Jesus as Preacher

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23; Romans 8:1-11

Let me read you part of a short story which was runner up in an Age Funny Short Story contest.

“The nemesis of a spiritual teacher is not the atheist in the street, but the insightful and outspoken person in the pew. Every priest, rabbi or guru understands the concept of the feral worshipper. The person who eats the priest at the parish picnic and requests a bishop for seconds. In my ministry, this role was fulfilled by my three-year-old daughter Hannah.

My ordination service was a solemn and pompous affair, an Anglican art. St Paul’s Cathedral was packed beyond capacity as I processed in my new robes and my imagined halo gleaming. Hannah spotted me. With her experience of waking me during the night, she easily filled the cathedral with her voice. She shouted with damnable honesty “There’s daddy pretending to be a minister!” My career was doomed from that moment.

I went as a curate to a large eastern suburban parish. A curate is an apprentice minister. Hannah was told the rules of behaviour in church for three-year-old children of curates. She was free to do anything so long as she was quiet. This included reading, drawing and walking around the church with her shoes off.

During my first sermon to the bored-looking North Balwyn faces, Hannah went boldly where no one had gone before. She entered the sanctuary and explored the potential that the holy furnishings had as gymnastic equipment. She then moved to the communion rail and twirled herself around and around, very quietly. She brought a more animated response to the faces of the startled worshippers than I had managed by my fervent preaching.

After the service, sensing she might not get all the paternal approval she had hoped for, Hannah queued with the parting parishioners who were welcoming me to St Stephen’s. She stood before me, reached up to shake my hand and said, “I was very quiet wasn’t I?”” (Howard Langmead)

Good sermons try to capture the attention of the congregation with stories or images or words that connect with the life experience of those listening, but it is an uphill battle when something else is happening to distract attention. But what does make a good sermon? What makes it memorable? What is the purpose of preaching? Whose task is it? These are some of the questions I want to explore today, with the parable of the sower as a starting point. But first, take a few moments to tell the person sitting beside you about a sermon you particularly remember – why do you remember it and what impact has it had on you? (It has to be a sermon other than Thorwald’s last sermon he preached here!)

Now can you remember a children’s story that made an impact on you? Talk about that to your neighbour.

I won’t get you to give me feedback now but I suspect the second task was easier than the first – good children’s talks are short, with an obvious point, often some visual illustration, and memorable interaction. We can’t say those things about many sermons, although knowing a little about Jim Barr’s preaching style we could be in for a few surprises.

We don’t have many examples of long sermons of Jesus. The collection of sayings and teachings that we refer to as the Sermon on the Mount are most likely remembered from all sorts of occasions, and put together in one long narrative. It is much more likely that the preaching of Jesus took place in short bursts, with stories like the one we heard today – full of visual images, movement, and surprises. Much more like the children’s talks than the sermons in our church probably.

This parable has those characteristics. A farmer scattering seed – fairly carelessly it seems – so that it falls on paths, amongst weeds, on rocks, vulnerable to harsh sun and choking thorns and hungry birds. And yet, says Jesus, grain resulted, in some cases 100-fold. What a surprising result to such careless sowing. Let anyone with ears listen!

Some translations speak of the farmer “broadcasting” the seed. We are used to that word in relation to the radio as in “free to air” broadcasting. But the word preceded radio technology. In fact radio borrowed it from the farm. A broadcast means that the seed is thrown out all around, randomly. Like radio. It is not like on-line TV, paid for by subscription. As long as you tune in you can pick it up. It is free. Scattered around indiscriminately. So I think Jesus is saying that his message is free and to be sent out everywhere. The seed of the Gospel is to be spread among the thistles, on the footpaths, and among the rocks as well as in places where it is most likely to be received well, places like the church. No conditions are so adverse that Jesus will throw up his hands and says: “Not here. This soil is hopeless.” Jesus will preach the good news anywhere.

Some of you may have seen the article about Billy Graham in last weekend’s Canberra Times. Billy Graham has undoubtedly had an impact on millions of lives – I don’t discount the value of his work. But I was struck when I read the article at the fact that he had been invited to preach one last time in New York because evangelical Christianity was on the rise in the city, partly due to the influx of many Korean congregations. The messages were going to be broadcast by Korean radio so that those churches would also hear them. There seemed in this tour to be less emphasis on preaching to those who haven’t heard the word, and more on planting more seed in already fertile soil. In contrast, on Thursday I attended a short ceremony to mark the opening of a new initiative by the Uniting Church in Civic – an “Early Morning Centre in the City” offering breakfast, friendship and support specifically to the homeless who sleep in that area. So far they have averaged around 3 visitors a day. I’m sure Billy Graham’s crusades will result in far more conversions than the Early Morning Centre. But the latter it seems to me is choosing to scatter the seed amongst the rocks and thistles and busy streets.

So the parable Jesus told is about the gracious and extravagant broadcasting of the Gospel message of the Kingdom of God. To be sure, that message is broadcast by Christians living a certain lifestyle, but it is definitely also broadcast by preaching, by speaking words about the Kingdom. The early church was so much on about spreading the good news that they even began to refer to the object of that good news, Jesus Christ, the Word of God.

But whereas Jesus’ parable concentrated on the surprising response to the word, even under adverse circumstances, the followers of Jesus were dismayed by how few listeners responded – so much so that the gospel writers have added a long allegorical interpretation to the parable which turns the issue around. Instead of focusing on the indiscriminate distribution of grace and harvest that can be expected despite the setbacks, the interpretation of the parable blames the listeners. The problem is the bad soil! The roadways where people are too busy, hearing but never really sending down roots. Or the rocky places where people are excited by the message but when trouble comes they lose faith. Or the thorns where material possessions choke spiritual growth. The interpretation may be a comfort to preachers the world over, but it is almost certainly an addition to Jesus’ original message with its careless farmer scattering seed in all the wrong places and the unexpected harvest, whether it be thirty, sixty or a hundred fold. Any harvest is an obvious witness to grace, and that is a grand expectation for any preacher.

And yet even Jesus didn’t seem to get an immediate harvest. His preaching took him further along the road to Jerusalem and disapproval and death. His followers all turned against him. The once enthusiastic crowd decided it was all a bit hard in the end.

Fairly frequently I am in conversations with people about the value of preaching these days. Is it the best way to communicate the gospel message? How much can we really expect people to take in from a 20 minute monologue? Is the 10-20 hours spent preparing a sermon the best use of a minister’s weekly work hours? (If that sounds surprising, I once heard a professor of homiletics say that the best sermons were prepared with one hour’s preparation for every minute preached!) There are certainly many churches exploring other ways of communicating: such as multi-media presentations, or small group based church which focus more on relationship and sharing in intimate groups than hearing and worshiping in large congregations. And I think it is right to be having these discussions and exploring other options. But I also get the impression from the biblical witness that the spoken Word is an integral part of God’s message for the world. Just think of some of the stories.

• When Moses tried to back out of his mission to tell Pharaoh to let his people go by excusing himself for not being a good speaker God allowed him to take Aaron to convey the message but said “Go anyway”.
• Ezekiel no doubt felt that preaching to dry bones was a useless exercise but God said “Preach anyway”.
• The woman who anointed Jesus may not have used any words but when Jesus commended her actions he also said her story would be told throughout the whole world.
• The women at the tomb were terrified by their vision of an angel telling them Jesus had been risen from the dead, but they were told to “Go and tell anyway”.
• And the risen Jesus’ last recorded words to his followers was “go into the world and preach the gospel” – but don’t forget the postscript: “I will be with you always”.

There is a poster with a caption that says “who plants a seed trusts God.” A nice thought. But it is not a picture of a farmer sowing in a field, it’s a grubby kid poking a seed in a bit of dirt caught in a crack in the pavement. Perhaps this is more the image of the church in our day than Jesus’ farmer in his field – there are still no promises that our seeds will take root other than our trust in God’s word. And to spread that word.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote this:

The church is the church only when it exists for others… The church must share in the secular problems of ordinary human social life, not dominating, but helping and serving. It must tell people of every calling what it means to live with Christ, to exist for others…. It will have to speak of moderation, authenticity, trust, loyalty, constancy, patience, discipline, humility, contentment, and modesty. It must not under-estimate the importance of human example which has its origin in the humanity of Jesus….” (Letters and Papers from Prison (abridged), 140)

The Word became flesh. God’s creative word has come into the world in the simple parable of Jesus. We, the followers of Jesus, are called to preach that word, but don’t forget when Jesus sent his disciples out to go into the world and preach the gospel, he added a postscript: “I will be with you always.”

This is where the passage from Romans comes in – a reminder that as believers we have the Spirit of Christ in us – the spirit of life and peace. Through the Spirit the church is to preach the gospel. This is the unique role of the church. The church does not exist to be a moral example, or to provide a place for fellowship, or to fill in our time on Sundays. The church’s task is to name God in the world. And it’s not just the preacher’s job! It will be far more effective anyway in your own words. Let God be part of your conversations. Let your faith be scattered into the soil around you, even if it seems hard or stony or weedy. And look out for a harvest!