The Fifth Sunday after Epiphany - February 6, 2011

The Church Season of Epiphany
The Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (February 6, 2011)

“THE SOWER”

Readings:

Psalm 80:1-7
Genesis 18:20-33
Colossians 3:12-17
Matthew 13:24-33

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Grace, Mercy, and Peace be to you from the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel lesson from the 13th chapter of St. Matthew, especially the following verses,

Matthew 13:24-30 (ESV)

24 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’ ” 36 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” 37 He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Today is the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany, and so today is also a church calendar phenomen.  This Fifth Sunday after Epiphany only occurs when Easter is very late in the year and so the next time this lesson will be preached will be 39 years from now.  Some may find that troubling, and others may find comfort in that thought.  Some of us will be in heaven, some will still be waiting for the day of our Lord.  Some in this world will be bound in judgment, others will be gathered into God’s Kingdom.   But who is who? How can I tell which one I am?  How can I tell which one you are?  It is like the old saying of commanders to their troops preparing for the battle, look to your right, look to your left, at the end of the battle, one or both of those people will no longer be living.  Some will live, some will be cut down, nevertheless all will go forward together.

So what do we do?  The good wheat is mixed in with the bad tare, and there is no telling the difference, what are we Christians to do?  Should we look at each other closely, and separate ourselves from those who have strayed.  Should we cut down whoever we may, kill whom we can, and then shoot the wounded?  Isn’t only then when we have that done when we can finally gather with like minded people?  No, that is not what Christ said in His parable, He said,  “30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers”(v. 30) 

The Christian Church has always been full of wheat and weeds. Yet, that is the church we see with our eyes and it is what we call the visible church. And what does that church look like?  When we hear the Gospel preached and the Sacraments rightly administered according to Christ’s institution, only then do we see the Church. But even where the Church is seen, there are true and false Christians. True Christians are the wheat. False Christians are the weeds or tares. They both grow together. The sticky part is that we take it upon ourselves to figure out who is wheat and who are the weeds.

If you think it’s hard to figure out who is who in the Church, consider how hard it is to spot the wheat and tares in the world.  It would be so much easier on all of us if those who are wheat would wear little halos above their heads. And those who would be tares could wear some sort of pitchfork above their heads, or maybe something that looks like a weed. Now, if the world were that way, then we’d know exactly who is saved and who is not saved.

However, it is easy to spot Satan’s work in the Church on earth. When someone sins, and when that sin is known to everyone, and when the sinner refuses to repent of that public sin, then it is the congregation’s solemn duty to exclude that person from the congregation. That unrepentant sinner is welcome to hear the Word of God. But, that unrepentant sinner is not welcome to receive the Lord’s Supper and the unrepentant sinner is not going to receive Christian Burial. These Tares are considered outside the Christian Church and in need of repentance. And so when one is put out of communion with the Christian Church, it is done out of sincere love. Knowing that unrepentant sin leads to this conclusion should give all of us pause to consider whether or not we still hold a grudge against someone, or if we refuse to forgive someone who apologizes to us.

Now consider this statistic, 100 percent of the members of the Christian Church are sinners. And we just confessed that we are sinners too.  It is that way throughout the entirety of the Bible.  Take the Israelites for example. They turned their back on God and made their own idol out of gold.  Jonah ran away from a public call to proclaim repentance in Nineveh and he ended up in the belly of a great fish for three days. The New Testament Church is full of examples too. Saint Paul was once the chief persecutor of Christians. Saint Augustine was once an arch-heretic. If God can use people like Saint Paul and Saint Augustine to preach the Gospel, whom else might He use in His church’s time of need?

It is unbelievable but the Church and the world look like a great tragic mess to the naked eye. Take comfort that both the Church and the world are indeed a mess. Why take comfort? The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

Indeed, take heart.  For the Lord is still the Lord of His Church and it is nothing short of a miracle in these last days of sore distress that the Church grows and blossoms when and where He wills. It is not given to us to go on mad crusades trying to figure out who are the true or false Christians. Instead, it is given to us to be faithful. We call sin a sin when that openly unrepentant sin manifests itself in the life of the congregation. That is the only loving and scriptural thing to do. When a sinner repents, we forgive them and welcome them back into our fellowship with open arms. This is also the loving thing to do. It’s the way of our heavenly Father.

And as it is in the Church, so it is in the world. Jesus warned us that the wheat and tares grow side-by-side. The hard part is telling them apart. And to make matters worse, those awful people who are really tares do wonderful things for people. They too give to the poor, they too serve their neighbors, and they too love one another. But it is also sad to say that not all these wonderful things tares do for others means a thing.  For when it comes to salvation, those who do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and call upon Him as Savior will be cast into the furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So merely doing good things and being nice is not enough to turn a tare into wheat.

Equally frustrating for us is the fact that wheat sowed by the Savior seems not to do or say anything that gives evidence they are wheat sowed by the Savior. It’s as if they are resting on their laurels, figuring God loves them anyway so they have a free pass through this temporal life into eternal life.

But, how can we tell the wheat apart from a tare? Again, that is not given for us to do. The landowner is Jesus Christ and He states, “Let both grow together.” And so we leave the division of wheat and tares to Christ. He knows those who are His. That is a tough saying. Human reason demands us to know everything right now. We want to be able to see who is who and who will not be saved, but eternal judgment belongs to God alone.

In the meantime, we bask in the joy of Jesus Christ’s love. It’s so much easier to receive forgiveness and eternal life without having to snoop around looking for tares amid the wheat. Jesus sows us into the rich soil of His Church through the preaching of the Gospel and the giving out of His Sacraments. He will send His angels to gather up the wheat into the safety of His barn where they will be stored safely will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of the Father.

Both wheat and tares grow together in the field. It is foolishness to modern farming, but to those who are being saved it is pure comfort. Comfort comes in believing that the wheat won’t be harvested prematurely in order to destroy weeds. We grow together, and we go to our respective places. But do not fear, rather, rejoice knowing that you who have been freely given faith and grace from God are the wheat.  Rejoice indeed, for one day the Lord Jesus Christ will gather you to your heavenly home.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
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