"Gracious Wastefulness" given July 16

 A sower goes forth to sow. Seed, slung in all directions, leads to a good deal of waste. Some of the seed falls along the path where it is quickly ground into the dirt. There's a great deal of wasted seed in this parable of the sower.

Have you ever met one of those people who just can't stand to see a little waste? You know the type--they save bits of string, paper clips from letters received, rubber bands. Some folks simply have a thing about waste. Remember how President Lyndon Johnson ordered the White House staff to turn off the lights each time they left a room?

This morning's parable suggests that, in God's Realm there is a great deal of waste. When Jesus was born, according to the opening of Matthew's Gospel, cruel King Herod massacred hundreds of innocent Jewishbaby boys. Wouldn't it have been better if not so much had been made of Jesus being "king" so that Herod would not have felt so threatened? Perhaps the good news of Jesus' birth could have been toned down a bit.

But caution, toning down a bit is not what the gospel is about. So Matthew's magi show up at the manger with the costliest of gifts - gold, frankincense, and myrrh - and lay these most expensive substances at the feet of Mary and her poor baby.

This Gospel's exuberant extravagance continues. Jesus continually speaks to great crowds, "multitudes." But how many came forward to follow? Only the twelve?

Think of how many of Jesus' parables spoke of waste. There was the shepherd who risked the welfare of the 99 sheep in order to search for one lost sheep until he found it. A man gives an invitation to a banquet, but all of those invited rudely refused. There was the Samaritan who gave all that he had to bandage the wounds of a man lying in the ditch whom he did not even know. What are these parables if not parables of extravagance, recklessness, and waste?

And what could be more "wasteful" than for Jesus to lay down his life for people like us?

I'm not by nature the most efficient guy in the world. What skills I have in making my time and energy count for more, I've had to learn-- usually the hard way. My daughters tend to accuse me of being overly organized, however. That's not efficiency, it's testimony to how many times I've gotten my neck chewed in the past.

Maybe you remember the movie or the book, Cheaper By the Dozen.

It's a lively account of the life of a large family that was presided over by Clarence Day, one of America's first professional efficiency experts. Mr. Day even taught his children how to bathe themselves efficiently, taught them a number of foreign languages by pasting words on the walls of the family bathroom (he computed that the average person expends x number hours of a lifetime in the bathroom, so why waste all that precious time?).

I'm not prepared to go that far, but I like to be able to move through my day confident that at least some of my time is being well used, not wasted. Yet it does seem, on the basis of today's parable, that waste is unavoidable in God's Realm. There's much wasted seed, and wasted words, and wasted time and effort.

The poor farmer in today's parable has a great deal working against him - lousy soil, rocks, weeds - and there's a great deal against the gospel. We live in a violent, greedy, anxious world, and the Gospel invites us to join Jesus in peace, self-giving, and grace.

We've got a great deal working against us. On this bright Summer Sunday, more people are at the lake, at the beach, or just taking it easy than are in church. Last Summer I recall seeing the sign in front of a church in Rockford that proclaimed, "God Doesn't Take a Vacation". The Almighty may not, but we sure do. The lures of summer always seem to take their toll on church attendance!

So I work on my sermon for the good of the few, and you faithful show up on Sunday, and we are disappointed by the absence of the many. There's much waste around here.

Our building is bigger than it needs to be most Sundays. At Second Services, we sing to the notes of an organ. We could do about as well with a small piano. Waste.

Someone said in the hearing of her pastor, "I only get something out of about one in three sermons." At first the preacher was appalled. Only one sermon in three? Two-thirds of his sermons wasted? But then the pastor reconsidered. When you think about it, .334 might not be too bad an average.

There is so much working against our hearing and receiving the

word. We are so easily distracted. Our minds are cluttered with many concerns and cares. The Christian faith is so large, our interests rather small. Is it any great wonder that most sermons don't hit home with us?

How much of the Bible do you know? How much of the Bible have you read or understood? All that Scripture wasted!

But that's not the whole story. Jesus' parable of the seed and the soil speaks not only of wasted, unproductive seed, but also of gracious Harvest. Jesus did say that most of the seed went to waste. But some of the seed, wonder of wonders, took root, grew, and brought forth 30, 60, 100 times over a rich reward.

Jesus says, If you've got ears, listen!

The parable ends in joy, celebration of great Harvest. There is waste, yes, much futile effort, ruined seed, disappointing results. But the storyends in astounding success and Harvest. The wastefulness

ought not surprise us. There's much bad soil out there. We speak truth in a world of lies. We call people to walk a narrow way when it's easier to wander.

Throughout Matthew's Gospel Jesus has spoken of a "higher righteousness," but most people are content with lower expectations. However, when the story ends, seed - just of the some seed - has taken

root and has rendered rather amazing results. The sowing is not efficient, but it is finally effective. There is great Harvest.

I confess that something in me has come to expect the waste, the futility and failure. I've been around the church long enough to become something of a reluctant expert in failure! Maybe there's even a little something in me that's kind of content with the failure. Waste can be reassuring.

Why prepare a sermon if only one in three will truly hear it? Why witness to your faith if most of our witness falls on deaf ears? Why do what's right when nine out of ten average Americans are quite content with "going along to get along"? The waste of it all, the failure in faith, can be almost reassuring--in a perverse sort of way.

Yet Jesus doesn't let us off the hook. He promises (maybe even threatens!) Harvest. Our work, his word, the church's witness are not in vain. The promise of Harvest is enough to keep us uneasy with our accommodation to defeat. There is waste, yes, and defeat. But by the end, some few seeds take root and there is rich Harvest. There is waste. But there is also grace.

One of the joys of this parable is learning that even if much seed is wasted, some seed falls on good soil and a great Harvest is sure. This should help encourage us when nothing seems to be happening.

As a young man, John emigrated from England to America. All predicted the brightest future for him as a brilliant scholar. He died after only one year. When he died, he left a little over 700 pounds and a collection of more than 200 books to a new university being organized as meager as that bequest might seem to us in our day and age, it was so abundant to this still being organized school, that they named the university after him. The death of John Harvard looked like waste, but it produced an abundant Harvest.

So, in your life and in mine, in your ministy and in mine,in your relationships and in mine, in your hopes and efforts and prayers and in mine-- results, though delayed-- will still come. The Harvest is sure.

Jesus says, If you've got ears, listen.