, but this was only discovered recently and is not included in our Bibles.  

Most scholars argue that Mark’s account was the original and that Matthew copied him almost word for word. 

Note: I prepared this sermon using the NIV Study Bible and as a result the language in my text references is more formal than the language you heard in the reading.

Summary of The Parable Matt 13; 1 – 8

At the end of Matthew chapter 12 Jesus turns his back on his family and turning to the crowd, uses parables to teach them about the kingdom of God.

The first of these parables is about the farmer who went out to sow.

The story is very simple and is built on contrasting triplets; 

First we have three inhospitable environments where the seed fails, 

hard ground, rocks and weeds 

Then we have three good environments where the seed flourishes

some one hundred, some sixty and some thirty fold.

The point of the story is simple, seed in inhospitable places produces nothing while seed in good soil produces abundantly. 

This image, of the Palestinian peasant scattering seed, was adopted by the British and Foreign Bible society as their logo. 

It is a romantic image of a subsistence farmer in a simple cloak and a pair of sandals

with a satchel over his shoulder containing a small amount of precious seed,

trying to grow food for his family. 

A common enough sight for Jesus as he travelled around Galilee. No big deal. Just a farmer doing his job. 

Yet Jesus used it as an image of the kingdom of God!

What?? How does that add up?

How does scattering seed about or feeding your family equate with the kingdom of God? 

(or the new culture God, as Nathan describes it?)

The crowd were impressed, but puzzled, and the disciples were plain confused, so when they were away from the crowds they asked him

Why do you  teach in parables? We don’t understand!

So Jesus explained it for them.

Matt;13 18; NIV Study Bible translation

“Listen then to what the parable of the sower means.”

‘When anyone hears the message about the kingdom of God, 

and does not understand it, 

the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. 

This is the seed along the path’.

So the seed is the news about the kingdom of God,

sown in a person’s heart,

If they do not understand it, they don’t give it a second thought.

It remains exposed and the birds, the evil one, eat it up

and it disappears without trace.

It comes to nothing. 

So when Jesus talks about the kingdom of God listen up. 

You have ears, use them! 

Try to understand what he is saying.

The one that received the seed that fell on rocky places 

is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 

But since he has no root he lasts only a short time. 

When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, 

he quickly falls away.

This is like a person who receives the news about God’s kingdom with great enthusiasm.

But the response is superficial. It has no deep roots. 

And when trouble comes it ends in tears.

It comes to nothing.

So put down roots.  

The one who received the seed that fell among thorns 

is the man who hears the word, 

but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, 

making it unfruitful.

These people are far too busy making money, or worried about their kids, to pay attention to the news about the kingdom. 

Their priorities lie elsewhere.

They are too busy to put their trust in God, or strengthen their bonds with the people of God.

And again it comes to nothing.

So think about what is important in your life and beware of weeds.

But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil 

is the man who hears the word and understands it. 

He produces a crop, 

yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

So understanding is the key to being productive. 

What do we make of it all?

First century Palestinian farmers may have never heard of DNA and double helixes, but they were well aware that wheat breeds true. 

The grain that was sown was the good news about the kingdom of God

It will produce more good seed, that is more good news about the kingdom of God

And good news will no more produce scandals and divisions than wheat seeds will produce  pumpkins.

The grain that failed did not fail because because it was bad grain.  

It failed because of its location. In good conditions it will always produce a bumper crop.  

The farmer in the story wanted to feed his family but Australian farmers boast that they want to feed the world.

And even though farming practices have changed significantly, they still have to contend with:

Fields with compacted ground, 

Fields littered with rocks and 

Fields infested with weeds.

The difference is that farmers now prepare the land before seeding.

They fence the paddocks to keep out the roos

And use heavy machinery to:

plough the hard packed soil and loosen it up. 

clear the fields of rocks, reducing them to dust, 

and apply herbicides to kill the weeds.  

Then, with the first rains of winter they start circling the fields, day and night, 

planting the crop from the comfort of their air-conditioned cabs.

In the first century the farmer spread the good news of the kingdom of God by hand.

Today we work on a completely different scale. 

Similarly we work on a different scale when preaching. 

So how do we ‘scatter the seed’ in our churches? 

We use a microphone, a device with the power to scatter the seeds far beyond anything a first century Palestinian could ever achieve. 

Never trivialise its power. 

So pray for those who use it,

Isolated pastors serving tiny congregations in remote locations,

Teams of pastors serving large megachurches

Or those involved in cross cultural ministries, 

whom we so often forget.

Pray for them all

that they may preach faithfully 

and never be seduced by the power of their office

or abuse their authority.

Apart from the tele- evangelists there are very few preachers who preach to all and sundry. It is a long time since I saw a preacher perched on a soapbox, haranguing the crowds at Southbank.

Today’s preachers fence their fields by building chapels, halls and auditoria,

and preach to the gathered faithful,

either in the building or on line.  

And, unlike the sower of old, they prepare the fields.

Working hard to remove obstacles to faith, 

They break up hard ground, 

They remove rocks 

They destroy weeds. 

Let me illustrate:

Today some preachers will be tackling some very hard ground, 

our indifference to pressing social issues.

They may be preaching about the Voice to Parliament, or the plight of the refugees.

And will be going round and round trying to remove callouses and soften peoples hearts.

Like a road-worker with a jackhammer, breaking up asphalt,

or a Podiatrist attacking a bunion   

they will most likely be making a lot of noise and slow progress.

They will do this so that we can;

Hear the cries of the oppressed,

See our history in a new light,

And understand the injustices upon which our society has been built.     

Other preachers will be tackling rocky ground.

They will be preaching to those whose faith is shallow.

Dealing with the foundations of our faith,

Encouraging people to put down deep roots.

So that everyone will have the strength to endure trouble and persecution.

And still others will be attacking weeds;

Affirming the goodness of God and the reality of his love.

Reassuring those who are weighed down by the worries of this world.

And confronting those whose love of money, blinds them to the kingdom of God.

They will be debunking the claim that retail therapy is the solution to all our problems

or reaching out to those addicted to gambling.

Like a crop duster roaring over the heads of the congregation,

the words will echo up and down the aisles,  

leaving an uncomfortable fog in the still air 

and an unpleasant taste in the mouth of their hearers.

All these will be preparing the ground for the seed of the good news of the kingdom of God

So that when preached the seed will fall into good soil and produce abundantly.

Some thirty times, Some sixty times,  Some, one hundred times the amount sown.

Enough to feed the world!

As the seed produces a plant so the good news about the kingdom of God produces disciples.

And as a mature plant produces more seed so a mature disciple preaches the word.

AND  while discussing things botanical;

Seed is a good food source because it is a small packet of energy, full of starch.

But each seed only has enough energy to produce a seedling with a tiny root and two round seed leaves. 

Remember your first science lessons in primary school.

Most of you will have tried to grow some seeds on some cotton wool in a saucer of water.

When kept in the dark they produced a long, white, spindly stem and used up all their energy trying to find the light.    

But when placed in sunlight they turned green and started to photosynthesise. 

Only then did they grew into a fully formed plant, with stems and leaves 

So plants grow when they are exposed to sunlight.

Similarly we grow when we are exposed to God’s love.

Thus here at South Yarra let us live as the people of God, and reflect the culture of God’s kingdom.

 Let us 

proclaim the good news, 

make disciples of all peoples, 

and nurture each other with demonstrations of love. 

SO LISTEN CAREFULLY!

WHAT IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD LIKE ?

The kingdom of God is like a farmer who went out to sow

Some seed fell in hard ground, and produced nothing

some in rocky places, and produced nothing 

and some in weed infested areas, and produced nothing

But some seed fell on good soil

and some produced thirty fold that which was sown, 

some sixty, 

and some one hundred fold that which was sown.

LET THOSE WHO HAVE EARS TO HEAR. HEAR!