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But he does help us to see what he meant with his teaching today, which is always a gift in my book. Now, Jesus almost always used examples from the world that they all lived in at that time and today is the same. He wants the people to understand what it is to receive the good news, and he wants them to understand that it's not simply a matter of just hearing it and believing it. Jesus always knows it's more complicated than that for us humans because humans are complicated. And we're not complicated in all the same ways. People have different priorities and hopes, histories, families, experiences. So when we receive the good news, it is normal that we would each hear it differently through the lens of our own experiences. So he explains four of those ways that we're different today when we receive the gospel, and he uses the example of these seeds and how they grow. Some seeds will fall on the path and the birds will come eat them up. Other seeds will fall on rocky ground. Sure, they'll grow up quickly, but their roots will be shallows, so they'll die in the sun because they don't go deep enough to retrieve water or nutrients from the soil. Other seeds will fall amongst thorns, but thorny bushes will outgrow the good plant and they'll grow up around it, stifling any chance of survival, robbing it of sunlight from the top and nutrients from below, eventually killing it. Buddy says some seeds will fall on good ground, where they will get all they need to grow space and nutrients and water and good soil, and then they do grow, which creates a harvest of grain that will feed many. Now I grew up in the farmland of Minnesota, so this example he shares actually makes a lot of sense to me, makes me feel right at home. And this is, of course, why he uses such examples for his listeners. It would make sense to them too. Even if they lived in small towns or even a city, the agrarian life was always close at hand. There were no frozen foods delivered from a factory. Everything they consumed was due to the local farmers and growers. They would have all experienced, either directly or within very close proximity, the very struggle of growing seeds in ways where the crop would thrive instead of being eaten up or not planted well or being choked by weeds and thorns. The universality of it was immediate and clear. And then, as I mentioned, a few verses later in the same chapter, he decides to be very clear about how exactly he translates these seeds into our own experience as followers of the way. The birds who eat the seeds right off the ground. That's when we hear the word, don't really understand it, and so our faith is easily removed. If we don't pursue understanding and deepen our comprehension of what Jesus teaches, our faith is easily stolen from us. Then there's rocky ground where the seeds can fall. That's when Jesus' teachings are sort of cluttered out of our hearts. So there's nowhere for our faith to deeply implant into our souls and spirits. So we say yes right immediately, but there's things in the way, things we prioritize over developing our new relationship with Jesus, which makes the faith we have shallow with no access to the tending and care it needs to grow. We don't prioritize deepening the relationship. So the second the road gets a little bumpy for this newfound faith, we retreat from it. We let the other things win and it extinguishes that new faith that was beginning. Then he explains the thorns, and I think we all know a little bit what it is to face the thorns. He calls that the cares of the world and the lure of wealth. It'll all choke the good news to death. It's when we prioritize our own security or safety, our own well-being over the well-being of the whole. And those thorns entrap us to the point of death. Sometimes we don't even know it's happening. But our lives get smaller and smaller because we become so concerned with self alone, which is typically what the world tells us to care the most about. And even in the discomfort of that shrinking of our lives and communities and relationships, of these thorns encroaching upon us and forcing us to get smaller and smaller, we barely even realize we're trapped in these oppressive systems. But, Jesus says, sometimes the seed is also sown on good, healthy soil. This is where we hear and understand the good news, which means we take time and space to learn and understand, to nurture and to deepen it, and are then able to use our understanding to nurture the seeds to grow into a rich and fruitful way for a harvest. So the question is: how do we make the soil that is our hearts and minds and spirits into a healthy place where we can hear and understand the good news? It feels like the whole message today is an invitation to learn and hold tight to our critical thinking skills. Where are we being driven by impulse or fear? And where are we being driven by our learning or our data and our experience? Where are we interrogating what we've been told to see if it really holds up to the truth? And where are we being convinced by compelling but inaccurate voices? We need to find ways to be thoughtful about what we read, consume, share, because that influences the outcomes and impacts of our actions. If we don't look before we leap, we will surely stumble and fall. And when we think about the thorns of the world and wealth, we come to see that this is often just fear in disguise when we prioritize that. We come to see that if we don't set mindful priorities for ourselves, we will slowly be consumed by the darkness of those thorns. But if we take time to allow ourselves to get curious, to learn, to imagine, to pray, we can make ourselves ready for the seeds to grow in us that will result in a bountiful harvest. Ultimately, it feels like we are being called to develop our innate wisdom. Wisdom as the product of thought and study and learning and listening and planning. Wisdom also contains humility and kindness for yourself and for others. It is a holistic view of the world that draws upon all that we are, all that we've learned, so that we can be informed and thoughtful and perceptive about all that we encounter in the world. Today we're going to baptize we Sophia. She is such a gift in so many ways to her family and loved ones, and we give thanks for her life and presence here. The church's job today is as we witness Sophia's baptism, her adoption into the Christian family, is that we will commit to upholding her in her life in Christ. And I think the context of today's gospel, that can certainly mean that we will commit to helping her heart become a place that the good news can grow. We want her to know how beloved she is, yes? Yes? Yes. That's the starting point for any and all of us to know that we are loved by God and by a community, which gives us a new entry point into developing our wisdom, into developing good, rich land in which the good news of God's love can be infused into her whole spirit for her whole lifelong. So when you make the vow to her today, know that it's step one on the journey of helping her grow in her faith that she will eventually share with the kingdom of God. And the kingdom of God needs Sophia's faith and needs all of our faith, needs all of our hearts and minds and spirits to be wise and loving and open so that we can help create a harvest of transformative compassion and grace for the whole world. So the question put before us today is simply how will you choose to develop your wisdom, my friends? How will you help nourish your own soul, tend to your own faith, deepen your relationship with Jesus, and therefore create a beautiful harvest inside you that will serve the kingdom of God in this age and in the age to come? Amen.