The Sower Sermon - Thursday 9 July 2026, Salokot Chapel, Union Theological Seminary

Sower and the Seed - Matthew 13:1-23 

[Also found in Mark 4, Luke 8]

13 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell on a path, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 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. 6 But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 If you have ears,hear!”

Wondering Questions:

- I wonder which part of the story you liked the most?

- I wonder which part of the story we can leave out and still have all the story we need?

- I wonder who needs the different parts of the story?

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In sermons about the Sower and the Seed, we will sometimes wonder: “What kind of soil am I?”

It is a good question. But if we sit with the people who first heard Jesus—especially the farmers—we can hear more.

Jesus told this story to a mixed crowd: disciples, curious listeners, poor farmers, village women, land-owners, hired labourers, and, perhaps, religious leaders watching from the edge. In the background of their world stood Rome—the empire, the soldiers, the taxes, and the fear.

For them, this was a story about real life, real soil, real hunger, real fear, and real hope.

So today, let us listen through four lenses: the farmer, the empire, the religious elite and for us working in God’s mission today.

The Farmer

Imagine the Galilean farmers listening to Jesus. 

They know dry ground, debt, taxes, and the worry of whether the harvest will feed the family. And they would not be shocked by the way the farmer sows. 

In ancient subsistence farming, it was normal to cast dry seed broadly over the ground first, and then come behind it with a simple scratch-plough to turn the seed into the soil. 

The farmer was not being careless. He was farming in the ordinary way of his world.

Paths form where people walk again and again. Thin soil hides hard limestone underneath. Thorns grow where old roots remain.

I do not think this farmer hears Jesus blaming the soil. I think he hears Jesus naming the truth with compassion: life is hard, growth is contested, and much is outside our control.

Then Jesus says something that would make every farmer lift his head: some seed bears thirty, sixty, even a hundredfold.

The Harvest

That is not ordinary success. That is miracle language—abundance only God can give.

So, the first response – the response of the farmer - is hope. 

The seed is not weak. The Word of God is alive. Even when much seems wasted, God is still able to bring a harvest. And once there is harvest, there is a new question:  what will we do with it?

In the world of Jesus, a harvest could feed a family, pay a debt, fill a storehouse, or be taken by those with power. The same grain could become bread for the hungry or profit for the powerful. So the harvest itself needs discernment. Which sack will be used for which purpose?

This is where mission becomes very practical. If God gives growth, then we must ask how that growth serves life. Who is fed? Who is included? Who is strengthened? Who is left out? 

An economy shaped by the kingdom is not simply an economy of increase. It is an economy for the flourishing of life.

If hope is to be found in a harvest of plenty, our response must be faithful discernment.

We do not only celebrate the harvest. We ask how the harvest can become bread, seed, shelter, work, mercy, justice, and shared joy. In the good use of the harvest, hope may be fulfilled.

In God’s field, fruitfulness – God’s abundance - is never meant to end with us. It is given for the common good.

Jesus says in John 10:10 – I came that they may have life in abundance.

The Empire

Now imagine someone from the empire hearing the story—a soldier, a tax collector, a local official. They may hear “harvest” and think, “revenue.” They may hear “hundredfold” and think, “more grain for Rome.”

Or perhaps they dismiss it as peasant talk: just seeds, just soil, just another village teacher by the sea.

But that is the danger of power: it often cannot recognise God’s work because God’s work does not always look powerful. 

The kingdom arrives like seed: small, patient, buried, hidden beneath the surface, and quietly growing from below.

The empire wants control, speed, numbers, and visible strength. Jesus trusts scattering, waiting, rooting, and fruit.

So the second response is humility. We must not look at mission with the eyes of empire.

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Agro-economy and Ecology of life

Instead, we are challenged to care for the earth and tend to creation. We are called to participate in agro-economics and an ecology of life.

Not everything that is small is weak. Not everything that is slow is failing. Not everything that is hidden is absent. 

Sometimes the deepest work of God is happening underground.

Religious Elites – Kingdom come?

Now imagine the religious leaders hearing Jesus. He is not teaching in the Temple courts only. He is teaching beside the sea, telling ordinary people that the Word of God can take root in them.

That is good news for the poor, but threatening to those who want to manage access to God. The harvest depends not on status or control, but on the life of the seed and the openness of the soil.

Here is the gentle warning for us: religious people can become thorny ground. We can be so busy protecting our place, systems, traditions, and comfort that the Word is choked before it bears fruit.

The thorns are not always obvious sins. Sometimes they are respectability, anxiety, fear of losing influence, or the desire to keep things as they are.

So the third response is repentance. We ask God, gently but honestly, to pull out the thorns in us—not only the thorns of greed and worry, but also the thorns of pride, control, and fear.

Unexpected Harvest – Tiny miracles

So, my friends, what does this mean for us?

This artwork we have been looking at was created by Filipino activist-artist Federico “Boy” Dominguez and was published in the Journal of Peasant Studies’ “Agrarian Conversations” website. 

Living here, with Goshen Farm and your Field appointments in a combination of urban and rural settings, let us remember that high talk of spiritual nourishment feels insincere and empty to people who are physically hungry. Food security, access to land and fishing grounds, provision of clean water – these were realities that Jesus and his followers cared about – and we should too.

Whether people have hope matters.  Whether people have food matters.

For those preparing to serve among the poor, let the parable teach tenderness. Do not quickly call people “hard soil.” Ask, with love, what has hardened the ground. Ministry is patient love that helps break open the ground and accompanies people as they seek to become whole.

For those thinking about global mission, let the parable teach patience. 

Do not measure God’s work only by quick reports, large numbers, or impressive platforms. Some growth is fast but shallow. Some work is slow but deep.

For churches and leaders, let the parable teach discernment. Trouble reveals what is shallow. Worry reveals what is choked. Fruit reveals what has rooted.

So let us sow faithfully, but not harshly. Let us tend rocky places with care, remove thorns with patience, and celebrate growth with joy.

Trust the Seed

Jesus does not ask us to control the harvest. He asks us to listen, to receive, and to sow.

There will be birds, rocks, thorns, and seasons when much seems lost. But the story does not end with loss. It ends with harvest. The seed is alive. The Word is still speaking. The Spirit is still working. 

God is still able to bring fruit where we least expect it.

Scripture carries these reminders: 

Paul - “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” 

And Jesus says, “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.”

Jesus also told another Parable about a Sower and Seed.

The Mustard Seed…

When Jesus says the Mustard Seed will grow into a great tree, the message is hidden from all except the farmers, for the farmers know that if you sow mustard you will get shrubby bushes that resolve themselves in maturity. They spread like weeds and keep popping up everywhere. The sowing of mustard is an act of subversion against the authorized cash crops. The spread of these seeds are like a rebellion of the people, growing the resistance to the Roman economy.

The small seed – that acts not like a great tree, but as an edible weed shrub that cannot be controlled. Jesus sowed seeds to subvert the powers and challenge the mighty from the little and the least. He has told the farmers an ‘in’ joke – and they would understand that they may feel like small plants standing against the great trees of the powerful, but numerous weeds, springing up everywhere, can transform the environment, protecting the smallest of birds against the predator Eagles of Rome. 

So let us go into the field together – the little people, serving the God of Life —with hope, humility, repentance, and patience. Let us sow with love, tend the soil with care, and trust the God of the harvest.