Sermon 5th July 2015

Today, Gill Tayleur, our Assistant Honorary Minister, preaches. 
The reading is from Mark 4: 1-20

One day an old man was walking along a country lane with his dog and his donkey. Suddenly a speeding truck charged round a corner, and knocked the man, his donkey, and his dog into a ditch. The old man decided to sue the driver of the truck, wanting the cost of the damages.

While the old man was on the stand, the counsel for the defence cross-examined the man saying: "I want you to answer 'yes' or 'no' to the following question: Did you or did you not say at the time of the accident that you were 'perfectly fine'"?

And the man said, "Well, me and my dog and my donkey were walking along the road …" And the counsel for defence said, " Stop, stop, I asked you, tell me 'yes' or 'no', did you say you were 'perfectly fine' at the time of the accident?"

"Well, me and my dog and my donkey were walking along the road and … " The defence lawyer appealed to the judge. "Your honour," he said, "the man is not answering the question. Would you please insist that he answer the question?"

The judge said, "Well, he obviously wants to tell us something. Let him speak."

So the man said, "Well, me and my dog and my donkey were walking along the road and this truck came around the corner far too fast, and knocked us into a ditch. The driver stopped, got out of his truck, saw my dog was badly injured,

went back to his truck, got his rifle, and he shot & killed the dog. Then he saw that my donkey had broken his leg so he shot it dead too. Then he turned to me and asked, 'How are you?' And I said, 'I'm perfectly fine!'"

In order to understand someone, sometimes we need to listen very carefully to what they have to say.

We’ve just heard the words of Jesus (verse 9): “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

So before we go any further, let’s pray for God’s help in hearing: Lord help us to listen carefully to Jesus’ words this morning – and to be open to them and how to respond. Amen.

The Parable of the Sower. We’ve probably all heard this parable before but I hope we can hear it afresh this morning, as I think it has a message for ALL of us, wherever we’re “at” in relation to the Christian faith and to Jesus himself. Whether you’re here as a committed Christian, an interested enquirer, a reluctant sceptic, or not quite sure where you stand. Whatever position we’re in this morning, the words of Jesus we just heard have something to say to all of us! So, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

The passage we’ve just read has 3 parts to it: the parable of the sower, the explanation of the parable, and the funny bit in the middle that some versions of the Bible call/s The Purpose of the Parables. And it’s that middle bit I’d like to start with, about why Jesus spoke in parables. If we understand why, we’ll have the best chance of getting the message!

Those middle verses, 10 to 12, are tricky, to say the least. At first sight Jesus seems to be saying that parables are deliberately obscure and difficult, so that people

won’t understand them! ???!!

He says, “The secret of the Kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside, everything is said in parables so that ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’”

What does this mean? Doesn’t Jesus want people to understand what he’s saying and turn to God?

Some Bible commentators think it must have been said in sarcasm, because Jesus made clear on so many other occasions that he did want people to respond positively to him and his message, to turn from their sin and receive God’s love & forgiveness.

Other commentators say that in the Hebrew language, the acceptance of a foreseen result of something is expressed as the working out of an intention. It’s a linguistic thing, and saying it like this describes what happens, not why it happens. In other words, Jesus wasn’t saying he didn’t want people to turn to him and be forgiven – he was just describing what was happening, that when people don’t listen, they don’t respond.

The passage Jesus quotes is a condensed form of Isaiah chapter 6 verses 9 & 10. In that chapter, Isaiah is called by God as a prophet to challenge the people who have turned away from God. Whilst some of them responded

to Isaiah’s preaching by coming back to God, most didn’t, and Isaiah’s message simply exposed their hard hearted resistance to God.

Similarly, everything Jesus did & said created a division,

as people either responded positively, or they reacted negatively & against Jesus. His parables both explain this,

and they themselves are a part of that process, as people responded one way or the other.

This is the first time in Mark’s gospel that Jesus tells a parable. Already there are people against Jesus, out to get him, as we saw in last week’s reading from chapter 3,

where some people thought Jesus was mad, and some thought he was evil. So it seems that

if Jesus carried on speaking plainly, people like the Pharisees would keep picking a fight with him and use his words against him. Instead Jesus started to speak in parables, short stories that use familiar scenes to explain spiritual truth, stories that need the listener to really listen and think about what’s being said and what it means.

And because you have to think about a parable, only those with open hearts and minds really ‘get’ its message.

The truth in a parable is there for those who really want it,

but it’s obscure to closed minded and prejudiced people.

Sometimes people don’t get it because they don’t really want to get it.

And the same goes for us. Will we respond positively to the truth we see in Jesus and hear in his words about turning to God and receiving his love & forgiveness? Are we willing to let it impact and even change us? Or do we refuse to listen,

refuse to grapple and engage with him, do we quickly move away? Do we blank out what we hear in church, with a closed heart and mind, dismissing it as naïve or myth,

without even really listening first?! Or do we listen and think about it and take it seriously and ask questions with openness to what might actually be true?

 “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Let’s look at the parable itself then, the parable of the sower. It’s a simple story, of a farmer who goes out and sows his crop, scattering seeds in his field. No machinery to help in those days, the famer scatters by hand. And the seeds fall in different places, on different types of soil, with differing results.

Jesus’ explanation of the parable is that God is the sower,

his message about turning to God  is the seed and people are the different types of soil.

This parable of the sower is often explained and applied to 4 different sorts of people, relating to the 4 soils. Let’s think of that and which person we might be as we think about each of them.

But it might equally apply to different phases or times in a person’s life; one sort of soil at one time, another at a different time.

Or it could be applied to different areas of our one life. For example, we might be open to God about our working life, but closed about how we spend our money. Open in how we respond to God in worship, but less open to people in need.

So as we look at each sort of soil in turn, let’s think – and listen – about any area of our own life to which it may apply…

First then the path. Some seeds fall along the path, where birds come along and eat it up.  In those days,

there would have been narrow footpaths running beside and through the fields. The soil on them would have been

so compacted from people walking on it over many years,

it would be rock hard. No seed could penetrate such a hard path, and it would lie there out in the open – but it wouldn’t be long before a bird came and gobbled it up.

Jesus says this is like people who hear the message, and Jesus’ invitation to turn to God for his love and forgiveness, but it doesn’t impact them.

It’s dismissed out of hand, not given any real consideration at all. We refuse to believe. Maybe we’ve hardened our hearts against the truth about Jesus for years and we’re closed to it.

In the parable, birds come and eat the seed, and in his explanation, Jesus says that Satan or the Evil One

takes away the word. What does that mean?!

In his sermon last Sunday Cameron spoke about the reality of evil, and as I’ve said before, I too believe in a personal evil,

Satan or the Devil if you like. And I believe that just as God

wants us to listen and understand, so too there is a personal opposing force that wants to blind us, and block our hearts and minds to Jesus’ truth. He wants us to think it’s nonsense,

this stuff about Jesus, to disregard it, or say it’s fairy tales, or wishful thinking, or isn’t important, not now…

So are we like the path, hard hearted to Jesus and his message about our need to turn and receive God’s love and forgiveness? Some of us probably are.

Others might not be closed or cold toward Jesus as our general attitude,

but maybe we are in a specific part of our life. The question then is,

is there an area of my life in which I don’t – maybe I daren’t – listen and grapple with Jesus’ teaching? I choose to ignore it!

It might be our money – nope, not letting Jesus control that!

Or our sexual relationships – no, not letting Jesus have a say in that!

Or our working life, and how we go about succeeding at work,

sometimes at the expense of others or not really being honest.

Or maybe it’s a relationship that we know needs forgiveness and restoration – no, far easier to let it be!

In what area/s of our life are we hard hearted toward Jesus

and his teaching?

Some seed fell on the path. Secondly, some seed fell on rocky ground. Such rocky places are common in Palestine; I understand they’re often an outcropping of limestone rock covered by a thin layer of topsoil. The soil looks OK, but because it’s so shallow, no decent roots can grow and when the hot sun beats down, the little plants wither and die.

Jesus says this is about those “who hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.”

Some of us respond to the Christian message of God’s love & forgiveness, and to Jesus himself, eagerly wanting him in our lives - for his help?! But when the Christian life doesn’t turn out like we expect or want, when it’s hard, faith quickly fades away. “What use is Christianity if I can’t have an easy life?!” we might think. Really we want a bless-er, rather than a saviour, a sugar daddy rather than a king? We want help and relief, and Jesus as our friend, not really willing to hand over control to Jesus our lord and master? Perhaps we expect Jesus to provide instant relief when troubles come along, expect him to meet our every need. And when we don’t get it, we either drift, or stomp, away. We’re rocky ground.

The memory verse Cameron has set us for this sermon series

 is Mark chapter 10 verse 45: Join with me if you know it:

“The son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus’ life was all about service and sacrifice, and as his followers, we can expect much of the same! The Christian life is about giving our lives for God and for others, as well as about receiving his wonderful love! How we respond to challenges and difficulties show our faith for what it is – something that withers away or something strong that continues to grow and bear fruit or do good.

So where in our lives do we hold ‘rocky ground’ attitudes,  that we need to turn from? Where do we need to ‘dig deeper’ in our faith?

The third place the seed fell was among the thorns. Seeds growing among the thorns take root and start to grow, but after a while they’re choked by thorns  and die.

Jesus said these are people who hear “the word, but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things come in and choke the word,

making it unfruitful.”

We all know all about the cares of the world, don’t we?!

The worries of life. Jesus says they can deafen us to God’s message, they try to pull us away from him,

as does the lure of wealth, materialistic pursuits, a false sense of security brought by prosperity, or the drive for status or popularity. These things mean we’re not single hearted in turning to God, we’re half hearted, and they hold us back. Maybe we don’t see God’s power at work in our lives, don’t see ourselves changing, becoming more like Jesus, because our lives are full of thorns.

So what are the things in our life that pull us away from

living single heartedly for God? What worry, or desire,

lures us away? And what can we do about that?

Finally, the good soil that produces plants of much fruit. This is when we hear the truth about God and his son Jesus, turn to him for his love and forgiveness, and live in the light of it. And good stuff results! We become more like Jesus,

showing the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, humility and self control. We live a life of service to others. (“The son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”)

God invites us to live and be fruitful for him and others

in a way that’s unique to each of us. How has he made you and me to bear fruit, with our particular gifts and experiences? Where in our lives would we like to be more fruitful, be a really good influence or impact? At home? At work? With our friends? Somewhere else?

 “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Let’s finish with a moment of quiet, in which to think, what kind of soil am I?

The Path - In what ways do I keep God out?

Rocky ground – Where am I shallow in my commitment to God when things are difficult?
Thorns – How am I distracted, burdened and defeated by the worries of this life, the desire for wealth and other things?

Good soil - Am I bearing the fruit I might?

[moment of quiet]                

So let’s pray:

Lord we want to be good soil, want to produce much fruit, to be a blessing to others, to serve you and others as Jesus did. Help us to do whatever we need to today, to do that better. In your name, amen.