The Church Season of Epiphany,
Sexagesima,
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (February 27, 2011)
Sexagesima,
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (February 27, 2011)
Readings:
Psalm 85
Is. 55:10-13
2 Cor. 11:19 – 12:9
Luke 8:4-15
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Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen
The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 8th chapter of St. Luke, especially the following verses.
Luke 8:4-15 (ESV)
4 And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, [Jesus] said in a parable: 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6 And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. 8 And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” 9 And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, 10 he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’ 11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. 14 And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. 15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
Nearly ten years ago, the technology existed in the construction industry to do unimaginable things. For example, site project plans for very large projects could be digitized, that is the information on the drawing placed into a computer, providing exact coordinates of length, width, height, elevation, longitude and latitude. Then all of that information could be sent along to all the big machinery on the jobsite that levels out a construction site and makes it perfectly smooth like for a parking lot. It would make it so perfect that only the very least amount of dirt on the project would have to be brought in or removed. The information was so amazing that even the locations of curbs, sidewalks, and the islands in the parking lot could be cut in without the operator taking hold of the stick. And all of the necessary information needed to achieve this was sent from a computer via GPS right to the blade and throttle of the equipment, and the operators just basically sat there in case of an emergency. It was and is perfection in the making. It was and is simply amazing to see. No hiccups. No wasted time. Amazing cost savings. No endless checks and balances just steady as she goes. Perfection, in planning, perfection in results.
And so what of this parable Jesus Christ told of the sower of seeds? Well Jesus tells of a sower who it would seem was not so incredible, not so perfect. Nether was this sower very careful in his planting. There is no mention of precision. This sower is not amazing because there’s no talk of cultivation, planning, or preparation of any kind. No, this parable tells us of a sower who casts seeds out willy nilly apparently either not watching or not caring where His seeds were about to fall. He’s not putting that seed carefully in the ground, just throwing here and there wherever it may go. And so this sower just scatters seed, some on a path, some on rocks, some in the thorns, and some on good soil. And with that kind of planning we just know that we’re going to be able to predict the outcome. You throw seed in every direction and not much good is going to happen. Everybody knows that only the good seed will grow in the good soil. Well, apparently everybody knows how to plant except, of course, the sower.
Oh but wait a minute, what if we were in charge? Man, things would be so much different. If we were in charge, there’d be demographic studies, soil samples, computer modeling, soil temperature analysis, seed advertising, genetic hybrids, and an incredible amount of work done to insure that every seed isn’t wasted. That every single seed that goes out is only going out into the very best ground. Because we all know that seed is just not good enough on it’s own, unless we help it.
We and everybody else in the world hears this parable and thinks the point is that a harvest comes where the soil is good. And what that means is, is that Christians believe because they have good and noble hearts. They think the point is to use the types of soil as a categories for different types of people and to figure how and out where they fit in. But they are wrong.
The point is this Sower does not sow as men sow. For no man sows seed where it cannot possibly grow, on the trodden path, or the rocky ground, or weed-infested patch. Men choose only good soil and then they study and prepare it further so that they wouldn’t waste any of their seeds. This Sower of whom Jesus speaks is flat out foolish, he is reckless, and he could use our advice.
Repent, for it is not what the seed lands on that makes it good because we are told the seed is the very Word of God. And the Word of God has the power within itself to transform the bad soil into good soil and to produce a harvest. Think of it this way, if Jesus is the sower, what does it mean when Jesus sits and eats with sinners? The Word of God comes to the bad soil and makes it good. As Isaiah said, “The Word comes from God’s mouth; it shall not return to Him empty.”(Is. 55:11)
So then which soil are we. In our lives we are attacked by the devil, we suffer temptation, and we endure the threats of cares, riches, and the pleasures of life. And we have succumbed to all these attacks, in one way or another, at one time or another, to every single one of them.
But by the seed of God, by His very Word we are transformed by His grace. We are watered with Baptism, and we are declared good. And this goodness does not come by our efforts toward perfection. It comes by the foolishness of God in His Kingdom who would sow His Word to even to the likes of us. If there be any good in us, it only comes by grace, and it come undeserved and unexpected.
How in the world could we ever expect by the things we’ve done, and the things we’ve left undone to be ever loved by Jesus Christ. How could we expect to be forgiven our sins. How could we expect to be made new in Him? It is by grace alone, and by nothing else. And by that grace the Lord reaps His harvest and that is faith and of course good works which follow.
But God’s Word will be rejected. That is a guarantee from Christ Himself in the parable. There will always be some who hear the Word, but something gets in the way. Some obstacle distracts or derails the growth of the Word in their heart. There will be those persons who will hear with rocky ears or thorny hearts, and they will refuse the Gospel of Christ, even though God has earned their forgiveness.
But the sower cast His Word even to them anyhow. There is no one, who deserves God’s grace. The unbelieving heart of every sinful man only wants to reject the Word and go its own way, apart from God. We do that all the time, we despise the Word of God. We do not quote it or let it be our guide. Rather we believe what we believe, in spite of what the Bible clearly teaches. In so doing we deserve all the things that the parable describes; being trampled upon, withering, and being choked by life.
But this misdirected misguided sower, Jesus Christ still sows His Word of salvation in spite of our actions. In our sin Jesus is trampled and He is rejected by men. He suffered and died so that our bad soil stained sin may be His, and thus by Him we are transformed from bad to good. Though people may trample us in persecution, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
And so from this unexpected grace any fruit which we may bear, is the fruit of Christ working in us. The works we produce then are no longer the self-righteous attempts to justify ourselves. Our works are the glorious and wonderful works of God to His glory, which produce a hundredfold harvest as only the life of Christ is in us.
So then expect the unexpected. Jesus is the sower who casts His Good Word to all who are in this world. In our eyes that would make Jesus a foolish sower. Yet, you are transformed by the water and the Word of baptism, by His Word that He has for you, by His true body and true blood, given and shed for you. A foolish sower? No, a perfect savior who by unexpected and undeserved grace transforms us so that we may reside in the good soil in the kingdom of heaven.
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