July 12, 2026 Trinity 6

July 12, 2026

Trinity 6

Everybody knows about the Nobel Prizes, given each year in categories including physics, chemistry, medicine and economic sciences.

But how about the “IG Nobels”?

This set of awards is given for scientific research that “makes people laugh, then think.” As the word “ignoble” suggests, these awards are not particularly honorable. They carry much less social status than the lofty Nobel Prizes. (The Nobel Peace Prize that was coveted so much by “You-know-who,” is actually one of six categories of the Nobel Prize.) When the awards are conferred, the audience responds by throwing paper planes.

According to The Washington Post, the IG Nobels are presented to scientists who answer questions such as:

How quickly do fingernails grow?

Does painting a cow like a zebra deter flies?

Which kind of pizza does a lizard prefer, should they be given the option? I have zoo worth of lizards around the house – one of whom I have named “Gizard The Lizard”, maybe I should ask him, or “Gizey The Lizey,” his wife, which they would prefer?

These questions are funny. But they also involve real scientific research, and they make you think.

William Bean won an award for “recording and analyzing the rate of growth of one of his fingernails over a period of 35 years.” Yes, this research project lasted 35 years. Bean found that nail growth slows with age. I apparently have a different gen of fingernails, because mine have not slowed down in the least.

Other researchers discovered that rainbow lizards show a clear preference for four-cheese pizza. The research project was called “Opportunistic Foraging Strategy of Rainbow Lizards at a Seaside Resort in Togo.” The winner expressed gratitude to the lizards for their “bold dietary choices and unapologetic love of cheeses.” I guess that means my pet lizards wouldn’t qualify, because they are not Rainbow Lizards. My apologies to Gizard and Gizey!

Another winner found that painting stripes on cows can help prevent them from being bitten by flies. This study was based on the observation that stripes on zebras seem to keep insects away. Sure enough, painting stripes on cows had a positive effect, providing a method of defending livestock that does not use pesticides. While working on my uncle’s farm each summer, I was not fond of cows, so I will stick with horses. Maybe I can paint one of them instead.

The winner accepted the Ig Nobel and then stripped off his jacket to reveal a zebra-striped shirt. The crowd went wild. Just wait until I paint a horse!

In Matthew 13, Jesus tells the Parable of the Sower. He is interested not in the growth of fingernails, but in the growth of seeds and what type of soil leads to a good harvest. If he were a candidate for an Ig Noble, he might title his research project: “Links Between Soil, Good Fruit, and Big Yields.”

The ministry of Jesus is booming when he tells this parable. In fact, his crowd of admirers by the Sea of Galilee is so large that he has to teach from a boat, while the people stand on the beach. According to Matthew, he tells them “many things in parables.” Such stories do more than communicate information. They engage people, sometimes delight and move them, and always force them to dig beneath the surface to understand what is being said. Like candidates for the IG Nobels, the parables of Jesus can make you laugh, then think. On second thought, some of his parables nobody could understand them at all – so much so that his Apostles had to ask him privately later what in the opposite of heaven he was talking about! However, let me play nice …

“Listen!” says Jesus. “A sower went out to sow.” We can visualize the sower, and as we do so our imaginations come alive. “And as he sowed, some seeds fell on a path, and the birds came and ate them up.” When we look at the sower, we notice that he is just tossing seed, not digging holes nor covering the seeds with dirt. When some seeds hit the path and are gobbled up by birds, he just keeps sowing. Some people by the Sea of Galilee might have laughed at the wild way that the sower was throwing seeds, left to right, up and down, all over the place.

“Other seeds fell on rocky ground,” says Jesus, “But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered away.” The sower does not seem to care where the seed goes, throwing it on completely inhospitable rocky ground. Not surprisingly, these seeds scorch and die.

But the sower keeps moving, and Jesus says that 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.” When a few of the seeds hit good soil, voila — they bring forth grain in enormous quantities! The research study of Jesus leads to the conclusion that good soil produces the most abundant of harvests. Just as four-cheese pizza is the choice of rainbow lizards and painted stripes protect cows from biting flies, good soil is the type that leads to the best fruit and the biggest yields.

This is an important finding, one deserving of an award. But before we dig into the dirt, another question should be answered: What is distinctive about the character of the sower? He seems a bit careless, doesn’t he? “The farmer in our story is not overly cautious, he throws seed everywhere, apparently confident there will be a harvest in spite of the losses. He simply keeps sowing his seed, believing that growth will come.

So, what does the sower tell you about Jesus? He is not cautious about where he preaches and on whom he invests his time. Jesus simply keeps sowing the word of the kingdom of God, even though it lands on religious leaders who call him evil (12:22-24), on disciples who struggle to understand him (16:21-26), and on a young man who cannot part with his possessions (19:16-22).

The Parable of the Sower teaches us that Jesus throws good seed everywhere, knowing that most of it is going to be destroyed. And, as followers of Jesus, we should be doing ministry and mission in the very same way. This means welcoming others as Jesus has welcomed us and preaching a message of unconditional love and unlimited grace. After all, Jesus calls us to be faithful to him and to the kingdom of God, not to be successful in a worldly sense.

That’s the character of the sower, the character of Jesus, and what the character of a church that follows Jesus should be.

But what about the quality of the soil? When Jesus explains the meaning of the story to his disciples, his focus suddenly shifts from the sower to the soil. In fact, the name of the story could be changed from “The Parable of the Sower” to “The Parable of the Four Kinds of Soil.” When the emphasis is on the soil, the message is that we should all be good dirt — people who hear the word of the kingdom of God and understand it. Jesus promises that the person who does so “bears fruit and yields in one case a hundredfold.” I think, in this case, I shall stop bathing so I can be good soil for the seed of the sower Jesus!

The message is this: When you hear the word of the kingdom, don’t be the path that is susceptible to the evil one who “snatches away what is sown in the heart.” Don’t be the rocky ground in which a plant “has no root but endures only for a while.” And don’t be thorny soil, in which “the cares of this age and the lure of wealth choke the word.” Instead, be good soil, “one who hears the word and understands it.”

The parable of Jesus ends with the challenge to be good dirt. But this challenge can leave us wondering what we are supposed to do as Christians, because the soil in the parable is completely passive. Soil simply sits and receives the seed. It cannot choose to be good or bad. It is what it is. It is like a stripe on a zebra, one that passively wards off flies.

So, what is it that Jesus commands us to do? In a word: “Listen!” That’s what Jesus says at the beginning of the parable, and it is something we can do as active — rather than passive — disciples. We must listen to Jesus; not just hear him. When we listen to the parable, we learn that Jesus is incredibly generous in the way that he shares the word of the kingdom with all the people of the world. When we listen, we learn that God’s Word is incredibly fruitful, and that a great harvest is guaranteed by the power of God. When we listen, we learn that the coming of the kingdom is not something that we can control. Instead, it depends on the action of God.

The parable reveals to us that Jesus is in charge, spreading the word of the kingdom. Our job is to listen to “the word of the kingdom,” let it take root in our hearts, and then trust that growth will come. The kingdom of God is not a place; instead, it is a reign in which people live in right relationship with God and with their neighbors. In this reign, people are treated fairly, regardless of their race, religion or culture. In this reign, our efforts are focused on peace and reconciliation, rather than discord and division.

When the seed of God’s word is sown on good soil, the soil “bears fruit and yields in one case a hundredfold.” There is no conquest in this parable, only fruitfulness, which means that we should evaluate our words and actions based on how fruitful they are. Do our words on social media lead to peace or discord? Do our actions in the community advance reconciliation or division? The words of the St. Paul serve as a good guide for us: “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).

If we produce this kind of fruit, we are being good soil. We are hearing the word of God and understanding it. While such actions do not win IG Nobel awards, they advance the work of Jesus in a powerful way.

Let us pray.

In today’s gospel we are reminded that God the Father is a generous sower of seeds in our lives.  We pray that the seeds of love and wisdom He has sown in us will fall on fertile ground and that our lives are fruitful and pleasing to Him. We pray to the Lord.               

We pray for all who promote the word and love of the Lord in our Church.  We pray that seeds be sown in our community which will bear fruit and bring new shepherds into the church to tend to God’s flock. We pray to the Lord.            

We pray that the seeds of peace be sown in the hearts of world leaders and bear the fruits of harmony, brotherhood and respect for all God’s children. We pray to the Lord.            

We pray for all farmers, particularly those in famine stricken areas of the world, that the seed they sow be fruitful, that their harvest be a rich one and that there be an abundance of food for all. We pray to the Lord.                                    

We pray for those who hunger and thirst for justice in this world and for those persecuted while speaking out for their fellow citizens. We pray to the Lord.      

We pray for our own country’s leaders that has created a war that was not needed and can now not easily be removed from. We pray that these hostilities to cease and the funds wasted on war might be better used for health and social programs that many are in desperate need of assistance. We pray to the Lord.       

We pray for the earth and all its creatures created by our generous and loving father, that all peoples be united in its protection and in the fight against global warming. We pray to the Lord.

We pray for an increase of priests, deacons, and religious. We pray to the Lord.

We pray that those with generous means may be led to our small church and give generously to our mission so that we may continue to be a church open to all peoples . We pray to the Lord.

For those on our parish prayer list, that they may receive swift answers to their needs and that they may find consolation through Christ’s healing presence. We pray to the Lord.

We bow our heads and remember in silence our own personal intentions and the intentions of those who have asked for our prayers (pause). We pray to the Lord.

We offer to you our words, O God — those tiny chips of meaning we spread abroad so easily — and, often, so thoughtlessly. Keep us ever attentive to the impact of our words, particularly the ways they can cause pain or foster insecurity. Make of our speech a force that does not destroy, but rather builds up: so even our voices of protest may serve the greater cause of reconciling the human race to you.

Wondrous and generous God, your gifts are overwhelming: Your sun lights the way for our journey, and your stars puncture our darkness. Your living water quenches our thirst, and your broken bread opens the door to eternal life. Your healing touch binds up our wounds, and your forgiveness washes clean our sin.

Wondrous and generous God, from the four corners of the earth, a chorus of praise erupts. The ocean roars and the trees shout their joy. From the deepest depths of our being, our prayer gropes to find words of adoration. For you are patient and kind, even as we wander, lured by the trivial and attracted by the quick solution. For you are full of compassion and truth, even as we stumble in relationships and hesitate at the doors of justice.

Come now, wondrous and generous God. Bring comfort to those who agonize over broken relationships, who mourn the death of what used to be. Touch those whose bodies need healing. Liberate those whose addictions warp their full potential. Surprise those whose days are filled with sameness and whose joy has ceased.

Come now, wondrous and generous God. Make this church a place where seeds grow, joy is shared, songs are sung, peace is shaped, dreams are born, sorrow is graced and ripples of love spread. We ask all these things through Christ our Lord. Amen.

God Love You +++

The Most Rev. Robert Winzens

Pastor – St. Francis Chapel

San Diego, CA.

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