A vessel to be filled

July 10, 2011
Year A
5th Sunday after Pentecost
Romans 8:1-11
Matthew 13:1-9; 18-23
“A Vessel to be Filled”




Introduction: Trying to find meaning in a story
The Wrong Question: What Does It Mean?
For a moment, let's put this story to one side and hear another story. It concerns a young anthropologist named Connie who works among aboriginal people in Australia. The community where she lives has a rich tradition of storytelling. Everyone gathers at night, a story is told, and then another, and another. Connie feels extraordinarily privileged when she is asked to join in this activity.

The first story told that evening is about the animal ancestor of this community and its adventures at the beginning of time. The story overflows with detail, action, imagery.

At the end of the story, Connie is delighted. "May I ask a question?" she says. "What does it mean?"

All eyes are upon her. The elder looks at her gravely and says, "That is the one question you cannot ask." A long time passes before she is invited again. She has asked the wrong question.

"What does it mean?" was the wrong question for Connie to ask about the aboriginal myth. It may also be the wrong question for us to ask about the story of the sower, or any of the stories told by Jesus. "What does it mean?" is the wrong question if we think that by having an answer, we can somehow get a handle on this story, domesticate it, make it safe. The stories Jesus tells are not subject to our control. He tells these stories so that we can be transformed. He tells these stories, not so that we can ask questions about them, but so that the stories can ask questions of us.

Charles Hoffacker, What Kind of Soil Are You, What Kind of Sower?

We tend to ask that question a lot of ourselves, our lives and of God, and yes even of Jesus - what does it all mean? We want the bible to have all of the answers to our lives. And in a sense it does and in a sense it doesn’t.

It is not Jesus intention to give us the answers, but to give us something to think about, believe it or not, he trusts us enough to be able to come up with our own answers – if we have the right guidance.


Romans 8 the answers to all questions
I chose the scripture romans 8 in honor of Marj. A member of my last church, who told me that romans 8 was her favorite chapter in the bible, because she felt that it contained all of the answers to living a life of faith.
Verse 28 says that all things work together for those who love God.
Verse 31 asks if God is for us, then who can be against us. Verse 35 asks who can separate us from the love of God? verse 37 tells us that we are more than conquerors. Pretty powerful words at the end of the chapter.
Our scripture for today comes from the beginning of the chapter – where Paul starts with the beginning of our faith – there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Life in the spirit, Life in the flesh
Throughout the whole chapter, Paul talks about two warring forces in all of our lives and in the world. There is the life of the flesh and the life of the spirit. Life in the flesh is not a really a life of overconcern about bodily satisfaction. It is a more a life of overconcern about the things of the world. About what is here on earth. It is a life which leads to death and to sin. Life in the spirit is a life concerned with the things of God and heaven. It is a life that Christ was leading us to. It is a life that leads to eternal life. We all have a choice – we can follow the things of the flesh – and stay stuck in the bad things of our lives, the wounds that have happened to us, the things that people have done to us, the meaning of this life. Or we can chose to be transcendent – knowing that with God’s help all things will come to pass and we will get over them.
The thing to remember however, is that life in the spirit and life in the flesh are not about us – but about cosmic forces the control the universe. It is a battle in life that will never end.
We also have to remember that Paul is telling us that we will never ever conquer that battle. None of us will ever live totally a life in the flesh, none of us will ever live a life totally in the spirit. We spend our lives always somewhere in between the two. Romans is the place where Paul talks about how he does the things that his heart tells him is wrong, but he does them anyway. He also talks about a thorn in his side that he has to life with. He never tells us what that thorn is, but the point that he want us all to remember is that suffering is a part of life. As long as we are in this fleshly body – there is something wrong, there is something to worry about, there is something to learn to live with, there is a reason to go forward. We don’t always have control over the circumstances of our lives, but we do have control over how we deal with them.
If we are in Christ Jesus – then we have the mind of Christ and the spirit of Christ. Romans8: 11 says of the spirit of him who raised Jesus dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

Christ gives us the power to live in the flesh
Because Jesus Christ came to the world to live our life, was crucified, dead buried and rose from the dead. Even though we are fleshly people. We don’t have to live in the flesh. We can always choose between the life of the flesh and the life of the spirit.

Hearing the gospel as fertile soil
The good news of the gospel this morning is that not only are there two ways to live our lives. There are also different ways to hear the gospel of the lord. We can choose to be a fly by night hearer – who hears the word one minute – and pursuing the desires of the flesh the next, we can be a fair weather hearer – who hears the word when it is good for us, but forgetting it when it is not. We can be a too busy hearer – who hears the word, but is too busy to apply it to our lives, or we can be a productive hearer – that not only transforms our own lives, but has learned to transform the lives of others. Just by how we listen and obey the bible and what Jesus says.
Jesus tells the parable of the sower to the crowds the he was teaching. The disciples asks him what does it mean – why would he tell that story – what are we supposed to get out of it. The standard explanation of the story is that God is the sower, the word of God is the seed, and that we are the soil in which the word falls. But the point is that it means that and it means so much more.

Story of church clothes pantry – and planting seeds
There is the story of a church – a small church in a changing community- which started to see its membership declining. They noticed that there were no children in the Sunday school and wanted to do something to attract new members.
They decided that as an outreach project – they turned their Sunday school rooms into a clothing center. They would collect old clothes and give them away to anyone who needed them. Anyone could take as many clothes as they needed.
One winter day – a mother came with her many children. She said that she needed clothes. The kids took bags and bags of clothes. The church realized that this was a needy family – so they asked the pastor and some others to stop by to visit the family. While at the house – they noticed a pile of clothes that they had taken so much time to fold – being used as bedding for the dog. One lady noticed a dress that had belonged to her late grandmother torn and crumpled on the floor. As they were walking back to the church – they decided that the clothing ministry was a waste of time. People did not care anyway. And the help that you gave most people was wasted, because there were ungrateful about what you do for them.
Until one snowy day a winter later – when the pastor noticed an old beat up pickup truck in the parking lot before church service. The pickup was plowing the parking lot – when the pastor asked why – it was one of the older children of the family who had taken all of those clothes – the young man was now eighteen. He replied that the church had helped out his family when they were down on their luck. Now that they were on their feet and doing a little bit better, this was their way of helping out.
For many years later – the family plowed the churches parking lot. Most parishioners never even noticed.
In this story, the church members were the sower and the seeds were planted within the lives of those they served. It is not our responsibility to make the seeds grow – the life is inside of the seed not inside of our actions. We may never know the difference that our Christianity makes to those whose lives we touch. But it does indeed make a difference. Our job is to plant freely and abundantly – just as God has done for us.

The Mystery of God
Isaiah 55:10-11 says “My word is like the snow and the rain that come down from the sky to water the earth. They make the crops grow and provide for planting and food to eat. So also will be the word that O speak – it will not fail to do what I plan for it; it will do everything I send it to do.” The wonder and mystery of God is contained in the seeds that we plant for God. Why did Jesus tell parables with no real definite meaning – because he understood that God was a mystery that we have to experience for ourselves. The life is in the seed itself, not in the sowing.

Jesus trusts that what is planted will bloom
Speaking of parable – we may have heard of the parable of the rich young ruler. He asked what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus told him to sell everything that he had and to give it to the poor. He told Jesus that was more than he could bear. Jesus did not argue with him, or try to convince him otherwise. Jesus walked away. The seed had been planted, all there was to do now was to patiently wait for it to grow within the heart of the hearer. The seed of God, the seed of life, the seed of the eternal, is somewhere inside of us all. What does it take to make it grow? Let us pray….