Sowing seeds or food for thought

Farming practice has come along way since the agrarian parable of the sower (Matthew 13.1-ff). Seeding the soil now is mechanised and does not have to rely on the randomness of the thrown seed from the basket that the sower holds. It is ordered and organised so that we do not have the loss that occurs with the far flung seed in the parable. It is rare that seed can be found in the places that it is not meant to be and that seed is normally the result, not of the farmer, but nature at its best as birds and other critters remove the sown seed to other areas. However, perhaps the more important aspect which is seldom contemplated is that growth is not immediate. This is as good now as it was when the seed was hand sown. All growth is a slow progression of change and maturing whether it is the form of a human baby (Gen. 25:19-34) or the cereal crop of the sower or indeed the spiritual crop of those journeying towards God (Rom. 8:1-11). If this is a truism then we need to examine it and glean a few truths from the parable and the other stories in the scriptures read today.

The sower went out to sow is very different today but growth is the same

The parable tends not to look very closely at the passage of time between sown seed and harvest, it is in fact a given. If we think of our own culture today we can perhaps see where this neglect of understanding, by those in the past, has brought us. No longer are we time dependent when it comes to our food resources. Indeed we often create with "bitching and moaning" if we are unable to obtain that which we desire, especially if it is not on the shelves of our local market. This sort of attitude, the instant gratification, has been enabled very largely by our disregard of the environment and the time that maturing takes to obtain that which is desired. The other reason that we rush to obtain that which takes time to mature is the presence of pain. In the midst of growth there is always pain as we move from one present into the next present. We just have to look at the birth scene with the twins and the lentil stew scene of the Hebrew scripture reading in Genesis. In the genesis of new birth there is pain (we have alleviated that through drugs and the instantanity of CS) and the vivid existential question of the Why? Rebecca asks the why question not solely to understand the birth process but also on a more personal basis of why me? why must I go through this? It is what we do when there is substantive pain in our lives. Why must I suffer? The same occurs with the lentil porridge, here it is Esau who asks the Why in relation to a birthright when he is dying (how often do we think that in times of crisis?). The instant availability removes the need to go through this phase of growth and so we forget that growth often requires pain (not just physical but psychological, emotional and spiritual), just as transition requires pain to understand what new life feels like. Of course we should not suffer needlessly and pain relief is valuable so long as it does not dampen the ability to grow (an epidural running high can kill the potentiality of growth as effectively as anything else). The presence of pain enables us to ask the Why and not just pass it of so that we never understand and never grow.

Time allows us to feel the changes that are made to ourselves in all realms where growth is possible. In some things we need the time and experience of pain to grow and change to become effective in our understanding of the other. We are then able to empathise with their pain which drives them beyond hope into despair. Only when we can grasp the reality of an other's pain can we hope to bring God's love into the world as we reflect on the pain that Christ suffered for us. In proclaiming our Gospel as the sower we are being inattentive to the changes in our ability to sow the seed. We become reckless in the belief that our efforts bring instant acceptance and growth or at least our belief that that is what should occur. Often what happens is that our wish for the instant brings only hurt, separation and divisiveness as a result of our need to push our gospel rather than live the Gospel. John of the Cross, and other great mystics of the Christian faith, reminds us that we too have to cross the dark night of the soul which is pain-filled rather than painless as we grow towards the spiritual heights that is discovered in the presence of God. This parable reminds us that it is through time that growth occurs and we cannot, despite the assurances of the modern market, go through life without a measure of pain as we grow towards maturity in Christ as individuals and as communities.