Seventh Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 10 – George Yandell
When I was 15 I couldn’t wait to get my learner’s permit to start driving. My good friend Ned was (and still is) 2 months older than I, so he got his permit in mid-fall. I asked him how it was going, eager to get some tips. He said, “Turning or going around a long curve is hard. I keep making corrections to keep the car in the lane. I end up making little jagged moves of the steering wheel. The curve ends up looking like a circular saw blade – jagged edges instead of a smooth rounded path.” Two months later I could relate to Ned’s experience – I kept nervously making little mistakes and nervously correcting them. It drove my mother crazy. Maybe you can relate?
The story of the two brothers Jacob and Esau is a classic example of how God faces the dilemma of determining who shall carry on Abraham’s line and serve God’s purposes. God intends to develop a model of society for the world. Jacob and Esau share both good and bad traits upon which to try to build leadership for the future. Jacob and Esau are like the ragged edges of the turns – they keep having to be corrected in the paths they’re taking.
The Genesis story leaves us with the problem of trying to understand the choice between two flawed individuals and what that means for us, the readers and students of the Bible in every generation. Neither portrait is very flattering. It is too easy to move to negative assessments of the men portrayed without fully understanding their complexities as individuals.
None of the players in this story come off well. None appeared to offer better options for the history of salvation. Far from it – and from this dilemma we can take encouragement. These people and their families look, feel, sound and act like us. But God worked mightily through the statistical improbabilities – the practical challenges of infertility, multiple births and deviant behavior. In God’s gracious hands the incidental, the accidental and the ordinary become the material of redemption in history, both in ancient Israel and in our own family stories today.
Remember that the Bible starts from the assumption that all humans are flawed in one way or another by the very nature of things. The story’s purpose is not to demonstrate the flawed character of individuals but to suggest some lessons about the problems of choosing among human weaknesses by focusing on human strengths, to be prudent in our choices yet to maintain our moral vision. [Adapted from Daniel Elazar in “Jacob and Esau and the Emergence of the Jewish People” (Jerusalem Office for Public Affairs: Daniel Elazar On-Line Library)].
Flash forward 1800 years from the patriarchs of Israel to Galilee under Roman occupation. Jesus tells the parable of the Sower, or better, the parable of incredible yield. The seed cast from a Galilean farmer’s hand usually did NOT sprout and yield full growth. Most often seeds failed to find adequate soil or rainfall & survived only briefly. Yet Jesus tells a most startling thing there on the shore of the lake – some of the seed sown in good soil gave absolutely stupendous yields – unheard of growth. Normally a seven-fold yield was a fantastic harvest. But 30, 60 and 100-fold yields—most of those who heard Jesus would have laughed him to scorn – they’d have yelled, “You’re crazy! That never happens!” But others might have asked, “What is Jesus really talking about?” and then they began to consider the story suggests something deeper.
Jesus, the rabbi, told simple stories, yet filled with hyperbole and exaggeration for effect – it was his signature method. Many said of Jesus, “He is speaking a NEW WORD to us.” This story speaks of life unbounded, of life potential undreamed of. In the context of Galilee where farmers had been dispossessed of their land, this could have been an unrealistic dream. And if you and I hear it that way today, that’s the message – life potential undreamed of, impossible to attain. So what is the new word for us, here? Remember, the parable tells of growth, of potential beyond our wildest imagining. What is the wild, superabundance beyond our wildest dreams?
The parable of the seeds and the Sower tells us the nature of the kingdom of God growing in us and among us. Seeds sown on the path and on rocky ground are eaten by birds or scorched with no depth of soil. Seeds sown on good soil brought unsurpassed yields. Then Jesus creates the analogy of hearing the word of God but not understanding/ of hearing the Word of God, receiving it with joy, but falling away, enduring only a while. The seeds sown among thorns hear the word of God, but the cares of the world and desire for wealth choke the seeds and they yield nothing. The seeds sown in the heart of one who hears, understands the good news of Jesus, bring forth incredible yields.
In the context of God’s intent for God’s people, the choice is not between two flawed parents of Israel or other individual leaders. Jesus instead means for us to choose the good news of God’s coming kingdom- to choose what Jesus intends for us, the readers and students of the gospel in every generation. In the short years of his ministry, stumblebum fisherfolk were transformed. Leadership in the band of Jesus followers meant each one leaned on the others- my weaknesses are compensated by you, we build the fellowship as a spirit-led cooperative, and the kingdom of God yields a fellowship unparalleled across the ages. Near you in the pews is one you need to learn from, to hear her story and in turn resonate with your own.
Through the presence of Christ, relating to one another, we are all being transformed – transformed into pilgrims who together lend strength and courage to each other, in spite of our seeming inadequacies.
A poem from the early 1800’s:
Almighty God, your word is cast like seed upon the ground, now let the dew of heaven descend and righteous fruits abound.
Let not our selfishness and hate this holy seed remove, but let it root in every heart to bring forth fruits of love. Let not the world’s deceitful cares the rising plant destroy, but let it yield a hundredfold the fruits of peace and joy. [By John Cawood (1775–1852)].