Tomatoes

Our family has several vegetable plants in the backyard of our house that currently consists of cherry tomatoes, kale, and a green bell pepper. About a year ago The tomatoes and bell pepper started putting out flowers which turned into peppers and tomatoes. Despite the fact that at one point the plants felt the weather was nice enough to put out those flowers, the weather didn’t stay nice and the crop never turned into anything harvestable. The peppers never got even half of their usual size, and the tomatoes either never grew after the flower bloomed, they fell off soon after growing or they stuck on but just like the peppers they just never got to a good sizes.

I do remember taking those tomatoes that never got big enough and just tossing them into random pots so they could maybe fertilize the soil as they decomposed. I was obviously disappointed but I honestly did even know why the plants felt it was even a good idea to try to produce at this time of year. It was both an interesting thing to see but also quite disappointing to see it work so hard only to produce nothing edible.

Well let’s now fast forward a few months to some time in the spring and I went out to water our potted garden and as I was watering everything I noticed a tiny weed in one of the empty pots. I bent down and was getting ready to pluck it out of the pot when I suddenly realized it wasn’t a weed, but actually a baby tomato plant. And it wasn’t just one but there were actually several that had popped up through the soil. Well over the next several days and weeks not only did those seedlings get bigger but even more started showing up in that pot all clumped together. And if that wasn’t exciting enough there was a second pot that had also started to sprout tomato seedlings. I had more seedlings than I knew what to do with.

After the initial shock of seeing those first seedlings sprouted in an empty pot of soil I did remember the ‘bad’ tomatoes that I had thrown into them for compost. These tomatoes, despite not being any good for consumption still obviously had their seeds and they did was they’re supposed to do, they used those seeds to create the next generation of tomato plants. To be completely honest I kind of felt like the man in the parable who scatters seed and sleeps and wakes each day, but doesn’t seem to really understand everything is happening until suddenly you have a crop of plants that are going to produce a harvest. And even though I wasn’t able to keep all the seedlings due to space and needing to separate them because they call came up in the same small area, I can tell you that we did get a good harvest of tomatoes from these new plants.

Honestly I think the parable of this person just scattering seeds on the ground is probably the most helpful parable for us today. I don’t say that because it is the shortest, and I don’t say that just because I relate to it the most, but I believe that this parable, as short as it is, gives us the key to the best insight to these series of parables. The reason I say that is because of that short line that says ‘the farmer doesn’t know how’. Now I know that today with We the immense amount of science that has been put into making sure our crops produce the best harvest possible, has also shown us how a seed does what it does, but this is a parable, it’s not about a seed but what Jesus wants the seed to represent.

If we go back to the first parable today about the sower and Jesus’ explanation then we see that the seed is the word. So if we connect this idea of the seed being the word to the idea that the person scattering has no idea how it works once that person has planted it then I think we get this incredible insight into the way that God’s word works in people. The incredible insight? We don’t know how it works. Sometimes the seed sprouts and grows up strong and sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes there are things in this world that are more appealing than growing up in the word and the word then falls away from that plant. But for some the crop that is produced is 30, 60, or even 100 fold what was planted. So when the word does work, it really works!

But again, remember this is just a parable and nowhere in the parable does it say that the seed can’t be spread again on that same soil. Maybe that time it will stick, maybe it will take 3, 4, or even 5 times before that seed finally produces a harvest. But as someone who just scatters seed, it doesn’t seem to be up for us to really understand every detail or in an out about it. We are called to scatter the seeds, we are called to delight in the harvest, we are called to marvel at the incredible mustard shrub that houses so many different wildlife in it when it started as a tiny seed. We all know there are seasons in our lives and sometimes in those seasons we are bountiful people of faith and at other points we are struggling to just hold on. But that is why it is important to come and be a part of a community of believers. That is why we need each other to help us hold onto the seeds that are sown and the good soil that keeps us growing strong and faithful to God’s word.

And when you are able to grow and produce good seed of your own then scatter it and see what it produces. Or in the words of the the other parable, let the light you have been given shine on a lampstand, don’t hide it but let it shine for all to see. Because when you let it shine, when you plant the seeds in good soil, then even though you may not know how it even happened you may begin to see how your light, your sharing of the good news of Jesus Christ will begin to produce more than you ever thought was even possible. Maybe it’s a bountiful harvest or maybe it’s a mustard bush that grows up to be six feet tall and not only does it produce a harvest of a nice spice, but it also attracts all kinds of other things to it.

In other words, we are all invited to just go out into this world and share the good news of Jesus Christ. While there are things we can absolutely do to help people grow in their faith, at the same time there are times when we may never know the seeds we have sown and what may become of them. I never expected so many tomato plants to appear from some tomatoes I haphazardly threw into those empty pots a year ago. Had I known I would have purchased a lot more pots and had lined them up for people to take and grow for themselves. I was not prepared to see what I saw. So with the help of the Holy Spirit go and spread the word of God. See what lands, see what sticks, see what shines and grows beyond your wildest imagination. And one final thought for today I would like us to remind ourselves of one of the ELCA’s slogans: “God’s Work, Our Hands” from which came the intentional day of service where we serve our neighbor. It is our response from God’s great love for us to share that love with others. It is God’s word, God’s faith that grows in each of us and we are the vessels by which it is sown. So go and sew the good news that has already been sown and grown in you. Amen.