Rest & Vision: Giving Away Tomatoes
Preached at Camp Sumatanga, Gallant, Alabama
Rest & Vision Leadership Retreat for
North Georgia Youth/Young Adult Ministries
Matthew 25:14 - 30 CEB
14 “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who was leaving on a trip. He called his servants and handed his possessions over to them. 15 To one he gave five valuable coins,[a] and to another he gave two, and to another he gave one. He gave to each servant according to that servant’s ability. Then he left on his journey.
16 “After the man left, the servant who had five valuable coins took them and went to work doing business with them. He gained five more. 17 In the same way, the one who had two valuable coins gained two more. 18 But the servant who had received the one valuable coin dug a hole in the ground and buried his master’s money.
19 “Now after a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The one who had received five valuable coins came forward with five additional coins. He said, ‘Master, you gave me five valuable coins. Look, I’ve gained five more.’
21 “His master replied, ‘Excellent! You are a good and faithful servant! You’ve been faithful over a little. I’ll put you in charge of much. Come, celebrate with me.’
22 “The second servant also came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two valuable coins. Look, I’ve gained two more.’
23 “His master replied, ‘Well done! You are a good and faithful servant. You’ve been faithful over a little. I’ll put you in charge of much. Come, celebrate with me.’
24 “Now the one who had received one valuable coin came and said, ‘Master, I knew that you are a hard man. You harvest grain where you haven’t sown. You gather crops where you haven’t spread seed. 25 So I was afraid. And I hid my valuable coin in the ground. Here, you have what’s yours.’
26 “His master replied, ‘You evil and lazy servant! You knew that I harvest grain where I haven’t sown and that I gather crops where I haven’t spread seed? 27 In that case, you should have turned my money over to the bankers so that when I returned, you could give me what belonged to me with interest. 28 Therefore, take from him the valuable coin and give it to the one who has ten coins. 29 Those who have much will receive more, and they will have more than they need. But as for those who don’t have much, even the little bit they have will be taken away from them. 30 Now take the worthless servant and throw him out into the farthest darkness.’
“People there will be weeping and grinding their teeth.
My grandparents on my dad’s side, Pops and Jack Jack, grew the best tomatoes. And they grew a lot of them. The tomatoes that Pops and Jack Jack grew were perfect - firm but delicate in texture, the perfect balance of acidity and sweetness. We ate tomatoes from their garden all summer, and what we couldn’t eat, Jack Jack would can in her kitchen. By the end of the summer, Jack Jack would say, “Janice, I swannee I’ve got tomatoes coming out of my ears.” It was hard work having a garden that big, and it was hard work canning that many tomatoes. Pops and Jack Jack ate fresh veggies all summer, and then ate canned and frozen veggies from their garden all winter. It allowed them to eat well, and to be thrifty, both of which they enjoyed.
I thought those tomatoes were beyond comparison. But then I married into the Yates family, and was introduced to Andy’s grandparents, Pa Pa and Ma Ma, who had their own tomato patch. It was a tomato miracle! They were just as good as Pops and Jack Jack’s. I literally did a taste test between the tomatoes grown by the Yates in Lawrence County, and the tomatoes grown by the Watts in Clay County, and everyone agreed they were amazing, and no one could tell the difference.
Paw Paw’s pride and joy was his grandchildren, but a close second was his tomatoes. The summer after we got married, Andy and I came home one afternoon to find a rectangular box sitting on the front stoop. Paw Paw had shipped us a box of his tomatoes in a special kind of box, called a tomato mailer.
Only about half the tomatoes survived the journey, but half a box of Paw Paw tomatoes was better than a crate of store bought ones. He was so proud of that year’s tomatoes that he had to send them to us. Once when I was visiting them I asked Maw Maw if she ever canned them. She said, “Oh heavens no. Paw Paw gives them away before I even get to eat them sometimes.”
I could preach a sermon on either one of these families and their approach to tomatoes. My own grandparents had a work ethic and sense of responsibility that inspires me everyday. The last time I saw Pops, we went out and picked tomatoes in the blazing hot sun. He showed Ginny which ones were ripe and how to pull them gently off the vine without pulling it over. She was just two and a half. Their thriftiness, translated into generosity to me in more ways than I can even count. As an example, they started savings accounts for my kids before I had even taken those babies home from the hospital. Their lives proclaimed the goodness of God in many ways, but I’ll preach that sermon another day.
Today, I want to challenge you to be like MawMaw and PawPaw. There are some things that should be saved, and there are some things that should be shared. There’s a time to store things up, and there’s a time to be extravagantly generous. I believe that this is a time to be like MawMaw and PawPaw.
Do you remember the story from the Old Testament book of Exodus about God feeding the Isrealites in the wilderness? The Isrealites had been delivered from slavery in Egypt, and were wandering in the wilderness and they were hungry. God heard their complaints and provided for them.
This is from Exodus 13:4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. 5 On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”
The food is only going to be provided for six days, and it’s going to be exactly enough food on five of those days. On the sixth day it will be exactly Twice as much as enough, and then, there won’t be any on the seventh day because of the sabbath.
But these are humans, right? So what are they going to try? They are going to try to get more than they need and hoard it…
19 Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.” 20 However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.
Trying to save their manna, to store it up, turned into a gross reality. They had something in those jars, but it was no longer what God intended for them to have. God expected them to use every bit of it up. Save nothing. That was the intention.
Maybe it’s because I’ve just experienced a death in my family, or maybe it’s because the next liturgical season on my calendar is Lent, but I’ve been thinking about what we say on Ash Wednesday when we receive our ashes - Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. We get all somber about it, right? But what if instead of making us take our death seriously, it helped us take our life seriously? What if, instead of just accepting our mortality, it could set us free?
Tomato season always ends, that’s the nature of things. So there’s a finite number of tomatoes coming from the garden. But if PawPaw and MawMaw were worried about winter coming, you could not tell it by the way they lived their lives. I don’t think it ever occurred to PawPaw to save a tomato for himself, when he could share that goodness with someone else. He could have been driven by fear of not having tomatoes, but instead he was driven by the joy of giving them away.
There’s plenty to be fearful of in this life, and I’m not saying you should ignore fear. Healthy Fear keeps us from getting into cars with strangers and diving head first into shallow water. It has its place. But we can’t follow Jesus and be driven by fear. It just won’t work.
At some point this tomato metaphor breaks down, because, I’ve tried many times and I can’t seem to grow tomatoes like my grandparents. But I’m going to ask this anyway… What are your tomatoes? What do you love to give away because it brings you joy?
For me, I’m doing it right now. I love to write about life with God, and to share that with other people. I don’t need to be famous for it, just like none of my grandparents ever thought they’d be famous for their tomatoes. But I do love to share what I write. So, in June of 2019, I signed up for a squarespace account to start sharing my writing. But… that site sat empty for years. I was so afraid that my writing wouldn’t be any good, or that I would get trolls commenting on my heartfelt prayers, or that it was arrogant to even think anyone would want to read it… I was so afraid that I did nothing. I paid for that squarespace account for three and a half years before I did anything with the site.
One day I casually mentioned this to someone that I work with, and I knew by the look in her eyes that I was crazy. I hope you have someone in your life who looks at you like you are crazy when you are being crazy, it’s very helpful. This was our Communications Director, Andie, and she’s a bit of a bull. Not a bully, a bull, she just goes right through things that are in her way. And she said, “What are you talking about? Just put it out there. Who cares if people don’t like it? They don’t have to read it. And just turn the comments off if you don’t want trolls.” Of course, I had mentioned all of this to the right person, because she helped me set it up in 2023 and I’ve been sharing sermons and prayers ever since. And I love it. And I’m so glad my fear didn’t keep me from giving away my tomatoes.
What about you? What keeps you from sharing what gives you joy? What keeps you from loving with extravagance and generosity? What prevents you from trying something new and bold? I don’t know what your answers will be. Fear. Insecurity. Discomfort. Distraction. Perfectionism.
If you can look inside yourself and name whatever it is that keeps you from loving as Jesus loved, you’ll have done a good day’s work. But whatever it is, I’m not here to ask you to dwell on it. Don’t waste a lot of energy on it. Find out what’s holding you back from loving as Jesus loved, tell God you’re sorry, and then go do your thing.
Your time on earth is short. So is mine. What are we going to do with those days? What are we going to do with the love of God that we have within us? Hold it close and save it, or share it boldly and extravagantly? The safe servant buried his talent in the ground so that nothing was risked, and the Master was not pleased or impressed by that.
When I meet Jesus face to face, the last thing I want to hear is, “Janice, you were so careful. But I really wanted more for you” I want him to say, “Dang girl, you left it all on the field! You gave away all your tomatoes and they were awesome! Well done, Sister. Now go take a nap.”
