A Walking Contradiction, Partly Truth and Partly Fiction

Devotional Reflection, Tuesday, May  7, 2024

The week of the sixth Sunday of Easter

The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.

Key phrases for reflection from today’s Gospel reading:

18‘Hear then the parable of the sower. 19When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. . . . .23But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.’

You will find the full text of today’s Gospel reading at the end of this reflection.

Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 963)

AM Psalm 78:1-39; PM Psalm 78:40-72

Lev. 26:1-20; 1 Tim. 2:1-6; Matt. 13:18-23

David’s Reflections

Seed and soil are made for each other, but getting them together can be tough.  If we think of seed as the word of salvation, the story of Jesus, and of the soil as the world, or the human soul, we are getting at the gist of Jesus’ images as the Gospels preserve them in this parable and its interpretation.  All sorts of forces resist the fruitful union of seed and soil, our soul receiving the word of Jesus and sprouting a transformed life and soul.

Some resistance comes from outside us, what Walter Wink calls the outer demonic.+   Birds come and eat the seed that falls on the footpath so that it does not sprout.  With this image Jesus references Satan’s attempts to blunt the impact of the message and presence of Jesus in our lives. That resistance makes the church’s work of mission an ongoing conflict with the powers of darkness.

Some resistance comes from our inner darkness and evil (Wink’s inner demonic).  Something within us hungers for God’s transforming love and something within pushes against that same love.  Johnny Cash, in a radio interview in 1998, referred to a song written about him and several others by Kris Kristofferson, whom Cash had mentored as a musician and friend.  The song contained these lines, "He's a walking contraction, partly truth and partly fiction." * That line describes the ambivalence that plagues us all.

Other forces work to entangle us and abort the sproutings of transformation that God’s word and Spirit always work.  The parable symbolizes those forces of anxiety and greed as thorny weeds that compete with the newly sprouted wheat for moisture, nutrition, and sunlight.  They choke it, stunting its growth.

Yet, Jesus’ parable offers us a vision of seed and soil made for each other.  Most of the field receives the seed and sprouts forth a huge harvest.  I hear this parable speaking words of encouragement at a micro and a macro level.  At the micro level, we can live with hope that our souls can welcome God’s word and Spirit and respond to God’s freeing and transforming grace.  We can and will experience God’s transforming and freeing love.  At the macro level, we can expect that the message of God’s saving love in Christ will attract stunning numbers of people powerfully and will spark their faith response. in spit of the inner and outer darkness that struggles against the seed. Seed and soil are made for each other.

So, you and I may be a walking contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction; but, the message of God’s saving love in Christ will have the last word and prove more profoundly transforming and powerful than the darkness that seeks to withstand it.

+Wink, a New Testament scholar, has written a three-volume study of evil and the demonic.  His work is summarized in a one-volume work, The Powers that Be:  Theology for a New Millennium (New York:  Doubleday, 1998).

*Johnny Cash, in a public radio interview in 1998. The song is entitled “The Pilgrim. Chapter 33.” You can read about the song and view it with lyrics at https://americansongwriter.com/the-pilgrim-chapter-33-kris-kristofferson-behind-the-song/

Collect of the Day, Sixth Sunday of Easter

O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding: Pour into our hearts such love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 225)

A Collect for Peace

Most holy God, the source of all good desires, all right judgments, and all just works: Give to us, your servants, that peace which the world cannot give, so that our minds may be fixed on the doing of your will, and that we, being delivered from the fear of all enemies, may live in peace and quietness; through the mercies of Christ Jesus our Savior. Amen. (BCP, 123)

All the Good I Can

Dear God, guide me to

Do all the good I can

By all means I can

In all ways I can

In all places I can

To all people I can

As long as I can.

Bill Pittman and  Lisa D., The 12 Step Prayer Book Volume 2:  More Twelve Step Prayers and Inspirational Readings Prayers  (Center City, MN:  Hazelden, 2007.)

In the Order of Worship for Evening

Almighty, everlasting God, let our prayer in your sight be as incense, the lifting up of our hands as the evening sacrifice. Give us grace to behold you, present in your Word and Sacraments, and to recognize you in the lives of those around us. Stir up in us the flame of that love which burned in the heart of your Son as he bore his passion, and let it burn in us to eternal life and to the ages of ages. Amen.  (BCP, 113)

A Collect for Mission

Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of your faithful people is governed and sanctified:  Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before you for all members of your holy Church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.  (BCP, 100)

Daily Office Gospel, Matthew 13:18-23

18‘Hear then the parable of the sower. 19When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. 20As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. 22As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. 23But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.’

Daily Offices in The Book of Common Prayer

Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, The Book of Common Prayer

Noonday Prayer, page 103, Book of Common Prayer

Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p 109, Book of Common Prayer

Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer

Compline (Night Prayer), page 127, Book of Common Prayer

Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer