Rev. Teri Peterson
PCOP
Powerball
Mark 4.1-34
17 January 2016,
NL2-19 (Epiphany 3—aha moments)
Again he began to teach beside the lake. Such a
very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the lake and
sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the lake on the land. He began to
teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them:
‘Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path,
and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did
not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil.
And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered
away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it
yielded no grain. Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain,
growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.’ And
he said, ‘Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’
When he was alone, those who were around
him along with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them,
‘To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside,
everything comes in parables; in order that
“they may indeed look, but not perceive,
and may indeed listen, but
not understand;
so that they may not turn again and be
forgiven.” ’
And he said to them, ‘Do you not
understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables? The
sower sows the word. These are the ones on the path where the word is sown:
when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in
them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word,
they immediately receive it with joy. But they have no root, and endure only
for a while; then, when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word,
immediately they fall away. And others are those sown among the thorns: these
are the ones who hear the word, but the cares of the world, and the lure of
wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it
yields nothing. And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the
word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.’
He said to them, ‘Is a lamp brought in to
be put under the bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand? For
there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except
to come to light. Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’ And he said to them,
‘Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you
get, and still more will be given you. For to those who have, more will be
given; and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken
away.’
He also said, ‘The kingdom of God is as
if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and
day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth
produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the
head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because
the harvest has come.’
He also said, ‘With what can we compare
the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard
seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on
earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs,
and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in
its shade.’
With many such parables he spoke the word
to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in
parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.
This week, for the
first time in my life, I bought a lottery ticket. In spite of the way I usually
feel about the lottery, I joined the throngs of people in hoping against hope
that a couple dollars would magically multiply into a billion.
It seems like human
nature, almost, to want a big return on a small investment. To spend two
dollars and end up with $450 million after taxes seems like a pretty good deal.
Except, of course,
that the odds of winning are 1 in 292 million. And there were 371 million
tickets sold for the big Wednesday Powerball drawing, with only three of those
being jackpot winners. But none of that matters in the middle of the frivolous
hope of winning. For just a moment, at 9:59pm, anything is possible.
What we would do with
the money was a common topic of conversation all last week. It seemed like
everywhere I went, people were discussing how they would spend such a massive
amount of money.
I realize I move in
unusual circles, but I was encouraged by how many people talked about how they
would give the money away—people were discussing their favorite charities and
causes dear to their hearts. I overheard conversations about malaria research,
clean water, sustainable housing solutions, churches, supporting women’s
education, and feeding hungry people. It was fascinating to listen to people
daydream about how to be generous. It was as if, for just a moment, we imagined
that we could truly be the farmer who scatters seeds far and wide, hoping that
they would do some good even if we didn’t see it ourselves.
Of course, we can be
that person anytime—scattering seeds of hope, love, grace, peace, and justice
even if we can’t scatter checks with many zeroes. The farmer in the parable of
the sower doesn’t stop to see if the ground is prepared, or worthy—he just
spreads the seed everywhere and lets God, the creator and master gardener,
handle the rest.
The second parable of
the sower—the one where the person scatters seed and it grows while she
sleeps—is only found in Mark. No one else tells this story where Jesus says
that the kingdom grows automatically without our aid or intervention. Automatic
is the word he uses, even—that the earth produces of itself, automatically.
Because the seed was scattered, it will grow. It’s what God does—turns the
scattered seeds of the word into fruit that can feed a multitude. Through the
prophet Isaiah God says “my word will not return to me empty.” No matter where
it falls, and whether we realize it or not, the word is at work. We may be
simply going about our lives, while the seeds are deep in the damp darkness,
breaking open and sending out shoots that reach down into the nutritious depths
and up toward the light. It’s a mystery we cannot control, no matter how hard
we try.
In fact, even the
scattering of seed may have been unintentional in this second sower story. It
does not seem that the person is a farmer, purposely planting a field. Instead
it seems to be one of those things that happens in the course of life—a
basket’s weave becomes loose, a pocket has a tiny hole, and seeds are
scattered. It isn’t until they grow that we even realize they have been
planted.
What if this is what
the kingdom is like? Throughout our days, we are dropping seeds all over the
place. Most of the time, they are unintentional. The way we treat the grocery
store clerk. The expression we give the loud person on the train. The tone of
voice we use with a coworker or a teacher or a student. The story about a
neighbor we share over dinner. The way we respond to a racist joke or a sexist
stereotype. The words we choose when we are frustrated. We know that children
pick up the smallest things in the way we interact with each other. What if
those same seeds are still planted throughout our lives? We never know who is
observing us in the checkout line or on the train or at the library or in the
parking lot. All along the way, every day, we are scattering seeds. And without
our controlling them, they are growing—hopefully they are seeds of God’s love
and grace and justice and peace; kingdom seeds. We won’t know until they start
to bear fruit, but by then we may have moved on and never see the results…but
others will. And every fruit bears more seeds, perpetuating the cycle.
Right before he tells
this little story of the inadvertent sower, Jesus gives us the key to the
parable: “the measure you give will be the measure you get. For to those who
have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing, even what they have
will be taken away.” So often this feels so disturbing and wrong. If it’s about
physical resources, it is horrifying—even what they have will be taken away. If
it’s about faith, it’s still awful. If it’s about God’s blessing, it’s just
about the worst thing ever, to think that those who have little would have even
that little bit snatched away from them.
But when we read it
together with the second sower parable, it becomes more clear: The seeds we sow
are also the seeds we grow. When we sow seeds of grace, we also grow in grace.
Not that we receive more because of
the way we approach the world and interact with each other, but that our
practice of graciousness increases our own sense of grace and gratitude. The
more grace we give, the more we experience. The more justice we work for, the
more justice becomes a part of us. The more peace we make, the more we have.
And if we are sowing
seeds of fear, or miserliness, or discord, that is also what will increase in
us. When we interact with the world from a place of unexamined privilege, or
from a mindset of scarcity, then we end up perpetuating injustice, shutting
people out when God is welcoming them in. And then our scarcity and our fear
becomes our reality—because even what little graciousness we have withers up
under the scorching heat of our self-focused desires.
This weekend we
remember Martin Luther King Jr, and hopefully while we remember the big dreams
and lofty goals, the massive marches and stirring speeches, we also remember
that he never said only big things matter. Yes, we need to work for big
things—for liberty and justice for all, for an end to a socio-political system
that privileges some over others, for a change to a culture in which some
people are automatically suspicious. We also need to remember that big changes
sometimes come through small steps. Every time we refuse to be suspicious of a
neighbor, we drop a seed. Every time we stand up for someone who has been
excluded, we drop a seed. Every time we write a senator, speak to someone
others ignore, buy something made locally, and choose not to use violent
language, we drop seeds. And the way we judge each other, the way we treat each
other, the posture from which we approach the world—it will grow in us, too. If
we judge each other with grace, treat every person with respect, approach the
world with peace, we will soon find grace and respect and peace welling up and
bearing fruit in our own lives. It may be dangerous—the world is afraid of
those whose lives are evidence of a still more excellent way, and fear takes
over just as surely as love. But imagine if every one of us was scattering
kingdom seeds, instead of fear and greed seeds. It would add up to an amazing
harvest.
Pay attention, Jesus
says. Pay attention to how you listen, how you hear, how you speak, how you act.
Pay attention, because those seeds you scatter throughout your days will grow in
your own life as well. Make sure they are kingdom seeds. But then stop trying
to control how they grow. The thing about the kingdom of God is that it is not
the kingdom of me, not the kingdom of the church…it is about God’s authority in
our lives as individuals and a community, it is about God’s power in the world,
and it is almost never going to accord with what I think is best for me. God
has a bigger picture and a greater good in mind, and God’s word never returns
empty.
Like powerball, these
seeds are a tiny investment with a huge return. Unlike powerball, the odds are
very good, and we have already been given all the riches we could ever need. So
now that we are done daydreaming about how to give away millions of dollars
we’ll never have, it’s time for us to actually live the same generosity we have
already experienced, and practice planting kingdom seeds with every look, every
word, every vote, every interaction, no matter how small. We can scatter grace
far and wide, and we can trust that God will use every seed wisely, to its
fullest potential—both where it lands, and in us—to produce a harvest that will
be full of glory and praise.
May it be so. Amen.
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