Good soil

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 10; July 16, 2023: Genesis 25:19-34; Psalm 119:105-112; Romans 8:1-11; Matthew 13:1-9,18-23

Over the past few weeks, the passages from the Hebrew Scriptures have focused on the stories of Abraham and his descendants. These are great stories, as stories. They are more challenging as our understanding of God’s message to us.

Abraham and his descendants are special: they will be the start of a new nation. And the Lord, according to the writer of Genesis, is always there for Abraham and his son Isaac, at least at the end. It wouldn’t be a good story if there were not some drama. But we have heard Sarah laugh at the promise that she, as an old woman, would finally bear a child, only for the prophecy to come true. Abraham is asked to bring Isaac to a place of sacrifice, only to have a ram appear at the last minute. In today’s reading, we learn about Isaac and his sons.

Like Sarah, Isaac’s wife Rebekah was, as the scripture says, “barren”. But after Isaac prays to the Lord, she conceived, and gave birth to twins. The twins started fighting in the womb, and the rivalry never ended. Esau, the elder, was Isaac’s favorite, while Jacob was his mother’s favorite. Jacob takes advantage of Esau’s hunger, and gets him to sell his birthright, the inheritance rights of the firstborn. Isaac got his sons, but sibling rivalry is alive and well.

So what’s wrong with this story? Nothing, really. Except the model of divine intervention, where the Lord takes care of the family, is not one we experience, or at least in the same way that Abraham and Isaac do. They get VIP treatment. We may pray for an outcome, but whether the Lord does what we want is not something we can take for granted. Plenty of those who have prayed for the gift of children have not received it. Those who have prayed that someone they love not die have not always been rewarded.

Does God love those whose prayers have been answered more than those whose prayers have not? With Jesus, God offers salvation to all, not just one family. God is not in the business of managing our everyday lives: if everyone is included, none of us are VIPs. When our prayers may not be answered as we had hoped, but he is with us. And that is part of the story for us: in the Lord’s Prayer, we ask that “thy will be done”. Thy will, not my will.

God is calling us to hear the word and bear fruit. Readers of the parable of the sower in today’s Gospel might reflect that Jesus does not speak like an experienced gardener. For it is not just the soil that matters, but the seed. Not all plants flourish in all soils. Every gardener discovers what does and does not flourish, even on good soil. On some level Jesus knows this. Jesus speaks to his followers in a series of parables, and each tells stories in different ways. Different parables speak to different people. Even those who are “good soil” need to have the right kind of seed.

Our job is to be good soil; but it is also to share the good news in ways that can be heard. Where do we sow the seed? What seed do we sow? How can we find the seed that will flourish in the particular soil where we cast it? That is our challenge now.