God’s Love: Oppressively Optimistic
Mark 4:2-20
“Sometimes I just want to quit.” “I can’t take it anymore.” “There’s no way this problem is ever going to get solved.” “They’ll never change.” Have you ever heard someone say something like one of these statements? Have you ever made such a statement yourself? Sure you have. We all have. It’s called being at the end of our rope. It’s called being painted into a corner. It’s called walking the valley of the shadow. It’s pessimism or frustration, despair or simply a desire to throw up our hands and say, “Forget it.” It is precisely to such a person in such a situation to which this parable, the parable of the sower, speaks.
*****
For
centuries the church read parables in a particular way; they read them as
allegories. An allegory is a story in
which the details of the story have their counterpart in actual details of
life. So then the first soil represents
the godless Presbyterians, the second soil the nearly godless Methodists, the
third soil the affluence burdened Episcopalians and the fourth soil – the good,
fertile soil – the mother church of Rome (or the Baptists or the Nazarenes or
whomever). Now, as a way to read and
understand the Bible, reading parables as allegory is a really bad way to go.
The only thing stopping one from jumping into the abyss of absurdity is the
ever fertile imagination of the sin clouded human mind. It’s just not a good idea.
In
order to restrain the flights of fancy that flow from allegorical
interpretations, many Bible teachers suggest that parables have only one
point. “Look for the central message,”
they say. “The main point is the only
point,” they teach. This is good to an
extent, but as anyone who understands the power of stories will tell you,
stories cannot be caged so easily. As
we shall see time and time again in our study of the parables, they speak on
many levels. Other Bible teachers, and
I consider myself in this camp, teach that rather than one point the parables press for one response. That is, Jesus’
teaching was radically practical; he did not preach and teach to hear himself
talk or to offer up some abstractions about God. Rather, Jesus’ teaching and preaching called out to real people
to choose the way of God; Jesus calls out to us to choose the way of God. Jesus’ parables invited real people to live
according to the truth that God is life and light and love; Jesus invites us to
live according to the truth that God is life and light and love.
*****
The
Rev. Dr. Ken Bailey, who is a New Testament scholar and will be our theologian
in residence in October, has lived in the Middle East for much of his adult
life. In his study of the parables, he
enlightens us modern, Western readers of the Bible about the cultural context
of Jesus’ teaching and preaching. Dr.
Bailey points out that Middle Easterners of Jesus’ day didn’t farm like we
farm. The sower who sows the seeds in
this parable is sowing the Middle Eastern way; he is plowing up the ground to
allow water to seep in and soften the earth before throwing out the seed all
around the sower’s land. And this seed
falls upon four kinds of soil.
The first kind of
soil is the dirt along the path. The
Greek of the New Testament makes clear that the seed doesn’t actually fall all
over the path. Middle Eastern farmers
were not that careless. Rather, the
seed is in the dirt along the edge between the path and the farmer’s plot. The sower knew that the chances of growing
fruitful produce along the edge of the path was slim, but he would give it a
shot.
The second kind of
soil is the dirt around the rocks that form the terrace. Many Middle Eastern
farms were on terraced hillsides. The
terraces were formed by rocks placed strategically into the hill in order to
help prevent erosion. The sower knew
there were rocks underneath the soil at the edge of the terrace, so the soil
would be shallow and not conducive to good growth, but once again the sower
would give it a shot.
The third kind of
soil is in the midst of the farmer’s plot, but over in the area where the
farmer knows a lot of weeds grow. They
didn’t have Ortho Twelve Month Complete
Vegetation Elimination such as we use out in Pueblo West, so farmers had to
deal with parts of their land where they knew their produce would grow but so
would a fist full of weeds. Still, and
once again, the sower would sow the seed even here; give it a shot.
The fourth kind of
soil is the soil smack dab in the middle of things – the deep dirt, fertile and
full of life. The farmer knew that seed
sown here would produce wondrously.
When I was in Texas, summers brought to the church the abundance of
fruits and vegetables from members gardens: bags of tomatoes and onions and
cucumbers, boxes of peaches and apricots.
Folks would put it out in the fellowship hall for the taking. My next
door neighbor had a squash plant so prolific it would grow up and over the
fence between us to place watermelon sized squash (I kid you not!) all over my
backyard. He told me, “Take everything
you can, eat all you want and give the rest of it away. I have too much as it is.” Such is the abundance, and joy, of good
soil.
*****
There are many
themes in this parable. We could talk
about the different kinds of soil. We
could talk about the seed…or the sower.
Jesus’ parables tell us about God; one purpose of Jesus’ parables was to
teach about his radical new vision of the Holy One of Israel. So the question
becomes: what does this parable tell us about the person of God? As I hear Jesus, I hear him describe a God
who is “oppressively optimistic.” Now
the term “oppressive optimism” may sound like an oxymoron to you; after all,
according to Webster’s, something that is oppressive takes away one’s choice,
it causes one discomfort, you can’t get away from the oppression. Optimism, on the other hand, is hopeful,
looking forward, looking for the good in any and every situation. I know it sounds strange, but oppressively
optimistic is precisely the kind of God Jesus is describing.
Consider. Where does the sower sow his seed? Only in the good soil? Do we worship and serve a God who only takes
a chance on those he knows are worth the effort? Is God the type to refuse to waste his time on those who aren’t
good prospects? Is God the type who
needs to focus his time and effort so as not to use up all his resources? Of course not. God is not like that.
God’s primary resources – love and holiness – are unlimited; no focus is
needed. God knows that some prospects
aren’t quite as good, but he has all the time in the world; you can’t waste
that of which you have an eternal supply.
And what about those who aren’t worth the effort? Well, the truth is, none of us are worth the
effort…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…none of us are worthy
candidates for God’s love…but God loves us anyway.
The sower sows the
seed not only to the good, fertile soil.
The sower sows the seed to those whose lives are too busy and too
burdened for God. The sower sows the
seed to those whose lives are troubled and suffering and can’t find the
strength or courage for God. The sower
sows the seed to those whose lives show no desire whatsoever for the Lord our
God. But God doesn’t care. God’s love is oppressive! Thrown your way whether you want it or not;
you do not have a choice; you can’t get away from it. And yes, it may cause some people discomfort to be told they are
loved. But God’s love is also
optimistic, for God has good hope not only for the good, fertile soul, but also
for all the other kinds of soul as well.
Like the sower, God knows the seed of his Word does not usually grow in
certain souls, but he will not turn away merely because the odds are
great. No, like the sower, God is going
to give it a shot. And thank God he
does, for otherwise you and I might be in a world of trouble.
*****
A few minutes ago
I said that parables call us to choose the way of God; they invite us to live
according to the truth that God is life and light and love. So how will you respond?
It seems to me
this parable, the parable of the sower, asks us to examine the way we view
people, including ourselves. Jesus is
telling us that God views all people
as having kingdom potential. This was
not a view shared by the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. The conventional wisdom was that there were
the righteous who obeyed the law and the hopeless who didn’t: don’t waste your
time on the hopeless. What about
us? Oh, I know we are all well armed
with our good theology that says, “Everyone is welcome in God’s kingdom!” But do we truly believe this? Do we live it? Or do we secretly, subconsciously think the guy in the next
cubicle is an annoying jerk not worth our time or effort? In our heart of
hearts, do we believe peace is attainable?
Or do we truly believe such is “pie in the sky” and therefore none of
our concern? When our adult children
declare to us they have given up on their faith, do we write them off or do we
scatter the seed of prayer, love and the encouraging Word? I’ll tell you, as a former youth pastor, I
have seen some strange transformations.
One youth, as a senior in high school, argued that “Hitler was
ethical.” When visiting four years
later, I smiled when he asked if I had ever read this “really, cool book by a
guy named C.S. Lewis called Mere
Christianity.” The smile I smiled
that day was the smile of the sower.
There was a time
when most all of the adults in this room thought our conflict with the Soviet
Union would go on for many, many more years.
And now the Soviet Union is no more.
There was a time
when most all of the adults in this room thought that only violent revolution
would rest control of the apartheid South African government from the hands of
the whites. And now there exists in
South Africa a peacefully elected, black government.
There was a time
when a secular philosopher named Augustine saw himself as hopeless before
Almighty God, unable and unworthy to be loved. And now we call him Saint Augustine.
There was a time
when a young man in high school broke one kid’s ribs and another kid’s nose in
the same water polo game. And now you
call him pastor.
There is a time,
and perhaps now is it, when you will question in the quiet of your spirit
whether all this God talk is real. And
Jesus says that it is God himself who desires to answer that question by
planting a seed. Will you be receptive
to that seed? Will you open yourself to
becoming good, fertile soil? Will you
allow God to bring the joyful abundance of harvest into your life?
*****
You do not have a
choice; God loves you. Thrown your way
whether you want it or not; God’s love is here. You cannot get away from it;
God’s love is everywhere. And yes, it
may cause you some discomfort to be told you are loved. Tough! Get over
yourself. God loves you just the way you are. But God loves you too much to let
you stay that way, for God has good hope that you will become faithful and
fertile soil because you are called to the joy of loving and faithful
abundance.
God’s love: oppressively optimistic. Thank God it’s that, for otherwise you and I might be in a world of trouble.