The Humanity of It All

I did exactly one year of high school marching band. One. If my high school’s system of pitting academics against the arts wasn’t enough to convince you of the validity of my choice, I challenge you to wear something wool outside for a few hours in Lower Alabama. Our practice field was a regulation football field surrounded by an asphalt track and concrete beyond, an island of grass on which a few hundred teenage souls clung to life in a sea of excess heat. The kind of heat where the mere thought of food sounds nauseating…you would think.

If you have grown up with any knowledge of scripture and the teachings of Jesus, you almost certainly know that parables were Jesus’ preferred mode of teaching: these curious stories or images that, if we read them at the depth they invite, often leave us with more questions than answers. Or at minimum, open our imaginations to a wide array of inferences and meanings.

We continue in the 13th chapter of Matthew’s gospel this morning, with another parable of Jesus that comes just after the one we considered last week about a sower who “goes out to sow,” casting the seed upon different types of soil. This week, we hear of another sower, this time who seems to be growing different plants.