A mostly unedited transcript of the sermon follows:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text this morning is from the Gospel according to St. Mattthew, the 13th chapter:
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.”
“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 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 was 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.”
Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
If you notice throughout our readings today, we kind of had, at least with the Old Testament, this idea that even the world will rejoice in your faith, that the when the word goes out,, what does it say, that the mountains and hills before you shall break forth into singing and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
What a beautiful picture it is that, as the word of God is spread throughout the world, the earth itself hears it and rejoices in it for, indeed, it is over the world that the Word was cast and certain things came to fruition in creation, that the trees and the vegetation grew up, the beasts of the field came up out of the earth, that the birds of the air and the fish of the sea came forth and, certainly, out of the earth, man was formed by the hand of Jesus Christ himself. The earth hears the word of God and reacts well to it. We even hear Jesus when he's denounced by the Pharisees to quiet down the crowds, He says if they were to be silent, even these rocks would cry out. And why would that be? Because the word of God had been spoken over them. Because for many, many many years the people of God went into Jerusalem over these rocks singing song and and hymns and spiritual songs in order that they may be prepared to worship. And even the Earth then hears the Word of God and rejoices.
Yet it is not always so for mankind. It is not always so when the word of God goes out into people's ears that they hear the word of God and give thanks for it. Many times they do, but most times, I would even argue, they do not. We're looking at the parable of the sower and we're trying to figure out where do people sit. I would say the majority of the world sits in the first place, right, where the word of God goes out and immediately it dies. Why? Because the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. So notice that the Word of God goes into the heart of one who will not believe and works to take root. The Word of God goes into their heart and works to bring the Holy Spirit to them that they could believe. And yet they wouldn’t. They reject their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. They turn away from him and turn toward of the wicked one who would destroy them not only in this place, but also in hell with him.
What a sad situation it is and yet think of this: that the word of God would go into their hearts. Our God is so good and gracious that, even to those who He knows will turn away, He works in them to bring them to repentance and the gift of faith. What a wonderful blessing that is that we know that our God is so lavish in his care for all of the world that he puts his word even into unbelievers hearts and, though they would turn away from him, well, it doesn't mean that God is bad. It means that people are. God is in fact good and righteous and holy he does that he shows that in his love and care for all creation, not just the Earth that he formed out of nothingness, but in the man that he formed out of the earth. What an amazing God we have in this.
There are other kinds of people, though, who hear the word of God and rejoice in it. They though are the rocky ground, the one who hears that word, rejoices in that word and yet there's not much there. They go about their way and as the world comes at them, as the day grows longer, as the sun shines down on them more, they burn up. They burn up.
There are some who are in thorny areas convinced that the things of this world are more important than the things of the world to come and so they get enticed by that. They hear the word of God, they rejoice in it also, they spring up but if you've ever planted seed near crab grass or dandelions, you know that seed you put down get choked out near a hundred percent of the time. There’s no way to grow grass seed when the thorns and the thistles of this world are trying to choke it out. And so it is with people who are so consumed with this world and the word of God is sown in them. It does not last long.
But then there are those who are good soil who hear the word of God and understand it. I don't think that the the whole thing, the whole idea is there for us to say that we hear the word of God and immediately understand all things or even all things regarding that word of God. For indeed, for many of you, you have been studying the scriptures from many years. And if you can say that you understand the word of God and its completeness, well, then I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn.
I study the word of God, as well. I consistently find new things in it and even things that are taken from the word of God like our Luther’s Small Catechism. I continue to study that and constantly find new things of God in that. Our word of God is so complete and and inexhaustive that if you were to even try to reach the end of it, well, you never would even approach the beginning really. It’s an amazing thing. It's almost as if the word of God is something that stretches off before you and as it stretches and stretches, no matter how many steps you take, you’re still pretty much where you were.
The word of God is good and great and it takes root in people like you, people who desire to believe God and keep his word and you're trying to understand. I think that's the idea that's here, that we work to understand God's word. And more so, I think Jesus even gives us a clue as to what that understanding may be, which is to listen to him. For indeed, you know this passage and if you know the rest of the chapter, these nine verses or so that we skipped over in our reading, here Jesus teaches and the disciples are coming to Jesus after the crowds leave and they say would you please tell us what you meant? And so Jesus does, And you today are then receiving Jesus’ understanding of his own parable. You understand this parable because you have heard the word of God. It's kind of a weird circular reasoning thing, but it's true. The word of God is planted in you, not only in the parable, but in the explanation and, to understand the parable, Jesus gives you the explanation. And so now you do understand.
This is how you know that you are of the good soil, for you have sought this out and you have found Jesus here teaching, loving, caring for you in all things. And in this soil that you sit in, which is really your faith that's been granted to you, we rejoice.
Now, what did you do to make yourself good soil? Anything? No, but it is where God, who lavishly spreads the seed of his word throughout the world, the good soil is also a place where the word lands. You have not made yourself into the good soil; you find yourself to be this soil. In fact it is that planting things can often make soil good. It's not the soil that makes itself good. But all that's brought out from it.
Now, last week we had a hard rain up where I live. And as it really began to rain, we've had a couple of days of heat and humidity, and as I made my way into the garage, which is my usual practice at night and I let the dog out to do her business and I bring her back into the garage with me and I look over into one of our mulch beds and it looks like she has vomited.
Now you might say, pastor, this is a little gross. Why you're bringing this up? Well, in reality when I woke up the next morning and looked at that same patch in the mulch, it wasn't just that flat stuff that she normally puts out but it had grown into a bulbous thing. It's actually a growth on the ground. It's called dog vomit fungus. Now that sounds really gross. I know and I'm bringing this to you for a very specific purpose, which is that fungus, that mold, grows in hot and humid places and it grows up and it gets wet and it gets big and it expands and its main job is really just to live and then die and spread itself everywhere because as it dries up and crumbles, the wind takes it away and spreads it to grow more.
And then you find it in other places, other than just mulch. When it forms in the grass, the grass underneath it will be nice and green the rest of the summer because that mold, in its short life and death, has actually fertilized the grass. Imagine this then, that the stuff of this life, that the the vomitus of this life, the difficulties we face, the hardships we go through, the challenges that are in front of us, these things are like that mold that grows there, and they wither away and go out into the week and what's left is good soil.
You see, God even sends these things to you to bring out the goodness of your soil. These things are challenging, they’re hard and I can tell you I don't know of any other time where I can say I have worked as hard as I have been through this pandemic. I’m not tooting my own horn, but I'm telling you this has been a challenge these last four months. It's been hard and a challenge and a difficulty and struggle and even burden on occasion.
And yet think of how this pandemic, or think of how all the other things that are out there in the world, or think of all the things that are in your life, think of how these things God has sent to you not to harm you but he sends them to you because he loves you. Think of how they challenge you and struggle against you and with you and all of a sudden they seem to almost resolve and what's left is you who now looks to their Jesus, your Jesus. You now hold onto Him and even from their more good soil grows and gives life to other things. It's like this word of God is planted in you and when the difficulties come you grab onto it even more and you hold fast to it until it's all over and finally when you open your eyes again, there stands before you the most beautiful flower you've ever seen. This is the word of God in you, giving rise to your faith in Jesus Christ, a faith which grasps onto all good things.
Now, remember you can't make yourself good soil, and I certainly wouldn't say that anybody should go out seeking difficulties or struggles. That's not it at all. But that you can look at yourself and say I am good soil, the word of God has been placed in me and my baptism and it grows in me all the time as I meditate upon it and it certainly is strengthened within me as I come and receive the gifts of God where he has promised to be found, in his church. You are the good soil. You don't have to worry about this. If you're holding on to this word, you are the good soil. The sun will not harm you nor any scorching heat. The devil will come and try to snatch it away, but he can’t.
Certainly as the concerns of this world burden you down, you’re good soil. You'll overcome those things. God is tilling you, he’s tending you, he’s sending you this stuff that looks hard because he loves you. And he's taking care of you.
And as you are good soil then, the harvest that you give out is in some cases a hundred fold, and some cases 60, and some cases 30, and I would say even in some cases one? As you grow in that good soil, my goodness, what a wonderful thing it is to see what a legacy you leave behind. You may never even know what kind of harvest you're putting out into the world.
I saw the other day a meme that said, this is what Christianity is: imagining those Christians whom Paul killed, you know Saul before his conversion, imagine them rejoicing as he entered into heaven with them. That's Christianity. They had no idea that their blood being spilled out in the ground would give rise to the greatest Christian theologian and pastor of all time. And yet, look at him, we’re still speaking about Paul 2000 years later and more than that, his words have been canonized in our Holy Scripture and they are the word of God himself.
This is Faith. Faith gives rise to so many good things around you not always for you, but always from you, not because you've made yourself good, not because you can save yourself in any way, but because God has saved you in his grace and in his mercy and he has brought to you everlasting life through his word. May we all grasp onto that word and so desire to see the fruit come out of us in so many ways, even if we never know what they are and know that whatever it is our God is good and gracious to do it, in us and through us. May His Word bring up a harvest of souls around us, but especially the harvest of ourselves, as we spring up into eternal life through death and resurrection of Jesus placed in us by His Word. In Jesus name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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