Eucharistic Gospel Reading for Sunday of Proper 10: Year A
“As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” (Matthew 13: 23)
So, we are to be “Treated” as good soil. Let me explain. First, it took me a while just to understand that we are to be good soil (that is, good dirt). I saw a sign once at a landscape yard that said, “Clean Dirt” for sale. What an oxymoron!
You and I are not a part of the hundred, sixty or thirty yield of produce. No, we are what brings forth the produce. Took me a while to realize that our Lord Jesus was talking about us being the catalyst of what is desired, the prizes of heaven. We are the good soil.
Now, let’s get to what I call the “treated” part. As one who occasionally gardens, I know that there are certain additives, or treatments, we can add to beginning plants once they have sprouted. And, when necessary, pesticides. Such pesticides or even weed killers that specifically seek out the undesirable bugs and plant life like weeds so that all the nutrient of the good soil goes to the harvest we are looking for. In antiquity there was no such science available. However, in faith terms today we can call it “Baptism.”
Our fresh, rich, soul, good soil that has been protected over the years by the careful replacement of rich soils, even from foreign lands, and ingested with carefully saved compost from the ancient gardens of our tradition, gives forth new growth. But these new sprouts need rain. And they need the sprinkling of special de-weeding agents that will protect them. Baptism then takes what has come into the world and strengthens it for the work of producing a hundred, or sixty or thirty yields. This does not mean however, that we won’t get caught up in the thorny distractions of the world and lose sight of why we are here. We must continue to germinate. We must continue to help others to take root.
Just as some plant eating bugs will find a way to maneuver around a pesticide, so too will evil try to steer some away from their baptismal covenant. Our Church community is the composter of maintaining rich soil. Church community is what is necessary to do the work of producing the harvest that God is looking for. We are the clean dirt for God. Somebody say Amen.
As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and to serve, and to teach others to love and to serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
Let us pray: Proper 10: The Sunday closest to July 13 (BCP p. 231)
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.
onewhoponders 