The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost (Father Fred)

We all love to hear a good speaker, an engaging talk, an inspirational message. When we come to church we want to hear a sermon that lifts us out of our everyday life and transports us to the feet of Jesus.  We prefer that to be done with some humor and it's especially good if it makes us cry!  And if it's memorable, well that's all the better!  
All tongue in cheek aside, we want to hear the word from God that will change us, make us less self-centered and more loving, more the people God would have us to be.  I suspect that we would all pretty much agree that the quality of the sermon depends on the preacher. 
     What I would give to have heard Jesus! I know many things that he said, of course, because his words are recorded in the accounts of the Gospel. But I know he said things that were not written down and I don't know how he said those things.  How he raised or lowered his voice, how he paused before an important point, his use of gesture.  
     We all know of the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000, but we tend to forget that that miracle happened because 5,000 men, plus women and children, walked a long way just to hear our Lord teach.   What a powerful teacher and preacher he must have been when he walked this earth. Of course, they didn't always like what he had to say.  He was known to make some folks angry, angry enough even to want to kill him.  But that speaks of a powerful speaker as well.
      Jesus certainly was aware of the expectations of his hearers.  He knew the human need to be moved and to be entertained.  But in one of his parables he turns the tables on them.  In the parable of the sower our Lord shifts the emphasis from the preacher to the hearer.  A farmer scatters seed on the ground indiscriminately.  Some of the seed falls on the hard earth of the beaten path or on stony ground.  That seed never has a chance to take root. Some who hear the word are too hardened by hatred to get anything out of the message. 
     Some of the seed falls on shallow soil, so the roots can’t go deep, and the plants die from the heat of the sun.  Some hear the Word, it makes an impact but the person doesn't allow the Word to touch him where he lives. 
     Some seed takes root, but the plants are choked by weeds and thorns.  Some hear the Word and respond, but golf, and making money, and any number of other concerns soon takes the place of faith.
     And some seed falls on good soil, establishes deep roots, and flourishes, producing fruit in abundance.  Some hear the Word, respond, and repent, taking the Word to heart and living according to it, and as a result, God is able to do wonderful works of mercy and justice through them.

Jesus has turned the tables ! Yes, the message is important, but the result of the teaching depends upon the quality of the hearing!  Linda and I sent to see the new Mission Impossible movie last Tuesday night.  In it there was an exciting car chase through the streets of Rome, driving by the colosseum, and St. Peter’s Basilica.  A couple of cars even drove down the Spanish steps!   It was fun watching that, because it brought back great memories of our trips to Rome.  
We saw the place where St. Peter and St. Paul were imprisoned; the Pantheon, a pagan temple to all the gods built over 2,000 years ago, and later converted into a Christian church dedicated to all the saints; the catacombs, where early Christians worshipped in secret and where many were buried.  On every block in the city there were magnificent churches, testimonies to the great faith and sacrifice of Christians in ages past. Everywhere we went, we were reminded of our faith.  We walked on streets named for the saints.  Religiouns artifacts were for sale in all of the stores.  Christian icons and paintings were even found on the outside of public buildings.   In other words, the seeds of faith were everywhere, wanting to take root in the lives of all passersby.
Yet, ironically, in another way that city looks just like any other city. People shoving and shouting; no one dares carry much money, and what is carried is carefully concealed, because of all the pick-pockets.  Poverty abounds.  For all of its beauty and for the countless testimonies of faith, Christianity still has a lot of work to do in that great city. The seeds are certainly there, but not all of the soil is receptive. The result of the message depends upon the quality of the hearer.

I have a couple of things I want to say to you concerning this parable of the sower. The first is that whenever I return to the parable of the sower, which
is really more aptly called the parable of the soils, I identify with all of the kinds of soils mentioned. There have been times in my life when I have been too hardened to hear the good news, times when I have heard the Word but not allowed it really to touch me, times when I have allowed worldly concerns to choke out all thought of Jesus, and there have been times when the soil has been good, by the grace of God. And sometimes those kinds of receptivity follow closely upon one another. Human sin is always ready to rear its ugly head. If the soil of our lives is to be truly receptive to God's Word, it is by the grace of God. So we all need to pray that God will continually make us receptive to his Word, that we might bear fruit for him.
And second, the next time you find yourself being overly critical of a sermon, ask yourself if perhaps there might be something in your life that is causing you not to hear what God is trying to tell you. Believe me, that doesn't take the burden off of the preacher, but it does recognize shared responsibility for the resultsl For remember, the result of the teaching depends upon the quality of the hearing.

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