July 12, 2020
/Proper 10
Isaiah 55: 10-13; Psalm 65: 1-14; Matthew 13: 1-9, 18-23
The Rev. James M. L. Grace
In the Name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. AMEN
We reap what you sow. If we are to learn anything through a pandemic-drenched summer, it might be that we are reaping what we have sown. What have we sown for these last four months? As a society I believe, we have sown or scattered an over-abundance of fear, self-doubt, anxiety, judgment, frustration, and anger into the ground. And if we get on social media and try to convince others who have views that conflict with ours, our self-righteousness becomes kind of becomes like Miracle Grow (you know the chemical that some people spray on their yards to make their grass grow) and we spray our judgment all over the fear, self-doubt, anxiety, and all that other garbage we have sown.
And then we act surprised about how ugly everything seems to be, as we are blinded to our complicity in creating it. We reap what we sow. As we draw closer to a presidential election it seems we grow more polarized with each passing day. We are ever quick to judge, justify, rationalize, and defend our behavior because we feel we are in the right. Take this mask, for example. This mask has now become politicized. It joins a lot of other items that have been coopted to prove a political point including, guns, the Bible, cars, baseball, donkeys, elephants, and yes, even toilet paper.
What must we have sown across our country to be reaping a harvest of divisiveness and intolerance? There is no easy answer to that question – it is irresponsible to place blame on a single person, political party, or religious denomination. As much as we prefer to deny it, the blame lies at our own feet. The hard work has really just begun for each of us to look inwardly and examine ourselves to see how in our actions and our behavior we have cavalierly sown fear, doubt, despair, or anger. I have.
So, think about what you are sowing. Are you scattering seeds of sorrow, or hope? Are you planting trees of resentment or peace? In the Gospel today we hear the story of a person who sows a lot of seed that lands in a lot of different areas. Some of the seed falls on good land, some falls on rocky soil, some if it is trampled underfoot, and some of it eaten by the birds. What are we to learn from this story? One thing we learn is to not be like that person and throw our stuff everywhere. That is wasteful and reckless. It is bad enough if it is good things you are throwing around with reckless abandon, it is far worse if your anger and fear becomes like a firehose that you recklessly spray everywhere.
What God has given you is precious. Share it. But share it wisely. Sow it out into the world responsibly. May trees of joy and courage sprout out of the soft earth, because you planted them in the right place. May you reap a harvest of joy, hope, and patience – a bountiful harvest, well-deserved, because of your careful planting. AMEN.