The Wonda-Chair

“The Wonda-Chair”
The Rev. Dr. Fred G. Garry

Matthew 13.18-23

‘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.’

We had no money; I mean, no money. We were young parents in college making do with help from our family. We were not starving or cold, but cash was rather non-existent. Buying bacon each week was our splurge.
I felt odd then when Kathy said we are going to a sales presentation about a chair, a Wonda Chair. Unless it was free, no matter how wonderful was the wonda chair, I knew this was not going to happen. I am pretty sure we went because it was one of those presentations where you get something in the end.
I might be wrong, but I distinctly remember a free toaster was the goal.
We sat in the back not wanting to display our obvious lack of financial resources and thus duplicity in being there. And then it started. The salesperson came out and spoke about an engineer who had a child and he wanted something that could grow with the child so he designed a bassinette that could become a stroller; and this stroller could change into a chair that became a high chair and a car seat, and the car seat became a toddler chair for the dining table and the toddler chair became a big boy chair with, wait for it, a desk.

And with each proclamation of what the wonda chair could be, the sales magician in front of us made it so. The bassinette became the stroller; it changed right before our eyes.
I was undone. The Wonda Chair was amazing. At that moment a wave of certainty crashed on top of me: you must get the Wonda Chair! What sort of parent would you be without the Wonda Chair? Think of the possibilities. It is everything we will ever need for our son. It’s transportation; it’s safety; it’s a food delivery station; no, two food delivery stations!
My mind raced with what I could do to earn the money, find the money, get the money right now. Although my wife is very observant, no one could miss my immediate obsession. I am fairly confident my burning desire for the Wonda Chair could have been seen from space. I was a beacon of desire: we must get the Wonda Chair.
With our free gift in hand, Kathy coaxed me from the room after I had grabbed up the literature and purchase contract.
She spoke quietly to me and affirmed the incredible potential of the Wonda Chair. I could tell she wasn’t as convinced as I was, but I knew in time I could bring her around. How could anyone resist the power of the Wonda Chair?
The reality that we had no money and the more than 1000 price tag soon collided. It was crushing. We were going to raise our child without the safety, flexibility, sturdy design of the most amazing piece of child furniture ever conceived. Obviously the future was less than rosy, our child would be shackled to the mediocrity of our inability to provide.
It turns our failures and faults as parents had nothing to do with the wonda chair. But I must admit, I was completely convinced it would; I was certain about the need to purchase; our son’s future depended upon it.
Desire is a funny thing; the way it can hit you all at once; create a fever in you; compel so many emotions in an instant. The sales magician conjured in me a nearly unstoppable desire. I am pretty sure had Kathy not been there to woo me to the car, I am pretty sure if I had been alone, there would have been a Wonda Chair in the back of my car.
To be fair, if I had not walked away, if we had somehow found the money and purchased the Wonda Chair, if this had happened, then it would simply be a lesson in folly. Maybe you have had such lessons while simply hoping for a free toaster.
Folly is when we chase windmills or act with the surety of instincts far from true; folly is leaping without looking. But I didn’t leap. And so, the Wonda Chair is not where folly came clear to me; those lessons would come at different times with different possibilities. No. With the Wonda Chair I got a glimpse of desire; I understood it, could name it. Still can. Desire was completely transparent to me as my hopes of the Wonda Chair came to naught.
Desire, longing, craving, wanting something can be as simple as what you want for dinner (I’m craving tacos) or it can be the stuff of legend, the quest to obtain one’s true love. I desired the Wonda Chair, but it was not a mere wish like “oh wouldn’t that be nice; I would love that.” No. No. This was desire on the level of obsession, possession; I was all in.
Desire is also known for its relation to love. To desire someone can be as common as the joy found in the presence of another, the desire to see someone. And desire can be lust or greed or being crazy with how much we can want another person.
Evangelicals spend a great deal of time talking about desiring God just as progressives speak of a longing for justice. When Jesus speaks of desire, he speaks of lust. Like Buddha, Jesus taught that when desire becomes lust it ruins us, destroys us; we must get rid of it.

Learning what is good desire and what is wrong desire is a life-long process. To see and understand what desire is, or what we desire, or what desire does is just the beginning. Throughout the course of life our desires meet up with our fears, worries, and hardship. People will speak with great lament and regret that they gave up on their heart’s desire. Life got hard and we gave up on our dreams, our hopes. Setbacks and missed opportunities led us to believe what we desire is impossible.
Even if we persist and do not give up, our heart’s desire can become one of many. Like one too many hobbies our energy and focus and intent gets lost in the weeds of competing desires. We want to have a great career, but we want to be a good parent; we want to be a good spouse, but a desire to be a good son or daughter competes with the intent of our heart. And those are all good desires. Wrong desires compete for our love as well. The desire to feel no pain, to be freed of all responsibility, to be bathed in luxury, these too draw the heart away from the right path.
If we are lucky, if we understand what desire is, and we overcome the fears and disappointments that can dash desire, and we keep our eyes on the prize and let desire grow unto determination, then great things come in our life. To have the diligence to persist, to press on against the wind, to hold true to what we love and those we love, this is the good life, the life filled with goodness.
Perhaps you saw it from the beginning, but I hope you see it now: we just walked through the explanation of the parable of the sower. We begin with understanding, move to fear, then consider greed, and finally, we see the fruit of life, the life lived well.
The parable of the sower, the mother parable, the parable of parables is such because it is both a teaching about humility, and a way of becoming such as well. It is both a truth to be told and a way of living the truth. Understanding must overcome fear, and faith must overcome greed, and hope doesn’t disappoint.
To follow Jesus, to believe what he says, to trust his words are true, to hear the word of God, to do this is to walk through this parable. This is the path of discipleship, the way unto freedom. The parable of the sower shows how this occurs, details the way we must break the hard ground of our heart (what we can’t see or hear) and then remove the stones of worry fear and false expectations. Such allows the seed to find soil and take root. And then we must remove the weeds and thorns, the desires that rob us our intent and joy. If we do this, then the seed that found soil will take root and bear fruit and there will be an abundance.
Yet, there is an obstacle here, we too often confuse the word of God with our words about God. We take faith to be our doctrines and dogmas and creeds, when our faith should be only the words of Jesus. When Jesus says the seed is the word of God he is not talking about himself, or what we believe about him, or how it is that he is God and human, a perfect sacrifice. The word of God, the seed cast in good soil, well that word is this: we can be free to live in joy, to be truly human; we can find the kingdom of heaven on earth. That is the good news Jesus spoke again and again.
The parable of the sower is not about God choosing some people or even some people choosing God. This is not a lesson about good people and bad people, strong people and weak people. This is a parable about how all people, anyone, can be free.
Although we walked through the parable with desire before us, we could do the same with anger (what we understand about anger must overcome fear, and the trust we gain must remove the need to control or dominate, and once this hope becomes love we bear fruit), we could do the same with folly, we could do the same with vengeance or disdain. There are many hard parts in our heart. The parable is there to amend the soil, to redeem our soul.

The good news Jesus proclaims is that our heart can become good soil. Our fears about money can become a generosity of spirit; the desires that ravage us can become the desires that heal us. This is the power of the parable.
Every year at this time there is an appeal to give to the church. This is a good thing; the church is a good thing; and our support of the church does good things. There is nothing wrong with giving to help support the church. Yet, there is something greater here. We can do this all year, but it tends to be once a year we have a moment to find freedom, to be set free from misunderstanding, to overcome our fears, to be freed from greed.
Best of all though this a moment where we can understand, remember, to gain freedom our desire must become determination. Everyone here has good desires for the church. We want to see a healthy vibrant church. We long to see the good old days of the 1960s. No one here has a wrong desire for the church. Hence everyone is ready to support the church. I have no doubt of this. What I do not know, or what I hope to see, is what this church will look like when we all become determined to make of this church a place where all people find freedom.
To do this requires not only that we give money, that is the easy part, to do this requires we give our heart. We persist in the endeavor to find freedom together.
My love for the Wonda Chair has not faded. I love the Wonda Chair. I don’t want it anymore, true. But I love what it taught me. Understand desire. See the way desire is truly met only when it becomes determination. If we seek what is true and good and beautiful, we can be free. I desire such freedom; I am determined to find it. Amen.