Have Understanding? Pay Attention.
The health pandemic and the political response to it, the evidencing of racist violence as a reality of these United States, and the evermore widening disparities in wealth and access to whatever chance to actually live, be free, and pursue happiness will define this time in history. The way we respond as individuals and as a collective will define the character of this generation.
The Church is in the midst of it. I hope we can agree that in the United States the Church is not at the center of it, nor that society is seeking the moral or social leadership of the Church at this time. Those of us who are seeking to be faithful Christians are the ones seeking guidance, encouragement, and direction from the Church (and I say this lightly). Some of us might even expect that the Church will give us to-do lists and unparalleled wisdom. For those of us thinking this, we are in for a big surprise - and not in a good way.
What I do know (and have experienced in new ways in this season of violent rejection and pandemic) is that the Church is not an institution. The Church is a community, a community of followers. As followers of Jesus seeking to be faithful to the good news he shared and embodied, we gather together to seek together the unparalleled wisdom inspired by the Holy Spirit, and through that discern together (not simply receive, we discern) what faithful words, actions and witness of Jesus in our corner of the world can and should be.
The Gospel lesson of Matthew 13.1-9 and 18-23 encourages that exercise of community discernment and reliance on the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in each of us and through us as a community. From the Gospel of Matthew, the 13th chapter (Common English Bible):
That day Jesus went out of the house and sat down beside the lake. Such large crowds gathered around him that he climbed into a boat and sat down. The whole crowd was standing on the shore.
He said many things to them in parables: “A farmer went out to scatter seed. As he was scattering seed, some fell on the path, and birds came and ate it.
Other seed fell on rocky ground where the soil was shallow. They sprouted immediately because the soil wasn’t deep. But when the sun came up, it scorched the plants, and they dried up because they had no roots.
Other seed fell among thorny plants. The thorny plants grew and choked them.
Other seed fell on good soil and bore fruit, in one case a yield of one hundred to one, in another case a yield of sixty to one, and in another case a yield of thirty to one.
Everyone who has ears should pay attention.”
“Consider then the parable of the farmer. Whenever people hear the word about the kingdom and don’t understand it, the evil one comes and carries off what was planted in their hearts. This is the seed that was sown on the path.
As for the seed that was spread on rocky ground, this refers to people who hear the word and immediately receive it joyfully. Because they have no roots, they last for only a little while. When they experience distress or abuse because of the word, they immediately fall away.
As for the seed that was spread among thorny plants, this refers to those who hear the word, but the worries of this life and the false appeal of wealth choke the word, and it bears no fruit.
As for what was planted on good soil, this refers to those who hear and understand, and bear fruit and produce—in one case a yield of one hundred to one, in another case a yield of sixty to one, and in another case a yield of thirty to one.”
It is fair to affirm that when Matthew penned down this gospel he had no idea that it would be read beyond his community of faith, even centuries after. It is always important to consider that writers of Scripture had a very particular community in mind when writing, and had a particular intention. The community to which Matthew was writing was a community of mostly Jewish converts to the faith Jesus who had suffered the horrors of being exiled from their homeland. They were suffering their fate as migrant people – with the pressures to conform. That sense (and often the reality) of social and political marginalization was coupled with the religious and cultural rejection of their counterparts because of the faith they had embraced.
This is one of those texts that we can easily read as if they were words of Jesus meant to describe the “world” we, the faithful, are being sent out into. And while there are times when Jesus does just that, the purpose of Matthew in his gospel was to portray a Jesus that, in sending us into the world as both disciples and apostles – as a learning community, and a witness-through-action community – is right alongside us leading us in our doing with his example, and providing a good opportunity for learning through conversation, spiritual discipline, and discernment.
What is missing from the lesson is, perhaps, an important hermeneutical detail. Although Jesus begins sharing the parable we have come to know as the Story of the Sower with the crown, the explanation was to his disciples. The transition is missing from the lesson. In verse 10 we read that the disciples ask him a question. This is true for the whole community of believers, and it is particularly true for those of us who still discern a calling to lead the faithful - to discern well one needs to ask questions and pay careful attention to the response. As a theological education cliché would say it’s not only about the “text”. It’s also about the “context” and the “subtext.” That is the way to prevent using Scripture (and the leading moments) as “pretext.” It is not about how we understand faith. It is about faith seeking understanding. Are we paying attention?
Jesus continues to send us, his disciples, to the work of preaching and doing actions of the good news of the Kingdom of Heaven come near. And at the same time, Jesus is ahead of us in that work of proclamation and embodiment of that good news. Matthew, I believe, reminded his community, and by extension, we are reminded 21 centuries later, that to the world we, the Church, might be sowers of the seeds of words of the good news of the Kingdom (of heaven). However, to the Church Jesus is the sower of our purpose and content in and with the world. Notice that at the end of the parable Jesus makes the point that the seed falling in good soil bears fruit. In the explanation, Jesus fleshes this out a bit further – “as for what was planted on good soil, this refers to those who hear and understand, and bear fruit and produce.” (13.23) The disciples of Jesus, the Church, are called to bear fruit and produce.
So, if the parable is about us, the disciples of Jesus and the seeds are the messages of the gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven come near, and Jesus is sowing, it begs the question – Are we paying attention?
Much like the community to which Matthew was writing, the Church of the 21st century is faced with the challenge of being in a world that is pressuring our commitment to the Gospel from all directions – political, social, theological, local, national, global. USAmerican Christianity faces this challenge in a very particular way: the world is questioning the very legitimacy of the institutions we have built, and where is it that our hope and allegiance lies. In that reality, the Holy Spirit is spreading seeds of what the Kingdom of God come near is and can be. Are we paying attention?
The message of the Kingdom of God come near in the 21st century, in a time of political, social, theological, local, national, and global pressures looks very different from that message most of us who have been Church-folk most of our lives think we know. But the markers of the message of the good news are still the same – Jesus came and sends his followers to preach the good news that heals the sick, cleanses woundedness, raises the dead, and casts out demons. It was true in the first century, and it is true in the 21st century that being healed, restored, revived, and set free affirms and builds the dignity of the person and of the community that person is a part of. Are we paying attention to those around us who are preaching words and doing actions that heal, restore, revive, and sets free? Do we even realize that in the Church, and especially outside of the Church, seeds are being sowed that, if heard, considered and understood, will bear fruit and produce a healed humanity, a restored creation, a revived Church, a free nation?
How are we listening? Are we paying attention? The call is to the Church! Farmers of good news are out scattering seed. Are we, the Church, the American Church, a path, a rocky ground, thorny plants, or good soil? Farmers of good news are out scattering seed.
Everyone who has understanding, pay attention.