Friday 12 June 2015

A Sower went out to Sow

A sower went out to sow!
What an amazing act of faith!

A sower went out to sow scattering his seed.
Flinging it here and there.

A sower went out to sow!
Even though he did not understand how it would or whether even it would spring forth in to life.

A sower went out to sow!
We should not be distracted by our modern knowledge of agriculture but listen to what God is saying – the sower sows in faith.

Jesus says to us that this parable is a parable that describes the kingdom of God.

The mystery of the process does not stop the sower stepping out into the field and trowing the seed.

If we contemplate for a moment that God is that sower we get a sense of God’s deep love for us and willingness to share the seed of faith with us so liberally.

God sows the seed into the world.

God sows the seed of his son Jesus to walk among us.

God’s faith is God’s faithfulness not a feeling or a belief or an idea but an action.

God sows Jesus into the world and here we are 2000 years later contemplating the same parable he told his disciples.

The disciples heard that the sower went out to sow and when we follow Mark’s gospel we know they struggled to understand what Jesus was getting at.

Jesus had to explain it to them.  As Jesus followers in this day and age we are still listening and we pray, ‘Jesus’ help us understand your word to each of us as well as we contemplate your parables. Jesus’ open our hearts and minds so that we might burst forth in new life like that dormant seed.’

The sower sowed Jesus into our midst and we still listen to his stories and we are still confronted by the mystery of how God’s love works in the world.

But it does.

The seeds spring forth into life.  You are here on this day because somehow you have seen that growth, you have been touched by a sense of the kingdom of God coming close, you have heard Jesus speaking, you have been transformed by faith.

Seeds which lay dormant in our lives broke forth and broke through the topsoil reaching up for the sunlight and we have basked in the divine presence of God.

We do not know how!

The sower sowed the Holy spirit into the world, the Spirit which works where it wills, the s Spirit which join us to God and each other and the Spirit which continues to open our eyes and draw us close to God.

The sower sowed in faith scattering the seed and the harvest continues to grow.

The fruit of the harvest is God’s love, God’s mercy, God’s compassion, God’s desire for fullness on our lives.  The harvest is our encounter with God and our faith which leads us not simply to be followers by to celebrate the harvest and to become sowers ourselves.

The gift of faith that the sower gives is a gift of sharing in the work.  Sharing in the celebration of the harvest but yes sharing in the wild abandon of the sower as God continues to scatter the seeds.

Watching night and day and night and day with hope that the seeds will spring forth into new life and marvelling at God’s love and work in the world when we see signs of it growing around us.

On this day as we hear the good news of God’s love and faith in the scattering of the divine seed we are the disciples and we are also apostles sent into the world to become fishers of men and women – sowing the seeds on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday and Saturday and all through week until we return next Sunday.

Sowing the seed that God is for us not against us, that God loves us, that God desires the best for our lives, that God wants us to see beyond our fears and to live more fully.

The sower went out to sow
What an amazing gift of faith and life in which we share!


Amen