Matthew 13: 1-9 When we were playing our little game earlier – mentioning just a couple of words to guess a fairy story from – I could have said “magic beans”, and I’m sure you would all have said ‘Jack and the beanstalk’. Do you know that story? How Jack sells the family’s cow for a handful of magic beans? His mum’s not very impressed and just throws them out the window, but the next morning they discover that the beans have grown into a huge beanstalk that reaches up to the clouds. Well there’s nothing magical about the seeds in the story Jesus tells. They are just ordinary seeds. And the story is quite an ordinary story. Nothing much seems to happen, certainly nothing unexpected. Someone goes out to sow, the seeds fall on the ground, and some of them grow. Not very exciting is it?!? I wonder if you have ever planted a seed? If you have, I bet you weren’t like the sower in Jesus’ story. You probably didn’t just go outside and throw the seeds anywhere, with some landing on the path, and some landing in the rocks, and some landing in thorns. I reckon if you’ve planted a seed you will have taken great care – there’s only so many in a packet isn’t there? Maybe you’ve carefully planted the seed in a pot, and kept it on the window sill, keeping it safe, giving it lots of light, and watering it everyday. Maybe you planted it outside in the ground, but before you did, you probably carefully chose where it would go, so it had the right conditions. Then you dug the ground over, and you took out all the weeds, and all the stones. The sower in the story Jesus tells is a bit different though. This isn’t someone whose only got a tiny packet of seeds. This is someone with so many seeds they can be scattered everywhere. Who knows where they will grow? It’s a picture of abundance; there is lots of seed, plenty to go round. It’s a picture of generosity; the sower doesn’t try and keep it all safe, the sower happily spreads the seed far and wide. I think this might be a picture of what God is like. God who is generous, who creates more than enough. God who shares his love widely and freely, who gives to all, to everyone. I wonder, is this how you see God? Matthew 13: 18-23 I said earlier that there was nothing magic about the seeds in Jesus’ story. They are just ordinary seeds, full of God’s goodness. But in the story different things happen to the seed. Some don’t grow at all because the birds eat them, some grow quickly to start with but get burnt in the sun, and some get crowded out by the weeds and thorns. And some seeds grow so much, and so well, that they produce lots of crops – as much as 100 times more! That’s amazing! All the seeds were the same, but only some grew – why was that? When Jesus explains the story to his followers, he says what makes the difference is not the seed but the ground the seed falls on. There’s nothing wrong with the seed that fell on the path – it’s good, that’s why the birds eat it! There’s nothing wrong with the seed that fell on the rocky ground, or in with the weeds, but the rocks and the weeds don’t let it grow properly, they get in the way. Jesus says this is like what happens in our lives. God gives his love to everyone. When people hear the news of God’s love, what happens depends on how we respond. Sometimes we might just ignore it – it doesn’t have time to grow in us, it’s snatched away like the birds eating the seed. Sometimes we might think this is great, until something starts to go wrong, something gets a bit difficult. Or we think there are other things more exciting and interesting and we spend our time thinking about them, or trying to get them. When this happens we’re like the rocky or weedy ground, and the seed stops growing. But when we hear of God’s love, and trust God, and try to follow in Jesus’ way – to live and love like he did – then Jesus says we’re like the good soil. The ground where the crops grew and there was even more. When we accept God’s love it starts to change us, just like the seed growing, and producing crops. So I wonder, how do you respond to the news of God’s love? Will you ignore it, or be distracted by other things, or worries, or will you let God’s love take root in you, and grow? Jesus finished his story by saying “let anyone with ears listen”. Listen then to God’s message of generous love, that is for you, and for everyone. Let it into your heart, and let that love grow within you. Be the soil that produces fruit