We may wonder at the method of the sower in the parable that Jesus told in the Gospel lesson this morning. “Why does the sower scatter seed where he does?” Doesn’t he know that there are some places where the seed surely won’t grow? However, the point that Jesus is making in the parable is not about the method of sowing. When explaining it to the disciples later he does not talk about the sower at all, nor does He discuss why the seed was sown where it was.
Instead Jesus turns the attention of the disciples to the “why” the seed doesn’t grow. As the seed represents the Word of God, Jesus explains why the Word of God does not always produce faith. Why some who had faith, fall away and whatever faith they had shrivels and dies. Also, why some people come to faith and remain in it.
Explanation:
The seed is the word of God. 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. 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. 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. 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.
Faith and belief are the result of that Word of God germinating and sprouting. How is the Word of God sown and planted? Jesus says it Himself: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear”. Faith comes by hearing, and that by the Word of God as St. Paul writes in Romans 10. He also wrote: “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
Jesus was sowing the Word of God among the crowds, sowing it to the disciples, and as they were being prepared to take the mantles of preachers and teachers in the Church, it was important for the disciples to know that not everyone will receive this Word and preaching with joy and thanksgiving: not everyone will remain in the Church.
This is a difficult truth. It is difficult for me as a pastor who preaches this Word, to see and know that not everyone who hears this word is listening, not everyone who is in a Divine Service is necessarily a believer. That try as I might, there are some who remain on the church rolls who have been absent in body from our fellowship and will never return to fellowship and their faith continues to wither and may already be dead. This is not just the pain of the pastor, but also for all of you who also can and do sow the seed of God’s Word as you witness to people in your families, communities, and vocations. Ultimately, Jesus is the sower. Secondly, his apostles and ministers, thirdly those who also bear the harvest in their hearts and minds, actions and words.
That is why we do not give up. We do not stop witnessing, telling, and proclaiming the Truth of Jesus Christ in both Law and Gospel. We cannot tell nor can we see the work of the Holy Spirit working through that Word. The Word does bring life. It does not return to the Lord void. The seed may not spring forth to life and faith in a person’s ear immediately, but we sow the seed praying that God would use that Word to prepare the soil, and grant the growth when and where He wills despite all the obstacles to faith.
As we heard, the obstacles to the Word of God being planted home are many. There are even distractions and choking hazards after the seed has been received and has begun to grow.
The real problem is the ground itself. The ground is mankind. In fact, the name Adam in the Hebrew literally means “the earth”, “the ground”, or “soil”. For God made Adam from the dust of the ground and breathed in Adam the breath of life. In this way, humanity is all like Adam. “We are dust and to dust we shall return” as we will soon be reminded on Ash Wednesday. We all must return to the earth when we die.
Why must we die, even as the plants die? Because of our sin which we have inherited. But also because of our own performed and active sin, our own hardness of hearts, we resist the Holy Spirit. We resist the Word of God. We repel the Word of God, with our well trampled excuses. “That’s old fashioned. Society has changed. It feels good. I am my own person”… and so many others. So, when we sin, we have forgotten the Word of God as though it never penetrated us and it were trampled or stolen away. How often do we allow the weeds and distractions of the world to plant their roots into our hearts, making anything and everything a priority over coming to hear God’s Word? Over studying it and talking about it?
Let us all be aware that each sin, each god that we follow and worship that is not the True God, can and will lead us astray. Left unattended it will strangle, dry out, devour, and kill faith. At some point when we talk to inactive members, perhaps it would be good to ask them if they even care whether or not their faith is dying? Where is the growth? Where is the fruit? But let us who are here consider the same questions: Where is the fruit? Where is the growth and the life of faith? Do I believe what I just confessed in confession: that I am a sinner in need of forgiveness? Do we examine ourselves and allow God’s Word to weed out all that is distracting and that is not of faith? It hurts to admit our sin, our weakness, our unbelief. Lord have mercy!
But that is why Jesus came: to have mercy. He is the Word of God. The seed of the Father who implanted Himself and joined Himself to His own earthen creation in the flesh. The same flesh as the sons and daughters of Adam. He kept all of His Father’s Law, so that He would be a perfect substitute for the sins of the world in His own death upon the cross and burial into the ground. This was necessary because “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit”. Jesus is the first fruit of our life, our hope, our resurrection. His death and resurrection forgives our sins and makes it possible for you and me to be saved; to have the Word of God planted into our hearts and minds. By His death, death is undone, by His obedience, disobedience is forgiven as the transgressions of the world were placed upon Him as He was crucified. So you, likewise are forgiven and by faith in Him you are saved from eternal punishment.
Jesus Christ has worked faith into you as He has been planted in you through your ears in the Words of Baptism and preaching. He has watered you so that faith may come to life growing and flourishing in joy, faith, and good works, rooted in Jesus Christ. It is His body and blood which is planted in your mouths in the receiving of this consecrated bread and wine. It is He who plants you in the faith and hope of His forgiveness.
So feed your ears and that faith. Be nourished by His Word. Here and at home. Read out loud the Bible, look at and sing songs from our hymnal. Confess the faith you have been given to express from the creeds, but also in your own Words, sowing Jesus Christ to all whom God sends along our way.
By continuing to return to the cross, here to the place of forgiveness, here where He quenches you His little plants with the rainfall of living water in Word and Sacrament, your Lord and Savior will continue to keep you in that faith and protect you from your enemies. He will continue to give you His Holy Spirit to weed out your sins and remove their strangle hold in the confession of your sins and the receiving His forgiveness. He gives you ears to hear His Word and by His body and blood, He enables you to grow up into His fullness and bear His good fruit: Fruit of repentance, of love for your neighbor, of joy for this life and the life to come.
God bless and keep us and all believers till the day when Jesus will call our bodies forth and gather the harvest to Himself rejoicing in hearing and listening to His voice to live with Him forever.
Amen.
Pr. Aaron Kangas