Soil, Seed and SoulS
(Soup for the Soul)
Genesis 25:19-34; Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
Rev. Juancho C. Campañano, PhD, BCC
Here is a familiar Native American anecdote. This is my version. One day a grandfather was walking with one of his grandchildren. As natural to Native American culture, they use ordinary routine of life as an opportunity to teach life lessons especially to the young ones. The grandfather said to his grandson: “I have two wolves quarreling inside me. One is good. The other is not so good. Which one do you think would win?” The grandson looks at his grandpa and said: “That’s a very difficult question. You know that I am only 8 years old. Why don’t you tell me who would win?” “Alright,” the grandpa said, “I suppose you are right.” He lovingly scooped the little face of his grandson and said with a firm voice: “My child, listen to me very carefully. Every person has good and bad tendencies. This is true with me. This is true with you and everyone else. The one that you feed the most will win. Be sure that you feed the good in you over your weaknesses and bad tendencies. Do this and you will live alright.”
The story of Esau and Jacob could be a parable for all of us. There is Esau in all of us. There is in us love for adventure, easy going and free spirit, but sometimes we do not know how to handle life when it gets tough and difficult; when we are faced with hard questions with no easy answer or no answer at all. When things get tough and rough, we seek for easy answer and way out. We only see what is before us at the moment. We become myopic. We want immediate satisfaction refusing to ask the hard questions in life much more to focus on what matters most in life. This is what happened with Esau. He came home from hunting tired and hungry. Upon entering their home, smelled the aroma of a delicious stew being cooked by his little brother.
There is also Jacob in every person. Like Jacob some of us we are endowed with many gifts like cooking and the many facets of homemaking. Jacob might had been an outstanding cook and homemaker. That’s one side of Jacob. There is the other side: a deceiver, a supplanter, a taker. Like Jacob we tend to be more of a taker than a giver. As they say, we are born with clenched fist symbolizing our selfish and taker nature. We are always on the watch on how we can get more for ourselves. When Jacob saw his brother so tired and hungry, he seized the moment. He took advantage of his big brother when he was most vulnerable. So, when Esau asked for a bowl of stew, he said, “I would if you give me your blessings as the first born.” Esau being concerned only of his immediate need – to satisfy his hunger – he agreed.
One theme that we can see in our lessons today is about the interdependence of everything in life. Right at the start of the Bible when God created the world. Creation and animals were created first. On the sixth day, in order for God to create human beings, God took a dirt from the ground, made it into a human form and then breathed into it the breath of life. This order of creation is very instructive. Human beings were created last so they can survive and thrive. Humans are dependent on creation. Unfortunately, for so long, many of us interpreted our being last to be created as a proof that we are the climax and crown of God’s creative process and therefore we are to have dominion over the rest of creation. Because of this theology of dominion and conquer, we are now threatened by climate change or global warming mostly caused by human’s greed and abused of power. It is time for us to straighten our theology and our understanding of our place in the universe. Since we are more dependent on creation to survive and thrive more than the other way around, this must cause us to be humbler and more respectful of creation. We are called to be stewards of creation like gardeners, carers and tillers rather than as conquerors and controllers and do as we please with the animals and environment.
Our relationship with our fellow human beings and with the rest of creation is like that of soil, seed and soul, like the inseparability of protons, neutrons and electrons to make the atom. Protons are a type of subatomic particle with a positive charge. Protons are bound together in an atom’s nucleus as a result of the strong nuclear force. Neutrons are a type of subatomic particle with no charge (they’re neutral). … As a result, a neutral atom must have an equal number of protons and electrons . These three cannot be separated. Otherwise there would be no atom. Our interdependence with each other and rest of creation is like the interrelatedness and unity of body, mind and spirit to make a human being.
Any ministry that we do must take into account this interdependence of everything. Unfortunately, many of us dichotomize and try to separate things. That’s why there were among us who emphasize the importance soul and spirit over the body; others give more importance on the body over soul and spirit.
Saving Souls in the traditional sense is escaping he’ll fire and going to heaven. It is giving more importance to the spirit than the body. It living for the world to come. Today saving souls means confronting our personal and social hell (evils), living the values of Jesus and live in heaven now. It is transforming this world into the kingdom of God. We
Going back to the story of Esau and Jacob. Their story is also our story; their struggle is also our struggle. We are product of a dysfunctional family and a sinful world we live in. Our story says that Rebekah and Isaac played favorites on their sons. Jacob was closer and favored by Rebekah while Esau was closer and favored by Isaac. There is no perfect family. We all know that. There is some dysfunctionality in every family – only differs in degree.
We also know that in the world they lived in, they constantly wrestled with sin – specifically male domination, patriarchy that bred injustice, inequality and poverty. Women were not considered human beings. Of course, they were also confronted endlessly with conflicts, wars and selfish competitions with neighboring tribes and city states. Today we continue to wrestle with sin – racial inequality, sexism, classism, poverty, wars, human trafficking and many more.
I also heard many people telling about how bad is their neighborhood, how they were abused or neglected by the adults in their lives. This is one of the sad and unfortunate realities of many of us. What can we do with this predicament we are in? There are those who wallowed in self-pity because of their unfortunate circumstances. I also know many people who acknowledged their difficult situation and then choose to do something about it. Please don’t misunderstand me. I would never diminish one’s pain and difficulties in life. But we must realize that we cannot do anything about our past but we can do something today and for our future.
Yes, we cannot always blame the bad and difficult circumstances of our birth and our living that we don’t have much control. Thank God we do not need to be always captive of our past. We have the power to change our situation, to transform our lives and our world. If we cannot do it by ourselves, we can reach out to others to help and support us. For those who are more proactive among us, it is incumbent upon us to reach out to others who might be more in need of help than us.
Our gospel lesson is one of the more popular passages in our Bible – the parable of the seeds and the sower. It is important to take note on the different kinds of soils – the lives of the people to whom the gospel seeds are to be planted to. There is only one life that we would know and can do something about – our own personal life. This the only one life that we have control and power to change… to help grow into the person God wants us to be. We can choose to be the fertile soil.
The growth and results of our farming are dependent only to natural process and God’s grace. This true with other people, we do not have the power to change them. We only have the tool of persuasion by words and deeds. It is up to every person whether they listen to us or not. Of course, as people of faith, change and growth is dependent upon our gracious God. As sowers of the seeds of life, we become only a vehicle, and instrument where God’s grace and power might flow through should the people we seek to reach would respond positively to the challenge of the gospel. Here are few things that we can do, with the blessings and grace of God, to ensure growing healthy plants and thus look forward to a healthy harvest, we must:
Prepare the ground very well. I know a little about farming. I was born and raised tilling the land. My family of origin and I had to cultivate the ground few times to be sure it is free from seeds of weeds and the ground is soft enough for good oxygen saturation. I confess I am not good in preparing my lawn before planting grass seeds. As a result, there is so much weeds even before the grass seeds begin to grow. This is true with our lives. Whatever we want to do, we must prepare for it. This is true in our life as a church. Whatever we want, we must prepare ourselves; ready to roll up our sleeves.
Planting the seeds. Growing up we choose the best seed for planting. Good seeds give the best chance of the plant to grow healthy and bring bountiful harvest. I know all of you are good seeds of God. You have been very faithful and committed to your church. There is nothing in the world that is good come by easily. Good things must be earned.
Pruning, weeding and caring. Planting seeds is the easier part of our work. The one that test our patience would be sustaining weeding, watering, fertilizing and caring for the seeds we planted. Otherwise our work will be in vain.
Patiently waiting for harvest. The results of our work are beyond our control and power. All that we can do is to prepare the ground, plant the seeds, caring and weeding, and then wait for the harvest to come. The growth and harvest are in God’s hands, according to St. Paul (2 Corinthians 3). Preparation, planting, pruning, harvesting is our work. We need to do our part and leave the rest to God.
Friends Jesus Christ called two, three then 12 disciples as his starting team. I believe we are more than 12 here at First UMC of Western Springs. I believe God wants us to be faithful and fruitful in whatever direction we want to go. So be it. AMEN.