“What kind of soil”
Meditation – Monday, June 2, 2025
Luke 9: 51-62 (Forward, p. 35) CEV p. 1072
Jesus really hit the nail on the head when He described the various kinds of soil in His Parable of the Soils and the Seed (often called the Parable of the Sower). Today’s passage begins with a some seemingly nasty people, some Samaritans who refused hospitality to Jesus and His people when they were on route to Jerusalem for the festival. These Samaritans were like the hardened soil. Their minds and attitudes had been hardened by centuries of ill-will and prejudice, of repeated cross border skirmishes, clashes, and provocations, and of well-entrenched, often repeated stories of past slights and mistreatments that had deep roots even in their earliest childhoods. No wonder they had deep feelings against the Jews and harboured deep resentments. (Interestingly, Jesus doesn’t ‘write them off’, even though a couple of His disciples sorely wanted to. Jesus doesn’t write off any of us others, even if hard hearted or stubborn. To Jesus, there is always hope.
Then, secondly, we have those that can be characterized by the shallow soil. In a sense, the two disciples, the Sons of Thunder, James and John, were like that. Obviously, Jesus’ message of self-giving love, of not repaying tit for tat, of not reciprocating, simply hasn’t sunk in. They are still responding in a superficial, overly emotional way. The Gospel message has yet found its proper depth, its proper root, in their lives. (And, isn’t this like us at times as well: we react in a superficial, unthinking, emotional way where the love of Jesus hasn’t yet taken root.)
And then there is the third group, the weedy or cluttered soil. Here we have three individuals who might be characterized as ‘yes, but’. ‘We want to follow you, Lord, but…’. In first case, the ‘but’ consists of a desire for security, for predictability, for certainty, whereas Jesus can offer none. He doesn’t even have a permanent home, an assured place where He could always lay His head.
In the second case, the person’s cluttered life shows itself in a desire for time, more time. Here, to our Western sensitivities, Jesus seems very hard-hearted and uncaring. After all, we say to ourselves, all the man is asking for is a reprieve, some time, so he can bury his father. But the reality is that the father had already been buried, that is, in terms of the initial burial, which happened on the same day as the death. In other words, this son wouldn’t have even been there with Jesus, but at the funeral. No, what the son was referring to was the second burial, the placement of the father’s bones in an ossuary which could take place months or years later. He was merely putting off the demands of discipleship, probably for a rather indefinite period. His life was cluttered with such things that the good news didn’t stand a chance.
And in the third case, it is unfinished business, other priorities. He had some things to sort out first, some duties or obligations still unmet, but then, when do these ever end. Life is full of unfinished business and life is ever littered by such people as these who put off making decisions because it is not quite ‘convenient.’ Again, such cluttered lives crowd out what ‘could’ happen if only the gospel was given a fighting chance.
So, considering these folks and their responses, we are duty bound to ask ourselves just where we stand. Do we suffer from hardened hearts, shallow ones, or cluttered ones? Or does the gospel have full reign in an open and receptive one? The good news is that nothing is written in stone, including the attitudes and dispositions of our hearts. We can always choose to be different and choose to have a receptive heart. Amen.
Forward notes: “I will follow you wherever you go” (verse 57b).
“It seems easy to say that we will follow Jesus wherever he leads. But today’s passage reminds us that the road is not always easy. We may find ourselves in uncomfortable places and situations. Pressing obligations at home or work may call our attention away from Jesus. We may hear exactly what God is calling us to do but choose not to listen for a whole host of reasons, good reasons even.
“This was true for me for months, perhaps years, as God gently at first and then again and again called me to ordained ministry in a way I could not ignore. Listening to and following Jesus are choices we make every day, in every encounter with others, and at every opportunity to do the right thing. And sometimes, it is so hard.
“But Jesus has already chosen us and always chooses us. Thankfully, as the psalmist [Psalm 89:2] reminds us in today’s reading, God’s love is established forever, and God’s faithfulness is set firmly in the heavens. And that makes it easier to follow wherever Jesus leads.”
Moving Forward: “Where is Jesus leading you? What’s stopping you from following?”