July 8, 2005
Tickets
Pentecost 8/10A [Mt 13.1-9,18-23]
The wolf at his door and only a few steps ahead of the sheriff, a man finally resorted to prayer. He plead with God to relieve his severe poverty and perhaps if God would intercede that he might win the local lottery and turn his fortune around. At first, he prayed as often as it occurred to him which, of course, was a lot, then, with a bit more discipline. But nothing seemed to work.
Finally, he went prostrate before the parish high altar daily from dawn to dusk. The lottery drawings made their cycles, but he never won. Finally, and at his wit’s end with desperation, he literally screamed out for mercy. Quietly, gently, a soft, but stern voice came to him. “Well, you might consider getting up and maybe buying a ticket?”
The Parable of the Sower reminds me of the importunate guy and the lottery, because it — and especially the seeds — reminds me of the grace of God. Like that grace, neither do those seeds discriminate. Like that grace, they land wherever. Like that grace, they take good root only where faith receives them. Like that grace, it’s rather pointless if you don’t buy a ticket.
God sows grace. God sows grace wastefully, which is to say, abundantly. Whether it goes anywhere, puts down roots, puts up leaves, blooms, bears fruit and nourishment, is not altogether a matter of chance. It’s a matter of cooperation.
To be human, we believe, is to be created in the image of God. To be created in the image of God is to be free to choose. To be truly free to choose is to be free not to choose.
Reinhold Niebuhr’s so-called serenity prayer catches the same theme for it is a prayer about change and about the choices change always demands. It’s not a prayer just about playing it cool, and it’s not just about courage, about grace under pressure, but about the good common horse sense it takes to know the difference. It’s about getting up, going out, and buying a ticket.