Jesus Sucks at Farming

7-12-20

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

My family has a tradition around the 4^th of July. It started when my grandpa Posselt would write a phrase and the year on a piece of cardboard, and pose my brothers and me (and sometimes the dog) on the edge of a cornfield. The sign read, “Knee High by the 4^th of July.” That is basic benchmark for how corn should be growing, to be “on track” for fall,  and it’s really fun to see the pictures side by side from year to year. This year, my sister took a picture of my dad in the field, and the corn is almost over his head! However, in 1992, my brothers and I are standing in front of some sad-looking short corn, just barely tickling our kneecaps. That sign that year has this addendum: “Frost June 20^th, Hail June 25^th.” 1992 was a tough for corn.

If you haven’t noticed, Jesus LOVES to talk about farming, and he LOVES to tell stories his followers, like the one we just heard. Over the years, we have given them names, and this one is often known as “the Parable of the Sower.” These stories Jesus tell as a whole, or genre, get a special name – parables – which comes from a Greek word that originally means “to throw alongside.” Sometimes we get a better understanding of something when we set on thing alongside another. Sort of like when we compare these “Knee High” corn pictures from year to year.

For those of you who are gardeners or have experience farming, you may have noticed something very, very wrong with Jesus’ story. Is this how you plant your gardens? Most of the time, I imagine, you take the seed out of the package and carefully read the directions: plant seeds in full sun a half inch deep in loose soil, three to five inches apart. Thin plants when two inches tall. Water often, fertilize as necessary. Germination period sixty to seventy five days. “Doing your best impression of throwing confetti” is definitely nowhere to be found on seed package directions!

Even during the time of Jesus, random scattering was NOT how people planted their crops. Jesus’ people didn’t have big farm machinery, but they still took great care with their seeds, vineyards, and livestock. After all, this was their livelihood, and could mean the difference between eating or starvation. They could not run out to the grocery store.

Almost as important as seeds are to farming is the soil these seeds grow in. My theory now is that we are not supposed to really be asking ourselves what kind of soil we are, kind of like all those funny online personality quizzes. Can’t you just picture this going around Facebook? “Which kind of soil are you? Take this quiz NOW!” … “Too bad, you are rocky soil… good for you, you are good soil!”

Maybe, instead, we are all of these types of soil at the same time, or we even have been all of these kinds of soil at different stages of our lives.

I also think Jesus left something out big when he – or Matthew– tried explain this parable. They forgot to mention the vital ingredient that makes soil GOOD soil – fertilizer. Or more specifically… Manure.

My Dad could tell you about good soil and how every day he goes out to his fields to make them even better by spreading cow manure.  That’s right. A key component of good soil is … a word that I’m not going to say while livestreaming. A waste product that comes from the “wrong” end of a cow, smells bad, and is gross… but is exactly what makes soil rich and robust for new life to take hold.  

The rest of the world sees something that should be thrown away, cast out, criticized, forgotten, disregarded, and shamed. But sometimes… manure gets transformed. It becomes the fuel that drives the struggling, short corn to keep going, keep growing, despite the hardships, the frost, the hail.

We are capable of truly terrible things. We would rather bury the son of God in a tomb rather than face this God who relentlessly loves us, and also loves those we don’t think deserve it. We’re full of manure, and we can also treat people like they are manure. But God is a farmer who knows that manure has the potential to make good soil. Sometimes it’s a slow process, and it takes a while. But God doesn’t seem to care about strict timelines or proper farming and growing methods. God never gives up on us.

When this story is taking as a whole, it seems like God is actually a terrible farmer. God sees the good soil, and casts seeds like crazy, looking and hoping for growth. But then God sees the rocky soil… and does the same thing… and the same with the soil on the path! And the soil with the weeds! It doesn’t matter! All soil gets some of this love, no matter what the perceived “capacity” or potential return on investment might be.

This seems incredibly wasteful! Especially when God only seems to expect a 25 percent success rate. Image, for those of you who are teachers, that your students need just a 25 percent to pass. Madness! Outrageous! Irresponsible! … but this is also who God IS. God is a farmer who takes chances. God is a wasteful fool who takes an infinite amount of chances on us, as much as it takes for as long as it takes. Forget “knee high by the fourth of July,” or any other benchmark the world tells us. Maybe 2020 is your 1992, with challenges besetting us like frost and hail, one on top of the other. And it makes us want to give up on ourselves, and give up on other people.

But God the inefficient farmer keeps throwing seeds at us, hoping that at some point, someday, something will take root. Because when it does…. AMAZING things happen, and the yields are AWESOME.

We are faithful farmers of God, scattering the seeds just as Jesus did, not knowing what kind of soil they will land on…. But trusting that God does give the growth. Not unlike sending a livestreaming worship out in the internet… if you did something as simple as sharing our worship service on your personal Facebook page - Who knows what seeds you will be planting?

Now we’re in this for the long haul…. it may take months…years… or even decades to see what kind of growth will be coming from the manure of this year. We may never see the yield that comes with our planting… from that one Facebook share. But God’s word spoken not return empty.

God’s word returns full, and the tomb is empty. The seed that was buried sprouts and yields a hundredfold. Manure becomes good soil. Death becomes life. All corn deserves their “4^th of July picture” even if it’s been a rough year. All soil gets a chance. And then another. And another. And another. Thanks be to God. Amen.