Christ the King Epiphany Church, Wilbraham

The Rev. Martha S. Sipe

July 12, 2026 / Pentecost 7 (Lect. 15A)

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

In Brown Bag & Bible, our weekly Bible study, we are discussing Jesus’ parables.  And we have been remarking on the fact that so many of Jesus’ parables have had songs written about them.  This parable is no exception, and in fact, the song related to it is the one that I planned for us to sing after the sermon.  But I’m going to switch things up a bit and ask that we sing it now.  It’s # 512 in your ELW.  I’m going to ask Ellen to play through the whole way once so you can hear it, and then we will sing it together.  You can remain seated while we sing.

Lord, let my heart be good soil, open to the seed of your word.

Lord, let my heart be good soil, where love can grow and peace is understood.

When my heart is hard, break the stone away.

When my heart is cold, warm it with the day.

Whey my heart is lost, lead me on your way.

Lord, let my heart – Lord, let my heart – Lord, let my heart be good soil.

It’s pretty, isn’t it?  And the song helps us interpret the parable in just the way that Jesus suggested – that our hearts are the soil in which God’s word is implanted.  He says:  “When anyone hears news of the kingdom and doesn’t take it in, it just remains on the surface, and so the Evil One comes along and plucks it right out of that person’s heart.  This is the seed the farmer scatters on the road.  The seed cast in the gravel – this is the person who hears and instantly responds with enthusiasm.  But there is no soil of character, and so when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it.  The seed cast in the weeds is the person who hears the kingdom news, but weeds of worry and illusions about getting more and wanting everything under the sun strangle what was heard, and nothing comes of it.  The seed cast on good earth is the person who hears and takes in the News, and then produces a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.”  The success of the harvest depends upon the quality of the soil.  And so we pray and sing:  Lord, let my heart be good soil, open to the seed of your word.

Now any of you who are gardeners know that soil can be amended.  If you have soil that is not particularly conducive to growing plants, you can change it.  You can excavate the pavement to make room for your garden; you can dig out all the rocks; you can clear out the weeds that might choke the growth or deplete the soil; and you can add compost and other amendments to make it good and rich so that your seeds have premium soil.  And in the same way, we can amend the soil of our hearts:  by spending more time in prayer, reading scripture more, and finding quiet spaces in our lives.  All this seems completely consistent with Jesus’ explanation of the parable.

But there’s something about this parable that bothers me:  soil is passive.  It can’t change itself.  If the soil is too rocky or too sandy or too full of clay, it can do nothing to make itself better for growing plants.  And if that’s true, and if we are the soil, then that means that we can’t do much to change ourselves, to make the soil of our hearts better.  The truth is that, if we are good soil, then, it is probably because of the gardeners who have worked on us in the past, and hopefully who are working on us still.  If we bear fruit, it is most likely because of all those people who dug their fingers into the dirt of our souls.  If we live productive Christian lives, it is because of those who plowed and those who planted, because of those who fertilized and those who tilled, because of those who pull out our weeds (or at least point them out) and because of those who water our souls when we became dry.

In each of us who are baptized, God has planted the seed of God’s Word within us.  But we’ve all had different gardeners.  Who have been the gardeners in your life?  I think about my parents, who not only took me to church to be baptized, but also kept taking me there, week after week, so that the seed that was planted had a chance to sprout and take root.  I think about all the other “moms” in my congregation when I was growing up, who, when my faith was being stretched as a teenager, were there to talk with me, to help me weed out the unhelpful ideas and nurture my good growth.  And I think about friends along the way who have been and still are sources of nourishment and refreshment, who have staked me up when I’ve needed support and even pruned my unhealthy growth.  Who have been your gardeners?  We should pause and give thanks for them.

And then, grateful for how helpful our gardeners have been to us, we can seek to be gardeners for one another.  Let’s not be afraid, not be timid, to get in there and get a little dirt under our fingernails as we cultivate the growth of each other’s faith.

• Let’s work the seed of the Word of God into the lives of the children in our lives – our children and grandchildren, our nieces and nephews, the children of our friends and neighbors, and of course, the children of this congregation.  I don’t know where I would be or what my faith would be like today if it hadn’t been for all the people who took an interest in my life as a child of God and who were willing to talk to me about faith.  Let’s tend the faith gardens of our children.

• Let’s irrigate – keep souls from drying out – by being there for one another, and perhaps even bringing them to church.  We know that this is a place where we can find refreshment and strength for life.  But not everyone knows that the water of life can be found here.  Let’s share what we’ve got!

• And let’s be patient gardeners for one another here in this little corner of God’s garden.  Let’s check for new growth in one another, and support it when we see it.  Let’s cultivate our soil and be alert for weeds (like strife or division, like judgment and selfishness) – weeds that might choke out the good work that we’re doing.  Let’s watch for rain clouds, and shelter one another from the storms of life.  I’d love it if we could be known as the people of dirty fingernails.

See, for seeds to grow, it takes good soil.  But soil can’t change itself.  It takes a gardener to amend the soil and tend the growth that God has given.  My prayer is not only that God would make our hearts good soil, but also that God would make us good gardeners, for the sake of the world.  Stuffed in your bulletin today, you will find a copy of the hymn that we sang a few minutes ago.  But this version includes an added second stanza about gardeners.  Let’s sing both stanzas now – the first asking God to make us good soil, the second asking God to help us cultivate faith in one another.  As you are able, please stand to sing.

Lord, let us be your gard’ners, cultivating faith in your Word.

Lord, let us be your gard’ners, who plant and tend till neighbors’ hearts are stirred.

When their hearts are hard, help us reach with grace, 

When their hearts are cold, kindle by our flame,

When their hearts are lost, let us light their way.

Lord, let us be – Lord, let us be – Lord, let us be your gardeners.