Lessons from the Butterfly Bush

'Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!”

“Hear then the parable of the sower. When 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. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet 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. As 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. But 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.”'

--Matthew 14: 1-9, 18-23

As you pull up to our house you’ll notice some large rocks in some less-than-rich soil on the right-hand side of the driveway.  We’ve been talking for a while about planting something in that area, just to make it look a little nicer, but we couldn’t think of anything.  The last time my dad visited, though, he recommended butterfly bushes.  “They’ll grow in anything," he told us.  When we went to Virginia two weeks ago and walked around the coal mining site behind my childhood home, we saw a ton of butterfly bushes, all growing in some really rocky, dry dirt.  Almost immediately, my fiancee Kristen and I said, “We gotta put this in the driveway!”

A butterfly and her bush.

Butterfly bushes are something of a miracle, given that they will grow anywhere.  In that regard they remind me a lot of Jesus.  Our Gospel from this past Sunday was the Parable of the Sower.  There've been many conversations around who exactly is meant to be whom in this parable.  Who is the sower?  The seeds?  The soil?   One approach says that Jesus is the sower in the story, and the seeds being thrown down are the word (with a lower case ‘w’); that is, the Good News of God’s love and mercy and salvation for this world.  But another approach, the one I wish to use, says that God is the sower and that Jesus is the Word (with a capital ‘W’) being sown.  So what of the soil?

The soil, meanwhile, is us, the ones who have been given the Word. We would all like to think that we are always the good soil, that Jesus has taken root in our hearts, causing us to bear rich and bountiful fruit.  At times, I suspect we all have been good soil, but if we are honest with ourselves we know that there are plenty of times when we find ourselves bearing the qualities of the other kids of soil  We’ve been the dirt path, barren and bleak with no depth or water, and the birds—that is, the temptations of sin—come quickly and consume the Word.  We’ve been rocky soil, where there’s enough there for the Word to be planted, creating such jubilation in our hearts, but there’s no root, and at the first sign of trouble, we feel our faith challenged, as if Jesus has abandoned us, so we abandon Jesus.  And we’ve been the thorny soil, eager to accept the Word being sown in us, but all the cares, worries, and occupations of life come and choke the Word away, leaving us with nothing.

The great thing about Jesus, though, is that he can—and does—grow anywhere.  He can be sown in all kinds of soil, in all kinds of places, and among all kinds of people.  He can grow in prison, in a mansion, in a nightclub, in a country club, among elephants, and among donkeys. He’s like the cosmic butterfly bush!  He will grow and bloom and his kingdom will have no end!  That is the promise of our faith.  The only thing that can even slightly halt his growth at all is us, the very soil in which he hopes to grow and flourish.  After explaining the parable’s meaning—something he only does one more time in Matthew—Jesus leaves his audience with something to ponder, albeit not something that is explicitly laid out in the text, but it  is there underneath it all:  what kind of soil are you?  What kind do you want to be?

If you’ve ever sowed any kind of seed you know that it’s not easy.  We started a garden last year and almost immediately had corn, okra, green beans, carrots, green peppers, and tomatoes.  We were elated.  

Yay corn!!!!!!

And then, about as fast as it all sprang up, nearly everything died, save for the okra and tomatoes.  We had not taken care of the soil.  We tried, but ultimately we didn't give it enough water, didn't protect it from the sun enough, and didn't till out the weeds regularly.  (Point of clarification:  Kristen did a pretty good job, but I dropped the ball on my end!)  That was just for a small garden outside our house.  Those of you who live on farms or have huge gardens of your own, you know how much effort it takes to get that soil in good shape.  You have to nurture it, so that the seeds can flourish. 

It is no different with Jesus.  If we do not take care of ourselves, of our soil, then it will be hard for Jesus to flourish in and through us.  Don’t get me wrong, Jesus has already won and will win in the end, and thanks be to God for that!  But for right here and right now, he leaves so much in our hands.  If we don’t nurture ourselves and one another, Jesus will not thrive. 

It takes time and care to cultivate a faith that is deep-rooted and strong.  But we do not do so alone.  This is what community gardens are all about, everyone pitching in to nurture the soil and seeds and bring forth life-giving food.  No one person does it all on his or her own, but rather it is a collective, communal effort.  And when one person’s soil is too rocky, or another person’s plants encounter thorns, the rest of the community is there to help.  

A community garden set up by First United Methodist Church here in Asheboro.

The community garden is a wonderful model of what the Kingdom looks like:  everyone pitching in, tilling and watering and caring for their soil.  The result of such work is life-giving for the local community, and the same is true when we come together as a community of faith to water and till each other's soil.  When we are able to do that, Jesus--the life-giver--flourishes in us and through us.  Blessedly, we do not have to do such work alone!  That's what community is all about.

Faith, like growing a garden, is not a simple matter, it takes a lot of effort, and often times a lot of trial-and-error and discouragement.  Yet, C.S. Lewis once said, “If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity!”  The soil is sometimes rocky and dry and thorny, but if we work together we can clear those rocks and thorns, water that dryness, and the seeds of love, mercy, justice, and hope that Jesus personifies, will blossom in us and through us, and the world will look, and smell, a whole lot prettier.