The parable of the sower…NOT the parable of the soil, seed or rocks

Isaiah 55: 10-13               Psalm 65: 8-13      Romans 8:12-25      Matt 13: 1-9, 18-23

This isn’t the first time I’ve stood before you with one of our poppies in my hand, and I doubt it will be the last, but this morning’s gospel passage reminded me once again of the sermons these poppies keep preaching.

I’ve just returned from 2 weeks in the UK, visiting family and friends.  In the town I emigrated from, the local council have strewn wildflower seeds along the central reservations of the main roads in and out of the town and they are bursting with colour. There is evidence of seeds being sown and plants being grown, all over the place. And when I left here, the poppies were dormant and nowhere to be seen, and now they are beginning to burst out again.

This morning’s gospel passage is about seeds and plants and growth too… or is it?

Jesus calls it the parable of the sower – listen then to what the parable of the sower means, he says. Not the parable of the seeds or soil or the birds, or rocky places or thorns, or anything else. Listen to the parable of the sower.

A farmer went out to sow his seed and he scattered it; on the path, in the thorns, in the rocks, and where the soil was good.

The farmer scattered the seed everywhere. They didn’t care where it landed – they just flung it about. Some of it took root, some of it didn’t, some of it was food for the birds, some of it grew into food for people, some of it lived and some of it died.

This is a parable about the farmer, about the one who sows the seeds. And in this story, the farmer is God, and the seed is Jesus. And God has this amazingly healthy lack of concern about where God sows. In God, Christ is for all people, all the time, in every place. And here is the surprising thing, perhaps – it is God who sends the Christ-seed, it is God who does the planting of the Christ-seed, and there is no place where God won’t send and plant him.

What? You mean it isn’t about us and about our acts of evangelism and our publicity of the Jesus story and our capacity to paint him in a good light that spreads him across this world? Well, alleluia, this gospel story seems to be saying no, it’s not. God is the farmer and God sows the love and light and life of Christ like wildflowers. (Even the OT reading reminded us that it is the work of the rain from heaven that makes buds blossom and flourish, and not us… And the psalm said – YOU tend the earth and water it, and make it rich and fertile). Hang on a minute. God has got this covered and doesn’t need me to do the work for God? Consider that for a moment!

So why am I standing here with a poppy in my hand? Because these poppies remind us about the lavish, indiscriminate, vast outpouring of the message of God.

These poppies, as you may know, originated in Flanders fields, in Belgium, where two pilgrims procured seeds and brought them back to St Paul’s. And those seeds were sown and these poppies grew. Then a gust of wind came and took some of the seeds of these first poppies and carried them on the breeze to Martha street and they dropped and fell on the concrete and they magnificently burrowed their way down, and the seed died there, but, in time, their strong but delicate head burst back up through that concrete. And along came a bird and pecked a poppy plant and carried the seed to south beach and up to the city and out to the hills, and poppies sprang up there too. And then, to raise funds, some people harvested the seeds and sold them here, and people bought them and planted them in other suburbs and other states and maybe even other countries, and the poppies continued to grow. And they are everywhere. And they cannot be tamed.

And as it is for these poppies, so it is for the word and love of God. But more so.

Because what began at the dawn of time, and came to human life in a manger in the middle east, is now known throughout the world. And we never know how fruitful anything will be. We never know if concrete will discourage or challenge the seed. We never know where the bird will drop it, or where the Holy Spirit will blow it. All we can do is watch what the farmer is up to, and see what happens. All we can do is welcome babies for baptism, watch God plant and water the seeds of faith in children like baby Ada, and then wait for flowers and fruit to grow.

Three weeks ago, we had a confirmation service with the Archbishop and we began a new tradition here. We gave to each candidate a little sapling, with a tag on it that read, ‘plant this as a reminder of the new life that is yours today, in Christ’, and we sent them home with it. And we planted one here too, with a tag that said ‘confirmations, June 2023’.

Today we will continue that tradition – as part of our work towards reaching net zero, and because it is good and true – and baby Ada will be given a plant with that same message. And hopefully Brett and Hayley will take it and plant it. And we will plant one here too, as a reminder of this day – so we get to see, visually, what the holy farmer, the sower, is doing among us.

Friends, the sower is at work. Seeds are being nurtured and grown. Flowers and fruit are bursting out all around us. God keeps on planting and watering and tending the earth. And we get to watch God’s Kingdom grow, thanks be to God. Amen.