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[3114.52 --> 3114.66] Right?
[3114.70 --> 3116.04] And especially about how this,
[3116.04 --> 3117.36] farmer goes about,
[3117.72 --> 3118.10] sowing.
[3118.98 --> 3119.18] Right?
[3119.24 --> 3120.46] Some of you have heard this parable,
[3120.56 --> 3121.16] so many times,
[3121.22 --> 3121.58] that you've been,
[3121.64 --> 3122.88] been trained to think,
[3122.96 --> 3124.20] that the farmer just goes out,
[3124.24 --> 3125.30] and he wantonly,
[3125.46 --> 3126.72] is flinging seed,
[3126.96 --> 3128.12] wherever he needs to go,
[3128.28 --> 3129.74] liberally casting it aside,
[3129.82 --> 3131.78] without a care for where it may land.
[3132.06 --> 3132.98] Maybe he's hoping,
[3133.10 --> 3134.60] just to see what sticks.
[3135.52 --> 3136.58] And then we ask the question,
[3136.64 --> 3137.54] is that responsible?
[3139.02 --> 3140.70] Would a farmer really do that?
[3141.02 --> 3141.30] And then,
[3141.54 --> 3143.36] seeing maybe that it's not responsible,
[3143.54 --> 3144.18] what we end up doing,
[3144.24 --> 3144.36] right,
[3144.38 --> 3145.78] is we turn this parable,
[3145.92 --> 3146.62] into sort of a,
[3146.62 --> 3148.42] a Christianese moralism,
[3148.42 --> 3148.96] that says,
[3149.10 --> 3150.54] just push the gospel out,
[3150.60 --> 3151.52] wherever you can,
[3151.80 --> 3152.44] without thought,
[3152.54 --> 3153.28] or without discipline,
[3153.42 --> 3154.40] or without discipleship,
[3154.44 --> 3155.58] and see what sticks.
[3156.02 --> 3157.84] That part's not my responsibility.
[3159.34 --> 3160.32] You see what we do,
[3160.36 --> 3162.44] when we read the parable that way.
[3163.16 --> 3165.38] We absolve ourselves of responsibility,
[3165.38 --> 3166.88] for discipleship,
[3167.20 --> 3167.92] and for discipline,
[3168.24 --> 3169.00] and for connection.
[3169.28 --> 3170.10] We just throw it out,
[3170.16 --> 3170.28] and say,
[3170.34 --> 3170.52] whatever,
[3171.42 --> 3172.06] that's on you,
[3172.48 --> 3172.70] neighbor.
[3173.26 --> 3173.84] That's on you,
[3173.94 --> 3175.30] not yet believing friend.
[3175.38 --> 3175.96] That's on you,
[3176.36 --> 3176.68] stranger,
[3176.82 --> 3177.72] on the street corner.
[3177.72 --> 3179.46] Now,
[3179.54 --> 3180.28] let me quickly,
[3180.44 --> 3181.98] give you three things,
[3182.06 --> 3183.18] in response to that idea,
[3183.30 --> 3184.22] that reading of the parable,
[3184.28 --> 3185.08] which is so common.
[3186.28 --> 3186.64] In fact,
[3186.70 --> 3187.52] when I was in seminary,
[3187.56 --> 3188.72] I wrote a sermon on this parable,
[3188.84 --> 3191.06] and that's the tack I took with it.
[3191.68 --> 3191.92] But,
[3192.00 --> 3193.14] let me say this.
[3193.30 --> 3193.56] First,
[3194.38 --> 3196.52] the text never actually says,
[3196.56 --> 3197.76] or really even implies,
[3197.86 --> 3198.60] that the farmer,
[3198.60 --> 3200.62] is just flippantly throwing seed,
[3200.72 --> 3201.96] without regard for where it lands.
[3203.42 --> 3203.56] Right,
[3203.56 --> 3204.00] and so,
[3204.18 --> 3204.76] even though,
[3204.92 --> 3207.66] the liberality of the act,
[3207.78 --> 3207.92] right,
[3207.98 --> 3209.16] the image of the sower,
[3209.30 --> 3210.58] just throwing it,
[3210.62 --> 3211.52] wherever it will go,
[3211.62 --> 3212.50] whatever it may do,
[3212.78 --> 3214.46] even though that's a good preaching device,
[3214.62 --> 3214.68] like,
[3214.94 --> 3215.24] I mean,
[3215.28 --> 3215.86] that'll preach,
[3215.96 --> 3216.08] right,
[3216.10 --> 3217.80] that's a good rhetorical move,
[3217.90 --> 3219.56] it's not actually clear from the text,
[3220.04 --> 3220.96] that that's Jesus' point.
[3222.60 --> 3222.92] Second,
[3222.92 --> 3225.28] what we know,
[3225.58 --> 3227.40] from the farming practices,
[3227.90 --> 3228.86] in Palestine,
[3229.04 --> 3229.48] and Galilee,
[3229.56 --> 3231.28] around the time of Jesus,
[3231.52 --> 3231.88] is that,
[3232.16 --> 3232.82] a farmer,
[3232.82 --> 3234.34] would walk the field,
[3234.52 --> 3235.48] with his seed,
[3235.88 --> 3236.84] scattering it out,
[3236.92 --> 3237.60] into rows,
[3237.76 --> 3238.90] and then another farmer,
[3238.90 --> 3240.74] would follow closely behind,