The parable of the sower (Matthew 13) – a parable of extravagance and hope. The sower casts the seed liberally – the image of a farmer reaching into a sack to grab a handful of seed, and then, with joyful abandon, casting the seed here and there. Extravagant!
Some of the seed doesn’t make it, or makes it but for a few days only to be scorched in the hot sun, but lots of seed falls on good soil and produces an extravagant harvest. When Jesus says, “a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown,” farmers in the audience would have smiled with delight – no grain returns that kind of harvest, but Jesus is clear: love given away always produced an abundant crop.
Yes, some of the love we give won’t make it, but Jesus says: “Be extravagant! Cast your love far and wide, and know that much of the love you give will take root and produce an extravagant harvest.”
Look not at the seed that doesn’t make it. Look rather at all the seed that does!
