AT ST. ANDREW PARISH CHURCH<\/b>
\nSUNDAY, JULY 13, 2014<\/b>\u00a0<\/b>
\nText: Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
\n<\/b><\/p>\n
As many of you know by now, Mary and I will be retiring and relocating to Massachusetts in a few days.\u00a0 We have made our home here for 23 years, a home with various parts\u2014the land and people of Jamaica, the United Theological College, St. Andrew Parish Church, and St. Thomas Mission.<\/p>\n
We are not finding it easy to leave our home and friends.\u00a0 But we look forward to three things:\u00a0 a chance to be closer to our children and grandchildren; the opportunity in retirement to change pace and refocus our energy; and the anticipation of drawing deeply on our experience here\u2014reflection on what we have learned and how we have grown; keeping in touch in a variety of ways; and visits back and forth.<\/p>\n
There is a temptation for me this morning to try to sum it all up and tell you the meaning of our life and ministries here.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think I\u2019m up to that, which is probably a very good thing.\u00a0 So, let us do what we always should do when we gather for worship, listen to the Word of God.\u00a0 It may just be that we will find in today\u2019s readings a message to fit this farewell sermon.<\/p>\n
In the Gospel reading we have before us one of the most familiar parables of Jesus, the Parable of the Sower.\u00a0 But the sower is only one character in the parable.\u00a0 There is also the seed, and the various kinds of ground.\u00a0 The usual way to interpret this parable is by focusing on the various kinds of ground.\u00a0 The hard path, where the seed can\u2019t grow at all.\u00a0 The rocky ground, where the roots are shallow and the plants soon wither away.\u00a0 The ground with so many weeds that the young plants are smothered.\u00a0 And finally the good ground, where the seeds grow and mature and produce bountifully.\u00a0 The moral of the story, in this view, is that we must open our hearts deeply to God\u2019s Word, not let the cares of life choke out our faith, and be the good soil that produces fruit for God.<\/p>\n
But this is usually called the parable of the sower, so what if we focus more attention on the sower and the seed?\u00a0 Then this parable begins to look a little different.<\/p>\n
For one thing, this farmer is crazy.\u00a0 Would farmers usually spread their precious seed on a hard path, or rocky soil, or places where only weeds grow?\u00a0 That would be wasteful and foolish.\u00a0 Like business owners trying to sell products they know no one will buy.\u00a0 This, I think, leads to one point Jesus is making here.\u00a0 Spreading the Word of God is not like normal farming or business.\u00a0 God\u2019s Word is spread everywhere.\u00a0 Everyone needs a chance to hear.\u00a0 There is no soil analysis and selective sowing.\u00a0 There is no market survey so you can make only what you know you can sell.<\/p>\n
The second point is the flip side of the first.\u00a0 Yes, when the seed is sown so liberally, much will not grow.\u00a0 But some will.\u00a0 And it will grow in astounding abundance.<\/p>\n
When we look at the parable this way we see that Jesus is really talking about his own ministry.\u00a0 He did not go only to the best people; he went to all sorts and conditions, the tax collectors and the notorious sinners.\u00a0 And many rejected his message.\u00a0 Some called him a mad man, some said he worked by satanic power, his own home town people said, who does he think he is?\u00a0 He\u2019s nothing more than one of us.\u00a0 But Jesus didn\u2019t let this rejection stop him; for he was confident that some would grow.\u00a0 This crazy generosity in spreading the Word to everyone led to Jesus making the ultimate generous act, giving his life on the cross.\u00a0 But so, also, here God was at work to bring abundant growth out of this rejection, by raising him from the grave and so giving new life to the world.<\/p>\n
When all is said and done, the real force behind this parable is never mentioned.\u00a0 That is God.\u00a0 God is the creator, and God\u2019s Word is for everyone; God is generous, raining on the just and the unjust, showing mercy even to the ungrateful.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
And God\u2019s Word is effective.\u00a0 Isaiah 55:\u00a0 So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty; but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.<\/b><\/p>\n
So it is these two points that I would leave with you at St. Andrew Parish Church.\u00a0 First, never forget that God works on a different principle than a careful farmer or astute businessman.\u00a0 God\u2019s Word, God\u2019s mercy, God\u2019s care is generous, foolishly generous.\u00a0 This church, with its missions and projects, has a wide outreach and tremendous resources in its people and connections.\u00a0 This is not grounds for boasting or complacency.\u00a0 Rather, it is a challenge to even more generosity\u2014for God cares for everyone, and God, through us, spreads the seed of his love and his Word to all.<\/p>\n
Our work, therefore, is to have the same quality of lavish, even foolish, generosity.\u00a0 Paul said in 2 Corinthians 9:\u00a0 The one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. . . . And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. . . He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.\u00a0 You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us.<\/b><\/p>\n
The second point from this parable is this:\u00a0 Just as most of the seed did not grow well, just as Jesus himself experienced much disappointment and rejection, so also we can expect the same in our work.\u00a0 Not every programme will work well.\u00a0 Sometimes, long-standing projects or groups will fade away and die.\u00a0 Attendance will, sometimes, disappoint us.\u00a0 People will leave.\u00a0 There will be change, there will be death.<\/p>\n
But do not be discouraged, because this is God\u2019s work, not ours.\u00a0 God\u2019s Word will not be without its effect.\u00a0 Time and time again we will experience the miracle of people who are baptized and confirmed and take on an active role.\u00a0 Time and time again we will see our young people, in spite of all the pressures against it, thrive in the faith.\u00a0 Time and time again, as we gather to worship, God\u2019s Spirit will move in us and create something fresh and lively.\u00a0 Time and time again the nourishing power of Christ\u2019s body and blood will revive us when we thought that we should give ourselves over to despair.<\/p>\n
A sower went out to sow. . . . As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the Word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.<\/b>\u00a0 This is God\u2019s doing.\u00a0 And because it is God\u2019s doing, we will be outrageously generous; because it is God\u2019s doing, it will produce many people who live by God\u2019s righteousness.\u00a0 Because it is God\u2019s doing, we will not be deterred by disappointments or failures.\u00a0 This is God\u2019s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.<\/p>\n
About The Rev. Dr. David Kuck\u00a0 <\/b><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/i><\/b>The Rev. Dr. David Kuck is a minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the USA, and he served as Lutheran Warden and Lecturer in New Testament and Homelitics at the United Theological College of the West Indies (UTCWI) from 1991 until his retirement in 2014. While in Jamaica, he served as a member of the clergy staff, in an honorary capacity, at the St. Andrew Parish Church. He is the author of the book<\/i><\/b> Preaching in the Caribbean: Building Up a People for Mission, published in 2007; and his articles and studies have appeared in a number of journals. \u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
AT ST. ANDREW PARISH CHURCH SUNDAY, JULY 13, 2014\u00a0 Text: Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 As many of you know by now, Mary and I will be retiring and relocating to Massachusetts in a few days.\u00a0 We have made our home here for 23 years, a home with various parts\u2014the land and people of Jamaica, the United…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sermon","ctfw-has-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2888"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2955,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2888\/revisions\/2955"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}