Seed and Soil

¹ That same day, after Jesus went out from the house, he sat by the lake, ² and a crowd gathered around him so large that he got into a boat and sat down, with the whole crowd on the shore. ³ He said many things to them in parables:

“Listen carefully! Once, someone went out to plant seed. ⁴ As the person scattered the seed, some of it landed along the path, and birds came and devoured it. ⁵ Other seeds landed on rock where they had only a thin layer of soil. The seedlings grew up right away because they were not deep in the soil. ⁶ When the sun rose, they were scorched, and they wilted because they had no roots. ⁷ Other seeds landed among the thorn bushes, and the thorn bushes grew and choked the seedlings. ⁸ Finally, other seeds landed in fertile soil and produced crops, some multiplying by a hundred, some by sixty, and some by thirty. ⁹ Whoever has ears, listen!”

¹⁸ “Therefore, listen to the parable of planting seeds. ¹⁹ This is the seed planted along the path: Every time someone hears the message of the Reign and doesn’t put things together, hardship comes and snatches away what had been planted in their heart. ²⁰ The seeds planted on the rock with shallow soil—this is those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy, ²¹ but since it hasn’t taken root within them, it’s only momentary; when oppression or persecution happen because of the message, they falter immediately. ²² Now, the seeds in the thorn bushes—this is whoever hears the message but the concerns of this Age and love for wealth choke out the message, and it doesn’t produce any crop. ²³ Finally, the seeds planted in the fertile soil—this is whoever hears the message and puts things together; they will produce crops, some multiplying by a hundred, some by sixty, and some by thirty.”

-Matthew 13.1-9, 18-23; LIT Bible (translated by Brandon C. Vélez Johnson)

What if…

the word about the kingdom of God wasn’t only preached by pastors and missionaries, doled out by Christians at barbecues and get togethers designed to get people into an Alpha Course.

What if…

this proclamation didn’t require study of scripture to decipher, with books of commentaries piled high and exegesis used to tell the true story from the original language so that people’s lives could transform.

What if…

the word about the kingdom, the good news, the gospel, wasn’t planted in hearts through theologies that spoke truth and changed our views and offered liberation to the oppressed through calling for a gospel social order.

A word of caution—I have never once so far said anything about the word of God. We are talking about the word about the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, the Empire of Jesus. We are speaking about the talk that flutters around and saturates our ideas about the kingdom. We are talking about a proclamation that John the Baptist handed to Jesus: the kingdom of God is near.

We’re not talking about the Bible.

We’re talking about the gospel.

These are two different things.

The Bible has the gospel message, the word(s) about the kingdom of God in it. It is a primary source for discovery about that kingdom. The Bible is the history, the story, and the implications of the good news. But the Bible is not the good news.

Here’s some good news about the gospel: talk about it isn’t limited to the Bible. Christians don’t have the market cornered on the gospel of the kingdom of heaven. Words about the kingdom are everywhere. Songs and poems plant the message deep in our bones. Friendship and food can give us a taste of what this kingdom could mean.

This news is already in our hearts, placed there by the Spirit through the fullness of life around us. No matter how beaten down and oppressed our hearts are; no matter the trauma that is buried right beneath the surface; no matter the cares, worries, and misplaced desires we have; no matter how much work we have done to cultivate the soil of our hearts… The good news that the kingdom is near is scattered recklessly by the sowing Spirit in to hardened, stony, choked out, receptive soil without one fuck given.

That’s right, the Spirit that plants the seeds of the words of the good news of the kingdom of God just throws those seeds out there with abandon. It is utter extravagant grace and careless love that plants that hope in us, no matter the condition of our hearts.

Look, I know how this parable has been twisted and wielded as a weapon against the hurting. We are admonished to have good soil in our hearts; to do all the work it takes to receive the words about the kingdom. It’s up to us to grow that harvest, blah, blah, blah.

Here is the honest before God truth: we can’t control the condition of our hearts. We can’t force ourselves to be good soil.

When people walk all over us time and time again for our sexuality, gender, race, economic status, we are beaten down through no fault of our own. No matter the fighting spirit we may retain, there is a part of us that becomes hardened out of necessity to protect ourselves. And there is nothing wrong with that reaction to oppression.

Trauma happens to us. We don’t choose it. Often, it comes to us in childhood, creating wounds and too tender places that we keep hidden, right below the surface of our lives. We bury the hurt. We bury the damage. We bury the scars. Hope has to burrow through the stony mess of traumatized lives in order to take root in us, and it is through no fault of our own that we may be distrustful and find out that Church is just another place where trauma happens.

We live in a capitalistic hellscape right now. From our youth, we are inundated with the message that money matters. We are told to work and get status, and that equates with power. We define each other by what we have: car, house, good paycheck. Our self esteem is tied up in comparing ourselves to others so we can feel better about who we are. We are told money makes the world go ‘round, so we better work, work, work, usually breaking our backs so that other people get rich and promise us the carrot of upward mobility. We can’t control what we are born into.

Even if we have “good soil” it is often due to the opportunities we have had. We may not have been oppressed or may not be riddled with trauma or may not be broken under the weight of the service to money, but even these good things can be contributed to in large part by where and who we’re born to, what social place we have been given, and all the good things we have been given through no work of our own.

Whatever the soil is, the sowing Spirit scatters words about the kingdom onto it, knowing that it can take root, it can transform soil, it can grow into a mighty orchard.

It’s not up to us to create that harvest; it’s just up to us to do the work of tending to our hearts, learning the truth of loving our neighbor, and remaining unsoiled by the white supremacy, capitalistic, patriarchy that tries to devour us all.

This isn’t about “being Christian” or not. The seeds planted are not so we can be a specific religion, fall in line with suit, tie, and study Bible, and go forth to evangelize.

No, the seeds planted are seeds of hope: hope that another world is possible; hope that healing is within reach; hope for community; hope that all the little deaths we face are not the end of our stories.

The kingdom comes for us all, embracing all, planting life in us all.

This is the Jesus way: healing with compassion and not demanding anything in return.

If this kind of kingdom is near, is planted inside each of us, then life is waiting just below the surface to erupt, to bring about a harvest of goodness, a harvest of hope, a harvest of healing, a harvest of community.

I want to be honest with you: tending to that soil is gonna hurt. It’s gonna be hard labor breaking through the hardened places we have been trampled down. It’s gonna break out backs to unearth the stones of trauma, shining a light on secrets and dissipating shame. It’s gonna take all our effort to uproot the weeds of capitalism and the love of status, power, and money so that we can finally breathe.

This is the work of the Jesus Way.

This is what it truly means to cultivate good soil: to give a shit about the person in front of you; to care about mercy and justice; to tend to your own garden so that you have a harvest to share with those who need the nourishment you have to offer.

It’s not about believing in the sinner’s prayer. This is about growing from the hope of the kingdom that is spread and scattered across the cosmos of our hearts.

When it comes to the kingdom, forget about the Bible. Forget about church. Forget about theology, study groups, liturgy, and everything else that blinds us from the table where we bring the bounty that has grown in our lives as we do the good soil work because the Spirit has recklessly, carelessly, and abundantly spread the good news of the kingdom, of a new way of living, int our hearts.