Roots are very important. When we are weeding, we say: make sure you get those weeds out by the roots or… what is going to happen? Yeah, the weeds will grow right back. For the plants that we want to keep and nurture, we want them to have good roots. We prepare the soil “just so”, we plant the seed, we do everything to nurture the root of the plant as best we can. Why? Because we know that the plant, whether it is in the garden, the field, or if it is a tree, the better the soil, the more healthy the root, the stronger the stem, the more sturdy the growth, the more likely that plant, crop, or tree will survive until maturity and harvest despite all the enemies that seem to not want the plant to survive.

Some of these enemies are mentioned in the Gospel text: compacted soil, rocks, thorns, various weeds, another text mentions birds, but there are other enemies to the young plant which could be included in the parable: disease, insects, drought, flood, wind, and so on. There are so many things that could go wrong, and do go wrong when it comes to growing crops and there is only so much you can do to protect them, that you ultimately have to just trust. Yet, you do everything that you can in the meantime. Don’t you?

A good farmer and gardener plants in a place appropriate for the crop, tills and breaks up the soil, fertilizes that soil, irrigates if they can and as necessary. A farmer might spray, might weed around the roots, clip off dead or diseased parts of the plant, and so on. It is truly a time and effort intensive enterprise but it is all to promote the root growth downward as the plant grows outward and upward in the hope that in time it will bear its fruit and seed in due season.

We, in the Church, recognize the application of this parable to our lives as Christians. Jesus explains it for us just in case we didn’t understand. The seed is the Word of God. The sowing of this Word is the preaching of God’s Word and we would say, the application of Holy Baptism for those who are baptized as infants and babies. This planting of God’s Word into the hearts and minds of people is the sowing of the seed.

Yet not all the seeds grow to maturity. People will hear but not listen. They will bring their children to be baptized or they will come to church for a while but then, for various reasons, they don’t return. They essentially rejected that seed of God’s Word. They didn’t nurture it to bring forth a root. By closing their hearts, they essentially stomped upon God’s Word saying “it is unnecessary or inconvenient.” Maybe they had only attended out of curiosity. Maybe they baptized their child to temporarily please a family member or friend. They attended church but had closed their ears and hearts to it while they attended. So, the roots never grew because the seed was not allowed to penetrate the soil of their hard hearts.

Then there are those who seemed to have had the seed of God’s Word planted home: who had the root of faith in God through Jesus Christ growing but then something happens: they meet a boy or girl who leads them astray. They go to college and worldly friends influence them. They go into the workplace and the world and its various temptations and worldly cares choke their faith as weeds crowd out the plant. They have so much work that they are “too tired” on Sunday or at the end of the day to tend to the roots of faith, therefore, the roots of the weeds are allowed to grow and dig deep around the root of faith, and squeeze it to death. Yet, we still maintain hope as we speak His Word and pray that the Holy Spirit would revive that faith through the seed of the Word.

But the Devil will not let up. In addition to those already mentioned attacks used by the devil, there are also the sudden great storms, winds, floods, and droughts, that arise in this fallen world. What are those? Things that attack our bodies and our state of mind through material means as though to damage and kill the living faith. These are threats and hardships that come upon us unexpectedly. They destroy the things of this life near and dear to us and can make us doubt God’s love. Events and tragedies like floods, house fires, accidents, job loss, cancers, illnesses of various kinds, wars, threats of wars, political unrest, any tragedy small or large can threaten to blow over you, to blow you over, and try to break you and snap you off from the root implanted in you in Jesus Christ. Who knows when they will come and how strong we will be when they arise?

These are the times when the strength of the roots and the plant of faith are tested. How mature and balanced is its growth? When the storms and winds rise, will that plant of faith hold steady by its roots, but be green enough to bend with the wind until the storm ends and once again stand tall? We must remember in those times in whom that faith is rooted and that He is stronger than anything that may happen.

The church has always recognized the reality of these threats, just as famers, gardeners, and others understand when it comes to plants. God has also recognized this for you and me. He knew that we would be lost eternally and be only as wild weeds destined for the fire because of our sin without His aid. He also knows how weak we are against such forces without His help. That is why He sent Jesus Christ to redeem us from our sin and plant us in Himself, who is crucified and raised for our transgressions. That is why He has established the Church itself, so that each individual plant: planted in Him can be protected, strengthened, and nourished in Jesus Christ. So that seedlings and the roots of each Christian can be tended and strengthened as they live and mature in Christ and for Him unto eternal life. That is why He established the office of the Holy Ministry: to water, to exhort, and to end the plantings of faith in His people by God’s Word and Sacrament.

To strengthen those plants of faith to withstand the temptations and storms and other enemies in this life, the Church has always emphasized lifelong education in God’s Word. It starts with baptism in the church but is reinforced in the home. Bible Study, devotions, and the singing of good hymns and psalms. Then joining with other believers to receive at church the sunshine, water, and nutrients of God’s preached Word and Sacrament.

In this way, by consistent exposure to the Truth of Scripture, by repenting of sin, by being refreshed in Christ’s Absolution, and Christ’s body and blood you may become mature in the faith to withstand any assaults of the devil, the world, and the flesh by God’s power. Because God has given you good roots. Mature and healthy roots; rooted deeply in Jesus Christ to become immovable to the plots of the Devil, the world, and flesh which would try to destroy the living plant of your faith. Therefore, continually feed your faith and be made strong now, by coming to where He feeds you through the means that He has given.

Know that when you feel the temptations of the flesh and the world beginning to choke you, you must repent before they take hold and destroy. Then receive the waters that come from the Lord to refresh and renew you in remembrance that Jesus Christ died on the cross for you and your sins. He will strengthen you against temptation and the threats that may come. The Lord says this to you from the Old Testament.

“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and does not return there, But waters the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”
What is the thing which shall prosper because He sent it? Your faith and your salvation.

Jesus Christ is the Word of God. He is the original and ultimate seed which died upon the cross to give you life, by His death. In John 12, Jesus said just hours before His death: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
Christ died to give you life with Him. That is the fruit that comes from Jesus Christ and His victorious death and resurrection. Faith, life, and hope.

So be watered, be nurtured in this Word which is Christ your life. Take care to receive from Him who is more mighty than death; than the devil; than the cares and worries of this life. Living rooted in Him, nothing can separate you from the love of Christ. Not Tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword. Neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation. None of it will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. You will be kept rooted in His strength, and when the storm has passed, in Jesus Christ: you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace. Amen.