She even convinced her husband to adopt the hardest child with which she ever worked. This child was not place-able. He destroyed every relationship and every home in which the foster care system tried to find him a place. With no other options, she adopted the boy. Was it hard? Yes. Was it sometimes impossible? Yes. Was it what Jesus would want her to do? She did not even need to ask.
Without hesitation, if you ask her about her life Bible verse, the verse that she uses to guide her life and her personal ministry, she would tell you that it is definitely Matthew 19:14 which reads, “Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’” The love that Jesus has for children is seen bearing fruit in everything that she focuses upon in her life. She is good soil.
But, she was not always good soil. She was not always that type of soil that hears God’s word, absorbs in into her soul, and allows it to bear fruit of goodness for others. When I first met her, about twenty years ago, she was quite the opposite.
But, before I tell you about the first time I met her, I would just like to say that I think that sometimes we spend a little too much time thinking about what type of soil we are.
Most of us know this parable of the different types of soil very well. Most of us have heard it at least fifty times, and most of us have considered what type of soil we might be at least that many times.
I know that I have. I know for certain that there have been times that have found myself to be the hard soil of the path upon which the seed is thrown, but the birds just eat it up. You have no idea how many times I have had God’s Word thrown onto the pathway of my soul, whether in church or while trying to read the Bible while drifting off to sleep, and somehow I completely missed it. Tell me, how many times have you been looking up at the preacher when you suddenly realize, “I have no idea what that pastor is talking about! I hope he does not ask us some random question!” Some of you are saying to yourselves, I think that just happened.
It is like the Word has been thrown onto a parking lot and it never even had a chance to take root with all of the birds around and the obvious lack of fertile ground.
Other times, I would sit through church and be moved by the Word either through the preaching or through the beauty of the music as it travels through the air and penetrates my soul. I would walk out the doors of the church, my heart burning, ready to let God’s Word move me and shape my actions.
But, my burning heart has so often had a very short burn time, like a couple of unimpressive fireworks I just set off last week, squeaking and fizzing sparks pathetically until ending a small poof of smoke. So many times I have been like some rocky soil that excitedly allowed God’s word to grow up fast and tall, but as soon as my life took the slightest of unexpected turns, some struggle or some complication blocked the way, I inexplicably allowed the loving things that God desired me to do to wither and die.
Then, there were the times that I heard the Word, but it just did nothing at all. It fell among the shopping lists and worries about family and friends that were at the forefront of my mind and never had a chance to even be noticed among the thorns of life that grow up and get in the way.
As I said, we make a lot of the seeds that fell on the path and the birds ate it up; or fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly and were scorched; or fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. We make a lot of these types of soil and reflect a lot on which one we may or may not be…or if you are like me worry a lot about what type of soil is the person next to me. “Her soil has no depth.” “He’s a man full of thorns.”
Thorns were what plagued the woman the first time I met her twenty years ago. She came to the church, looking for help paying for her rent. It was one of those cases where she desperately needed money to keep a roof over the heads of her children, but as she asked for some help I noticed the perfectly manicured nails and the pack of cigarettes in her back pocket. She flippantly talked about her night at the bar, and I knew where all of her rent money was going. She was a woman whose soil was being choked by thorns of selfishness and concerns for things like fancy nails over the very real needs of her children. Her wants were choking out her ability to see her needs, and it was destroying her life. We helped her anyway, but it was obvious that she was the soil being choked out by the thorns.
At the time, we discussed if helping her was a good idea or not, but, as I said before, sometimes we spend way too much time focusing on the soil and not enough time focusing on the only character in Jesus’ story: the sower.
He is mentioned so briefly that he is easily forgotten, but he is the one who starts off the entire story. In fact, the story would not even happen if it were not for his actions. The Bible reads, “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell…” (Matthew 13:3-4). I am going to stop the story right there, because I do not want us to forget about him again. This farmer goes out and does not create fine little rows in which the seeds can be nicely planted in order to increase the yield, rather, the farmer throws seeds left and right, scattering them everywhere. The sower throws them on the path. The sower throws them on the rocky soil. The sower even pitches the seed haphazardly near the edge of the field where the briars and weeds have taken hold.
Now, that is my kind of farmer. The farmer just pitches the seeds around and is like, “Close enough.” I like that.
But, the important thing in the story is that the sower of the seed throws the seed everywhere, hoping that it will reach some good soil, hoping that no good soil is missed.
And, the important thing about that woman’s story was that Jesus just kept throwing seeds of God’s Word onto that woman who was trapped in the thorns. Yes, she was soil full of thorns, but what if the seed just happened to reach some good soil one of those times? The sower did not care that the soil was full of thorns. Jesus does not stop loving just because he sees thorns or hard hearts or rocky lives. Jesus does not stop trying to sew the Word of his grace into people’s lives. And, it is a good thing, because that once thorny woman is now the good, healthy soil of Jesus out of which a bountiful harvest of love grows for troubled children within our community.
She is who she is because Jesus did not give up sewing. We are who we are because Jesus does not give up showering us with seeds of grace and love.
And, as we look up, watching Jesus’ never-ending seeds of grace fall down upon us, we sing out a prayer that our hearts be good soil.
Lord, let my heart be good soil,
open to the seed of your word.
Lord, let my heart be good soil,
where love can grow and peace is
understood.
When my heart is hard, break the stone
away.
When my heart is cold, warm it with the
day.
When my heart is lost, lead me on your
way.
Lord, let my heart, Lord, let my heart,
Lord, let my heart be good soil.
Evangelical Lutheran Worship #512
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