Pentecost 4

Sunday, July 10, 2011
Lectionary 15
Proper 10
Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Midweek Musings

Reflection by Gary Lazenby

INTRODUCTION
God's word is like the rain that waters the earth and brings forth vegetation. It is also like the sower who scatters seed indiscriminately. Our lives are like seeds sown in the earth. Even from what appears to be little, dormant, or dead, God promises a harvest. At the Lord's table, we are fed with the bread of life, that we may bear fruit in the world.

PRAYER OF THE DAY (ELW)

Almighty God, we thank you for planting in us the seed of your word. By your Holy Spirit help us to receive it with joy, live according to it, and grow in faith and hope and love,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

FIRST READING

Isaiah 55:10–13

God's word to Israel's exiles is as sure and effective as never-failing precipitation. Their return to the Holy Land in a new exodus is cheered on by singing mountains and by trees that clap their hands.

¹⁰For 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,
¹¹so 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.
¹²For 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.
¹³Instead 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.

PSALM (ELW)

Psalm 65:[1–8] 9–13

Your paths overflow with plenty. (Ps. 65:11)

[¹You are to be praised, O ^| God, in Zion;

to you shall vows ^| be fulfilled.

²To you, the one who ^| answers prayer,

to you all ^| flesh shall come.

³Our sins are strong- ^| er than we are,

but you blot out ^| our transgressions.

⁴Happy are they whom you choose and draw to your ^| courts to dwell there!

They will be satisfied by the beauty of your house,

by the holiness ^| of your temple.

⁵Awesome things will you show us in your righteousness, O God of ^| our salvation,

O hope of all the ends of the earth and of the oceans ^| far away.

⁶You make firm the mountains ^| by your power;

you are girded a- ^| bout with might.

⁷You still the roaring ^| of the seas,

the roaring of their waves, and the clamor ^| of the peoples.

⁸Those who dwell at the ends of the earth will tremble at your ^| marvelous signs;

you make the dawn and the dusk to ^| sing for joy.]

⁹You visit the earth and water it abundantly; you make it very plenteous;

the river of God is ^| full of water.

You prepare the grain, for so you provide ^| for the earth.

¹⁰You drench the furrows and smooth ^| out the ridges;

with heavy rain you soften the ground and ^| bless its increase.

¹¹You crown the year ^| with your goodness,

and your paths over- ^| flow with plenty.

¹²May the fields of the wilderness be ^| rich for grazing,

and the hills be ^| clothed with joy.

¹³May the meadows cover themselves with flocks,

and the valleys cloak them- ^| selves with grain;

let them shout for ^| joy and sing.

SECOND READING

Romans 8:1–11

There is no condemnation for those who live in Christ. God sent Christ to accomplish what the law was unable to do: condemn sin and free us from its slavery. The Spirit now empowers proper actions and values in our lives and gives us the promise of resurrected life.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. ²For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. ³For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ⁵For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.⁶To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law — indeed it cannot, ⁸and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
⁹But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.¹⁰But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

GOSPEL

Matthew 13:1–9, 18–23

In Matthew's gospel, both Jesus and his disciples "sow the seed" of God's word by proclaiming the good news that "the kingdom of heaven is near." Now, in a memorable parable, Jesus explains why this good news produces different results in those who hear.

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. ²Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. ³And he told them many things in parables, saying: "Listen! A sower went out to sow. ⁴And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. ⁵Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. ⁶But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. ⁷Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. ⁸Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. ⁹Let anyone with ears listen!"
¹⁸Hear then the parable of the sower. ¹⁹When 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. ²⁰As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; ²¹yet 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. ²²As 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. ²³But 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."

REFLECTION

Jesus told his disciples that not everyone would understand his parables. I can certainly believe that. There often are times when I have no clue about the parable. We know that Jesus used common themes in the life of the people in his parables. Are these themes so obscure to me, that I just don’t get the point? Did Jesus mean to say that he was deliberately confusing his listeners? Very likely not. Jesus was speaking from experience. He was aware that some who heard his parables refused to understand them. It was not that they could not intellectually understand them, but rather, their hearts were closed to what Jesus was saying. They had already made up their minds to not believe. The parables of Jesus will enlighten us if we approach them with an open mind and heart, ready to let them challenge us. Maybe that is my problem. I have heard the parables many times, so maybe I am not listening with a completely open heart. I really don’t think that my heart is closed, but at times, maybe it is. If we approach the parables with the conviction that we already know the answer, then we, too, may look but not see, listen but not hear or understand.

PRAYERS

Let us pray

For those who may look, but not see.

For those who may listen, but not hear.

For those who do not understand.

For those who do see, hear, and understand because they are doing the good works of God.

QUOTE

“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.”

Confucius, Chinese philosopher & reformer (551 BC - 479 BC)