Embattled Good Soil

EMBATTLED GOOD SOIL
Matthew 13:1-8; 18-23
July 10, 2005

1. Every time rainy season comes to the Philippines, I am reminded of the planting season in the rural areas. In the many years that I have worked as pastor in the island of Panay and Guimaras, I viewed agriculture—plowing the fields, sowing rice seeds, and harvesting crops as God’s own way of sustaining Cod’s creation especially human beings who depend on the good soil for life. In human history, the fertile soil had been coveted by individuals, tribes and classes in society. There have been situations where fertile and arable lands are embattled—that is, the land is the object of conflict.

Out text in the Gospel of Matthew is a parable the sower who went out and sows seeds in the field. In his attempt to harvest double and triple from what he sowed, he sowed abundantly on every square meter of the field. The parable as interpreted is about the characterization of receivers of the message of the Kingdom of God. The seeds that fell on rocky ground, those that fell along the road, are those that fell among the thorns are the receivers of the message of the Kingdom who somehow due to prevailing situations, fail to hear, accept and live out the message of the Kingdom of God. While the seeds that fell on good soil had delivered plentiful harvest. The good soil is known as those who willingly and openly received the message of the Kingdom of God. They have heard of it, understood it and produced crops yielding a hundred, sixty of thirty.

2. The good soil can be inferred as those who followed Jesus’ message of the Kingdom of God or the Christians, while those who did not listen, accept and live with it are considered indifferent people who refuse to listen and do something of the message of the Kingdom of God. Christians who are considered the “good soil” is now embattled, that is, they live in social situations which confuse their minds and twist their Christian values. We live in situations where there are ambiguities in our claims as Christians. And oftentimes these ambiguities have semblances of the work of the indifferent ones.

Russel Pregeant in his meditations on Matthew 13 says that:
The interpretation of The Sower in 18-23 makes clear that the various seeds in the parable itself represent varying responses to the “word of the kingdom,” and the image of the harvest in both The Parable of the Weeds and its explanation make clear that wrong responses are subject to God’s eschatological judgment. Both the Parable of the Net and the identification of the sower with Jesus in vs. 37 show that the judgment involves not only the world at large but the church itself. Thus the seeds treated negatively in the Parable of the Sower include members of the church, and the parable and explanation serve as a warning to Christians and encouragement to hold fast to their commitment to the word. Even those who once received it with joy can fall away in the face of trouble, persecution, worldly cares, and “the lure of wealth.”

(Cite instances when Christians are too busy to hear the message of God’s kingdom, when they can’t accept the truth about God and about life in its fullness)

3. Moreover, the good soil has been differentiated from the barren soil. The latter is referred to as those whose hearts have become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. However, in our modern tines, this characterization can’t be limited to those who are considered “bad apples” but may also refer to the Christians themselves. In this situation Paul in his letter to the Romans chapter 11 tells of the difference between “life in the flesh” and “life in the spirit” which gives a better understanding of the life of Christians in contemporary society. Russel Pregeant has this point:

For an examination of Paul’s usage of the Spirit/flesh dichotomy shows that the latter term does not refer to sheer material reality. Both flesh and spirit are powers according to which one can live. To live according to the flesh is to live within the field of force of an alien power, a power that denies the realm of the Spirit altogether. It is to live as if material reality were the only dimension of existence. To live according the Spirit is, by contrast, to live within the sphere of influence of God’s empowering presence. Thus, if we think of the action of the Spirit in process terms, we can envision it as the agent of God’s luring us toward the good in every moment of our lives. We can interpret it as God’s persuasive influence in every decision we have to make. And this insight can help us with the Parable of the Sower. It is not easy to resist the desire to seek safety in a time of persecution or the seductive lure of material comforts and luxuries. Paul’s image of the Spirit, however, encourages us to be attentive to another set of lures and another field of force that offers a fundamentally different mode of fulfilling our human nature.

4. Finally, Jesus mentioned that those who listen to his words, those accept it willingly and live up to the expectations of the Kingdom of God are called “blessed”. For they have continued in the life which God intends for God’s children. And even if they live in difficult situations, they are able to hear, see, accept and bear witness to the power of God in the world. Amen.