I want to have a chat with whomever divided up the chapters in Matthew. There is just too much in Chapter 13. It does not lend itself at all to cursory reading and brief observations. I have a list of things I have to get to, so I cannot camp long at each parable!
I do understand the 'big picture' of this lesson of the soils - and it concerns me, particularly in huge services where many people come to the Lord - but are not provided the follow-up of 'another waters' - where they are nurtured, discipled and assisted in their new commitment. I am more concerned about how many become part of a church, rather than how many came forward in a huge, emotion-filled meeting, and that filters down to the local level as well - but I'm not 'going there' though it would be all too easy to do that. Today I am going to take each soil to heart... personally.
Yesterday was diverted for me by one of my 'blessings' - and today the blessing of having a home and maintaining it through necessary chores looms ahead of me. What a day to read this chapter. It brings startling clarity to the parable of the soils! Depending on the day, I can be each of those soils. Oh, I know I am blessed because God opens my eyes to see and my ears to hear...but I also know that some days I am guilty of not being a receptive soil. Verse 22 leaps out to me - and it is one I must pay attention to as a reminder. It is so easy to be consumed by the worries of this life, to be immersed in the comparatively inconsequential and miss the truly important - what I have heard called and now also call 'the tyranny of the urgent.'
When I think about the worries of this life, health leaps out in the forefront - and the reminder of how quickly life can change from seeming secure, to absolute devastation is all too apparent. I am reminded of a lady in our church who just learned last August that she has cancer - and the battle for her life that has been waged ever since. And just yesterday I received an e-mail from a far-away friend telling me her family has been hit hard by sudden tragedy and alarm. One son-in-law's father (a pastor) collapsed Sunday in his pulpit while preaching - and died of a massive heart attack. Her other son-in-law has just been diagnosed with a malignant tumor growing in his jaw. Sometimes life is just too much! And it seems that one person gets more than their share.
I've been there - and sometimes even when things are going well, I have a sense of 'waiting for the other shoe to drop' because life is tenuous. (Yet, no matter how fragile it is on the individual level, reminders of the devastation of war and of the recent earthquakes and natural disasters take tenuous to another sphere and demand I attempt to develop a more expansive perspective.)
As for money, the deceit of wealth is a huge risk in our society. The deceit lies in a sense of self-sufficiency with the security of what money can do/buy/influence. But, as we have seen in the recent and on-going economic downturn, wealth is not where we need to have our security. Our only security is in the Lord God Almighty, the Maker of Heaven and earth. It is He who made us. In Him we live and move and breathe and have our being. We are not our own - we are bought with a price.
This one simple verse brings it all into focus: the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth are the briars that choke the plant as it tries to grow, and keep it from being fruitful. I suppose everyone who has grown things in the Pacific Northwest has a clear picture of briars. We have more than our share of varieties of wild, thorny blackberries. They do choke out everything else - - but at least they are good for making jam! (Sort of a variant on 'when you're given lemons, make lemonade!) I am immediately reminded that we do not have Kudzu - which, while not thorny, chokes out everything else.... I'm sure there's a parable opportunity there....and perhaps one day when I am giving my Potato Masher Parables talk it will surface....
The soil I want to be is the one who hears, understands, and produces. My pastor-friend from years ago in Montesano taught us that the true translation of the Great Commission is "In your going, disciple." It is a relational directive. We need each other. That is a huge part of walking out our faith. Not just believing, but doing. It is stated as an imperative - not a suggestion.
Moving on, Jesus tells other parables, talks about the kingdom and talks graphically about hell. This was fodder for the hellfire and brimstone sermons from my childhood. I believe it - that's not at all in question - but I've learned from my own life, that I am drawn by His incredible love and grace - not by fear of hell. Yet, Jesus speaks of it plainly. It is not to be ignored.
The very last section of Matthew 13 provides us a reality-check of how Jesus was thought of in his hometown of Nazareth. The recent Olympics are in such contrast. I saw the pictures on TV of an entire little town in Russia who mourned the loss of their hero-son - - and images in Japan documenting their adoration of their 'queen' ice skater with icon-status. But not in Nazareth. God took on the form of man, and walked among them, and they dissed Him. They even admit the evidence of his wisdom and miraculous powers, and rather than thank God for them - and for him - they try to keep him in their box that allowed him to be only a carpenter's son, with 4 biological brother's (in reality half-brother's) and multiple sisters. They epitomized the opinion, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Jesus response: he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
Lord, grant me faith to see miracles! I want miracles for His glory - not for a show, not for seeming more 'spiritual' because we have prayers answered - but because in my script, they will draw people to our loving miracle-working God! I know the greatest miracle is a changed life - but I want the physical, tangible miracles as well. I want miracles for people whose hearts yearn for His touch! I get impatient with God. I know He can...it is that middle space between faith and His will that gets fuzzy....
Humor for the day:
A gorgeous young redhead goes into a Doctor's office and says that her body hurts wherever she touches it. "Show me," says the Doctor. The redhead pushes on her left shoulder and screams; then she pushes on her elbow and screams even more. She pushes her knee, and screams; and her ankle, and screams. Indeed, everywhere she touches, it makes her scream out in pain. The doctor says, "You aren't really a redhead, are you?" "Well, no," she replies, "I'm actually a blond." "I thought so," says the doctor. "Your finger is broken."
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