God is a lantern to my feet and a light upon my path. Psalm 119:105

Proper 10, Year A

Jesus taught in parables.  There were times when Jesus used parables to obscure his meaning from adversaries, but mostly Jesus used parable to ensure everyone listening (believers and skeptics, educated and unlettered, Jew and Gentile, male and female, young and old) understood what he said.  The parable in today’s Gospel (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23) uses  gardening or farming as a metaphor for how people respond to God.  

I want us to use this parable to help us use God as a lantern for our feet and a light upon our path.  I want to make use we remember that God is with us as we walk through the garden of life.  Listen again to the parable,

A sower went out to sow.

This sower could have been a farmer raising crops for sale or family members growing food in their kitchen garden.

And as the sower sowed, some seeds fell on the path, rocky ground, among thrones, and good soil.  The seeds that fell on the path were immediately consumed by birds. The seeds that fell on rocky ground, sprang up quickly, but withered in the heat of the sun because there was no depth of soil.  The seeds that fell among thorn plants took root and developed, but were choked by the thorns and could not be separated from the thorn plants because the roots systems were intertwined.  Seeds that fell on good soil took root, grew, and brought forth produce, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

In this parable the seeds are God’s grace.  God’s grace always has the potential to help, heal, and prosper.  Circumstances might constrain the operation of God’s grace, but cannot change the nature of grace.  God’s grace is plentiful and comes in a variety of forms.  Grace comes to us via the Word,  the Sacraments Jesus established (Baptism and Communion), the sacraments created by the church (confirmation,  ordination, marriage, absolution, and anointing of the sick), other people, nature, works of art, and more.  The productivity of God’s grace is out of proportion to the size or number of seeds. The sower in this parable scattered 4/5 of the seeds in locations other than good soil and still yielded one hundred, sixty or thirty fold.   

In this parable, the locations where seeds fell (pathway, rocky ground, thorny ground, and good soil) represent the manner in which people receive and utilize God’s grace.  The people listening to Jesus assumed the places represented different types of people.  Speaking so the people listening could hear and understand him, Jesus described each location as if it were different people.  Pathway people were those whose faith was untested, weak or not firmly held.  The devil easily took the benefits of God’s grace away from pathway people.  Rocky ground people were initially touched, moved and inspired by God’s grace.  Their inexperienced or naiveté, shortened the affect of God’s grace.  The cares and concerns of life undermine the impact of God’s grace for people situated in thorn infested ground.   The good soil people heard and heeded God’s Word and they trusted and relied on God’s grace all the time and without doubts, fears, and confusion.  

In my experience, limiting the interpretation of the locations where the seeds fell in this way, is not realistic.  The most faithful priest I ever worked with, was not always a good soil person.  She prayed all the daily offices, had a long list of people she prayed and lit candles for, and served as both nun and priest, but she did not always receive and use God’s grace after the manner of good soil.  This holy and wise women struggled and sometimes failed to see and receive God’s grace.  

Assuming each place the seed fell is a different type of person also  ignores things we know about human nature.   The fields of anthropology, psychology, and sociology teach us that human responses are complex and varied.   Over the course of a single day or a life time the same person can respond like the pathway, rocky ground, thorn infested ground, or good soil in this parable.  Jesus understood this so after his resurrection he re-recruit apostles who had denied and abandoned him during his trial and crucifixion.  Years after his ascension, Jesus confronted Paul about his persecution of believers and then called him to serve the same people he had persecuted.  

When has God been a lantern for your feet?  Have there been times when the light of Christ seemed too dim to guide you through the garden of life?God is always a lantern to my feet and a light upon my path.  When I am well rested, fed, and calm I am able to respond to my beloved children after the manner of good soil.  In those times, no matter how difficult their behavior or how harsh their words, God’s grace flourishes.  In spite of looking for and using the light of Christ to illumine my path, there have been times when I have stumbled and fell in the garden of life.  When I have to deal with concerns outside my control, my responses are like the thorn infested ground in the parable.  God’s grace, though rooted, tended and developed in me, gets choked.  This happened recently when I was accused of doing things to influence the outcome of the episcopal election.  For weeks, I found myself tangled in the roots of false accusation and choked by the thorny plants of mistrust.  God’s grace was present, but hard for me to see.  God’s grace came to me through my Spiritual Director, therapist, Christ Church Wardens, and canon lawyers.  They listened, counseled, and prayed for me.  Even though I was surrounded by God’s grace, it seemed like the lantern of God’s grace was shedding light too dim for me to navigate that thorny ground.  The matter is resolved now, thank God, and I am integrating that thorny ground experience into my faith journey.

I share this experience to help you look for and use God’s grace.  Look back, look around you now, and look into the future, look knowing your responses to God’s grace will vary.  None of us can be good soil all the time, but this does not make you a bad person or unfaithful Christian.  There will be pathway experiences, rocky ground times, thorny circumstances, and good soil days, months, and years.  Some paths, rocks, and thorn plants will be of our own making.  Others will come unbidden and undeserved.  When the seeds of God’s grace land on the pathway or among the rocks and thorn plants in your life garden, follow the Psalmist’s example.  The Psalmist said,

I have sworn and am determined to seek God’s grace.  When I am deeply troubled; God’s Word will preserve my life. …I know my life is always at the mercy of circumstances and people and so I will not forget God’s blessings.  …I will apply my heart to seek and serve God for ever and to the end.  Psalm 119:106, 107, 109 & 112