insert gardening metaphor here

so, since chris is supposed to be tackling small group stuff over there, i thought i’d talk a little about matt’s “seeds” sermon from sunday over here.  first, it was a lovely sermon.  i think matt is a wonderful guy, and i have much love for any fellow showchoir alum.  there just aren’t many people who get pas de bourree and jazz hands jokes.  but i kind of disagree with part of his interpretation of the parable of the sower.  (i’m not going to explain the parable.  i’m assuming that, if you’re still with me, you already know what i’m talking about.  besides, i inserted a link!  that was my gift to you!  moving along now…) 

there are three main parts to the parable’s central metaphor: the seed, the soil, and – obviously – the sower.  i agree that the seed is the gospel and the soil is the heart of man.  it’s the sower that gives me trouble.  matt said two things, in particular: one, that the only variable in the metaphor is the soil; two, that the sower is “anyone who proclaims the word of the kingdom.”  if you see it this way, then we, as christians, are the sowers.  we are not responsible for the states of the hearts that receive the message we’re ”sowing.”

the problem i have with this idea is that there are some pretty irresponsible and ill-informed “sowers” out there.  and it’s too easy to be dismissive; to say, “oh, well, we’re not talking about them; we know the Truth!”  while that may be (i’m just going to leave that one alone, okay?), you still have to account for these people, who are probably just as convinced as you that what they’re propagating is Truth, capital-t.  so the sowers are not all the same.  all christians do not plant the same seeds.  if man is the sower, then the sower becomes another variable in the metaphor.

here’s how i see it: our role in this metaphor is peripheral.  jesus is the sower, the gospel is the seed, and our hearts are the soil.  the only role we play is that of gardener.  it is our job to tend the soil, to make sure that the path never becomes hardened, or rocky, or weed-choked.  i think that we need to focus on ourselves; that the condition of the “soil” is EXACTLY what deserves our attention.  if we focus on truly living as christians, then the seeds will scatter themselves.  i can only speak from my own experience, but after  years of being accosted by various “sowers,” i was ultimately drawn to christ because of a light i saw in the people around me.  it had nothing to do with anything anyone proclaimed, and everything to do with the way i saw these people live their lives.  they were matt’s “productive plants.” 

i think i have to stop now because this plant metaphor is getting out of control.  i’m thisclose to pulling out my old biology textbooks to keep the metaphor going, and that’s just crazy.  anyway, i think i’ve said what i needed to say.  for now, at least.