Mark 4.3-9
Disappointment!
Who hasn't been disappointed?
Family, friends … school, career, health, love … you name it …
Things go south.
Life grows dark.
Hopes drift away.
Disappointment?
The crowds on the Galilee Beach know all about disappointment …
They live under an oppressive Roman Empire … family farms lost to large agri-corporations under contract to Rome …
Fishermen in the crowd wonder if the next catch of fish will pay the bills … farmers wonder if the rains might come in time.
Merchants and artisans … tax collectors and soldiers … widows and orphans … life ain’t easy for any of them.
And religion?
It’s a big business in Jerusalem …
Temple taxes, expensive lambs, bulls, goats and birds …currency traders, money changers, souvenir merchants …
Temple officials in long robes with fancy phylacteries …
The well-to-do make a show of their offerings …
And the widow is ignored.
Disappointment? You bet!
The crowds on the Galilee Beach know all about it.
And to that crowd, Jesus says: “A sower went out to sow.”
A sack of seed slung around the neck … the sower grabs a fistful, flings that seed far and wide …
Hungry birds … rocky ground, shallow soil … thorns and thistles … hot sun and dry winds, they all have their way … the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray.
Says Jesus to his disciples: I’m asking a lot of you … take the message of peace into a troubled and troubling world … what you do will be challenged at every turn of the road … some will welcome you with open arms; others will seek your death … there will be hardship and rejection and frustration and tears … a lot of what you do will seemingly go to waste.
In the Kindergarten Classroom across the hall from my office, a sign on the wall: “Take chances, make mistakes, get messy.”
Pope Francis said: “I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security.”
Bonhoeffer is hanged in a Nazi Prison just months before the end of the war … who knows what he might have accomplished had he lived, but in his death, the seeds of an amazing witness were sown … every seminary student since those terrible, fateful, days has cut her teeth on Bonhoeffer.
Even deeper goes the story … the whole of the Bible is a response to trauma … from Genesis to Malachi … from Matthew to Revelation … from Assyrian defeat of the Northern Kingdom to the Babylonian conquest of the Southern Kingdom … from the crucifixion of Jesus to the the stoning of Stephen … from Paul’s conversion on the Damascus Road to the Fall of Jerusalem … how to make sense of it all … how to find hope in the midst of so much blood and war … and what’s one to do, Give up? grow dour and dark? embrace hedonism: eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die?
The tone is set in the opening verses of Genesis - written during the dark days of the Babylonian Exile, when hope was as rare as rain in Los Angeles … and a Hebrew Poet took up a pen and wrote: the earth a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep … and the wind of God swept over the face of the waters … and God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good.
Keep on sowing, says Jesus!
Sun and soil, wind and rain, conspire together, to work their magic … the seed softens, a sprout pushes upward toward the sky, a root reaches downward into the earth.
And then, the harvest … yielding thirty-fold, says Jesus … and that would be a very good harvest …
And even sixty-fold … farmers in the audience smile and nod at one another … “don’t we wish” …
And, then, like a good story teller, Jesus offers an exaggeration, “a hundred-fold,” says he … and by then, the audience is clear:
Don’t give up the work of sowing … it will work!
Don’t count the cost, count the blessing!
Don’t fret about the loss, celebrate the gain.
Don’t grumble about rocky soil, sing a song of joy.
Don’t worry about the birds; they’re hungry, too.
And so the work of God goes on - always a harvest, a harvest of some kind … and sometimes, an incredible harvest, far and beyond what anyone expected …
For all the darkness, there’s light.
For all the loss, there’s gain.
For all the hardship, there’s hope.
For all the sweat, blood and tears, there’s progress.
Joshua fits the battle of Jericho … and down falls the wall.
David slings a well-aimed stone … and down goes Goliath.
Elijah prays to the LORD … and down rains heavenly fire.
Ezekiel prophesies to dry bones … and down comes the breath of God.
Keep on sowing …
Remember 1989? … the Berlin Wall comes down …
More recently, the Supreme Court opens wide the doors of Marriage Equality …
On another note, I’m pulling for the deal with Iran …
Because all of this leads to a perfect world?
A world of peace and joy?
Harmony and flowers?
Shine on harvest moon?
Are you kidding?
No …
More like singing in the rain!
We don’t expect perfection … there is always resistance to the good … always those who choose exclusion rather than welcome, who twist religion into a reason for hatred … and for all of us here, no matter the purity of our commitment, our own foolishness and ineptitude trip us up all the time … but neither do we give up!
The hallmark of all great stories … Harry Potter and Voldemort … Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader … Frodo and Sauron …
Oh, the price to be paid … the hurt, the tears … the loss of hope when the darkness grows thick …
Yet Harry Potter remains loyal to his friends … Luke Skywalker stays the course … Frodo carries the One Ring to Mount Doom …
And Jesus says, A sower went out to sow …
Though the land is full of war and rumors of war … sow the seed of peace …
Though rough weeds choke the harvest … sow the seed of justice …
Though hot blow the winds of hatred … sow the seed of love …
Don’t look for perfection …
Take some chances …
Be ready for disappointment …
Trust the harvest; it will come …
And so ends our summer sermon series: the parables and stories of Jesus … it’s been a good series, and we’ve learned a lot … and now we move on.
A new season of ministry … First Kids First begins anew next week Sunday … the Cathedral Choir returns well rested and in good voice, our staff is ready go, Steven Colbert is on the Late Show, and Scott is preaching about the hole in the ground and how to put it to good spiritual use … a new season of ministry is upon us.
Keep up your good work First Church, and work all the harder - to make everything all the better …
Keep on sowing … the harvest is good!
Amen and Amen!
