Sermon for the Ninth Sunday After Pentecost
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ! Amen. Today's sermon is based upon the Gospel of the Day, from
Matthew chapter 13, where Jesus tells us His parable about the farmer who
went out to plant seed.
Dear Christian friends:
When Jesus explained this parable to His disciples, He told them
that the four types of soil in this parable represent four types of people
who hear the powerful, miracle-producing Word of God.
When anyone hears the Word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the
evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is
what was sown along 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 he has
no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or
persecution arises on account of the Word, immediately he falls away. As for
what has been sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the Word, but the
cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the Word, and it
proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who
hears the Word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one
case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.
Hardened soil picked over by birds; rocky soil that allows no roots to take
hold; thorny soil that quickly chokes and kills anything good; and rich,
fertile soil that accepts the seed and allows the seed to prosper: clearly,
any of Christian who hears these Words of Jesus will surely want to be
identified as good soil. "As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one
who hear the Word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit."
Yet how many of us would truly dare to claim that there is in our
natural selves anything good at all-soil or otherwise? Wouldn't it seem much
safer for you and for me to stand next to St. Paul and join him in saying
what he said in last week's Epistle from Romans 7? "I am of the flesh, sold
under sin. I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh"
(Romans 7:14, 18). We are required to admit, having heard Jesus' parable in
today's Gospel, that we are each a mixed field of soil, each of us with
plenty of hardpan, plenty of rock, and more than our share of thorns.
· "When anyone hears the Word of the kingdom and does not understand
it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart.
This is what was sown along the path."
When Jesus speaks about understanding the Word of the kingdom, He is not
speaking about whether or not you are able to grasp and comprehend the plain
meaning of the words that are spoken to you. In this parable, understanding
has also to do with believing the Words of God that are spoken to you,
clinging tenaciously to them, and taking them fully to heart. Jesus speaks
about planting the life-giving seed of God's Word along the hardened pathway
where Satan snatches it away. You might say that this first soil in the
parable has to do with our frequent habit of allowing God's miraculous Word
to go into one ear and right out the other ear again, which is something to
which we can all plead guilty.
· "As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears
the Word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in
himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises
on account of the Word, immediately he falls away."
Forget the intense tribulation or bloodthirsty persecution that was
experienced by the ancient martyrs, by Christians during Soviet Era, or by
countless others throughout the history of the Church. It is amazingly easy
for us simply to pretend that we do not know Jesus at all and that we are
not Christian. (And don't worry-this sort of pretending is just as easy for
pastors as it is for other Christians. Just ask the guy who sat next to me
during my last trip on an airplane. I could have been butcher or baker or
candlestick maker as far has that guy could tell.) The seed that Jesus
plants on rocky ground is the kind of seed that seems very important and
even life-changing on Sunday morning, but generally is forgotten-or worse,
it is hidden from daylight-during the rest of the week. In such cases, it we
have no birds to blame, either. Our own rockiness of soil keeps the seed of
the Word from doing good and salutary work for us.
· "As for what has been sown among thorns, this is the one who hears
the Word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke
the Word, and it proves unfruitful."
Have you ever been worried about your future? Have you ever felt afraid for
your spouse or family? Have you ever felt pretty sure that you were not
going to survive that which you were up against? Maybe there is a thorn or
two also in you soil, as it is in mine.
Honesty requires us to admit, having heard Jesus' parable in
today's
Gospel, that we are each a mixed bag of soil, each with plenty of hardpan,
plenty of rock, and more than our share of thorns. In fact, if St. Paul is
right-if it is indeed true that "nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my
flesh" (Romans 7:18)-maybe we should give up trying to find any good soil
within us at all. What field ever plowed itself? What piece of ground ever
removed its own stones, or sprayed itself for weeds?
Yet this is the amazing miracle of the parable in today's Gospel: Jesus is
not merely the farmer who rigorously and abundantly plans the seed of His
Word into our hearts and minds. Jesus is also the farmer who first prepares
the soil of our hearts and minds so that the seed of His Word may do its
good work in us. Jesus loosens the soil, and Jesus protects His planting
from the theft of the devil. Jesus is the One who clears the stones so that
the seed of His Word may take root deeply within you and He is the One who
faithfully tends to the weeds and thistles that would otherwise choke out
the seed He has planted. Jesus, too, has caused the growth (1 Corinthians
3:6).
· "As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the
Word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a
hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty."
Dear Christian friends, you are good soil because the Lord your God has made
you that way. You are good soil because He has prepared your hearts to
receive the seed of forgiveness and life that He Himself has planted His
life-giving, forgiveness-bestowing Word therein.
Last November, I had the occasion to plant a piece of ground that
had been completely torn up and was soon to face a winter of rain and snow.
Fearing that erosion would destroy all the work I had already done there, I
became totally preoccupied by this piece of ground. I was so earnest to see
something grow on it that I planted a full fifty pounds of wheat seed in an
area that was about half the size of this sanctuary Handful after handful
came out of the bag, and was enthusiastically flung in every direction.
Where seed had already landed, more seed was nevertheless planted. Even
around the edges of the field, the ground received layer upon layer of seed.
The guys at MFA got a good chuckle out of my foolish and overabundant
planting practice. No farmer could ever make a living planting at that rate.
To most people's minds, it is wasteful to throw seed so thickly, especially
in areas where there appears no chance of growth
But that is precisely the point of our Lord's parable in today's Gospel.
Jesus plants the life-giving seed of His miraculous Word even in those
places where it seems to have no chance to grow. The seed of His Word is
cast liberally about because there is no one for whom He has not died; no
one for whom He has not shed His forgiving blood and now your divine Farmer
wants earnestly to see His field produce whatever harvest it will. The
hardpan and the stones and the thorns may indeed remain for you and for me.
There is still plenty of good soil nevertheless, because the Lord Himself
has tilled the ground for us. And even where those rough patches remain of
impossible soil, our generous farmer plants His seed so thickly that it
cannot help but grow for us unto eternal life.
The peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus. Amen.
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