Year A Proper 10 2020 The Return on God's Word

Year A Proper 10, 12 July 2020

Video service from St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“The Return on God’s Word”

Collect: O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Isaiah 55:10-13

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven,

and do not return there until they have watered the earth,

making it bring forth and sprout,

giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;

it shall not return to me empty,

but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,

and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

For you shall go out in joy,

and be led back in peace;

the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song,

and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;

instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;

and it shall be to the Lord for a memorial,

for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

Matthew 13:1-9,18-23

Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!”

“Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

Hope. We all need it. And I do not need to tell you about how hopeless it seems today.

We keep getting told that things are getting better and looking up, until you look at the numbers and see that things are getting worse at a terrifying rate. 

When I was a kid I always resented group projects. I seemed to always get stuck with the kid who did not pull his fair share. It was frustrating and infuriating, and no matter how hard I worked I paid the price for the laziness or nonchalance of the assigned team member I was stuck with. Yeah, we are in a the biggest Group Project ever. And those who are caring for neighbor and the least of these are having to pay the price for those who are not doing the least for all our benefit. 

I saw a line from a teacher asking how on earth they were going to maintain social distancing during active shooter drills this fall. And then they said that that sentence says so much about how sick our society has become. 

But Hope. I need it. You probably need it. Where do we go for it? I trust that is why you are here today. We have faith, and one of the dividends of faith is Hope.

And that is the language I want to use today, a metaphor to look at all the other metaphors we have here. I want us to look at our return on investment. Jesus tells a story of investing, investing our time, talent, and treasure. It is a story you probably know well.

A sower goes out to sow, and the seed goes out on 4 types of soil. A hardened path, rocky soil, a thorny patch, and then good soil. Some uncertain starts and stops along the way, but eventually the return comes from the Good Soil, 30, 60, a hundred-fold return on investment. That is where the profit lies. That is the hope of the one who casts the seed. 

So often, too often, I mistake myself that I am the one sowing, the seed sower. But upon reflection, I am not. I am flawed and all too human. If anything, my hope in prayer is that the Sower sees me as a seed planted in Good Soil. Maybe I will bear fruit. My prayer is that you will be, too. 

God is the Sower. God is the one casting the seed. But we think we are the ones in charge. We think we are the ones who are doing the heavy lifting. 

This is the first growing season we have been in our house. And we got to plant some things that we hoped would grow. There are things we can do. Good seed. Good soil. Sunlight. Clean water. And the rest is up to magic or God. I prefer to see it as God. Nature, like us, is fearfully and wonderfully made. And we are able to reap the rewards of our meager efforts with peppers and other things that grow pretty much with little to do from us.

And that is when I am reminded of what God tells us in Isaiah. And this is why I have hope in what seems like a hopeless day and age. The opening of today’s readings:

As the rain and the snow come down from heaven,

and do not return there until they have watered the earth,

making it bring forth and sprout,

giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;

it shall not return to me empty,

but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,

and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

God’s word does not return to God empty. God’s word returns to God with success and fruition.

Often I will speak with my teenagers, and I will wait. I said it. I know they heard it. There is a void of silence in response. My word returns to me empty. 

I am a preacher who was trained to teach people and inspire them with God’s word during worship in a church. Now I am talking at a camera by myself. I have no clue where this will go, or what type of response will come, if any. My word returns to me empty. God’s word is not like that.

Think on that. I have heard it asked, “What would you do if you were not afraid?” Or, “What would you do if you knew that you could not lose?” Friends, we can rely on our work and effort, and take the gamble on that return on our investment. But think on this, if we hook our carts to a deal that cannot lose, on an offer that will show amazing profit, wouldn’t we want in on that deal? 

And friends, that is how and why I can have hope. I put my chips all on something that is greater than me, and a guaranteed return on my investment. God promises us: “so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty.” I want in on that. I want in on what will not, what CANNOT FAIL. 

When you are feeling hopeless, and we all do at some point, think on this. We follow a savior who lived and died. And then he rose again. We are a people of Resurrection. We are a people who are ALWAYS to have HOPE. Always. 

So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;

it shall not return to me empty.

That is how we get a 30, 60, a hundred-fold return on investment. I have hope, because I know how the story ends. I know that God’s word is efficacious and wins the day. Thanks be to God! Amen.