Preached on January 31, 2016
St. Luke 8:4–15
In the name of the Father and of the + Son
and of the Holy Spirit – Amen
On the Mount of Transfiguration, the Father
said, “This is My beloved Son. Listen to Him.” And once again we are gathered
to listen to Jesus. Once again He tells a parable. And once again, the thing we
should notice in the parable is how God is NOT like us. What kind of farmer
throws his seed on the blacktop? Who would let it fall on rocky ground or toss
it into a thicket of weeds and thorns? And yet Jesus’ sower sows His seed
anywhere. What does this mean? “He who
has ears to hear, let him hear.” Listen to Him. The ear that you need is
faith. And faith comes by hearing the Word of God. Last week’s parable was
about Grace Alone. This week’s parable is about the Word of God Alone.
The parable of the sower is a
unique one. It’s one of the few parables where Jesus actually gives the
meaning. Jesus interprets the parable for His disciples, and for you. He gives
the meaning to those with “ears to hear.”
Those are His disciples. Those are the ones with faith. And that includes you
too. “To you it has been given to know
the secrets of the kingdom of God.” You – the believing ones, the hearing
ones, the disciples of Jesus – you get the meaning. For those who do not
believe, the kingdom of God stays a secret. It stays hidden. Unbelievers, or we
could call them “un-hearers,” they strive to understand what Jesus is saying
but they always end up with the wrong conclusion. They think they are like God
and so they get the parable wrong. They think there is something for them to do.
Unbelievers think they need to contribute something to their salvation. They
are too important, too good, to just sit back and let God do the work. That
would mean that they are powerless. That there’s nothing they can do. And they
don’t like that.
Those who cannot understand the
meaning of the parable are focused on what they’re doing: “I’m a good person. I
have morals. I’m a member of a church. I’m an American. I serve in the
community…” The list can go on and on. But when they are focused on themselves,
they are not looking for God in the parable, they are looking for themselves. What
is this parable telling me I need to do? And here’s the interpretation they
come up with: I’m the soil. But which soil? The path, the dry soil, the thorny
soil, or the good soil? Which soil are you? Better examine your life, see what
you’re doing wrong, and fix it. Because if you’re not the good soil, then
you’ve got work to do: There’s plowing to be done. Rocks to be removed. We need
irrigation and weed-killer. Don’t forget to scare the birds away. Make yourself
into the good soil and then you will bear fruit.
Do you see where that
interpretation goes wrong? It’s all about you! As if God is just sitting there,
waiting for you to prepare yourself. Waiting for you to make yourself good. And
yet, no matter how good the soil is, it still needs the seed. The soil is not
the point of the parable. The seed is the point. “A sower went out to sow his seed.” Who is doing the action? The
sower! And the seed! – the seed is working too. In each case the seed grows
despite the soil. It is good seed and it always works. In certain soils it does
not bear fruit, but the point of the parable is still what the seed is doing. The
soil does nothing. It can do nothing. The soil is passive – it lies there, like
soil does. God the sower is the active one and He is active with His Word.
“The
seed is the Word of God.” The
sower is Jesus Himself, spreading His Word everywhere and anywhere. He is not stingy or careful. He is reckless in His grace, what we
might even call wasteful. He sows His Word on bad and good alike. That is the generosity of Christ: Love for
sinners who could never be worthy of Him.
Furthermore, it’s not up to us to make sure that Jesus’ Word succeeds. He isn’t relying on us to get the job
done, to save souls, to make sure that the Word of God works. He is God and it is His Word and it
will work as He wants it to. The Lord
said to Isaiah: “For as the rain and snow
come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it
bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so
shall my Word be that goes out from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing
for which I sent it.” The Word works.
And in hearing the Word, God gives us faith, and faith bears fruit.
Now be sure of this: without the
seed of the Word, there is nothing. If our faith is based on anything other
than the Word of God then our faith is wrong and empty. The Word of God alone
tells us of our Savior, the crucified and risen God in whom we believe and by
whom we are saved. If our faith is not nourished by the Word and sacraments, it
will wither and die. The Word can be snatched away if we ignore it. Faith can
grow weak and doubt God, when it is not fed by the sacraments. The Word of the
Gospel and the Lord’s Supper is food that strengthens the Christian and makes him
grow. And our faith can also get choked with all the other things in this
world. The Word of God can get pushed aside by the thorns and weeds. I’ll admit
it, there are a hundred other things you could be doing right now this morning,
and they’re all probably more fun than coming to church. But what happens when
we let the Word get snatched away or crowded out by everything that we like
more? We die.
This parable is full of
warnings, and they are true. Very true. You can lose the Word of God. Your
faith can die. He who has ears to hear,
let him hear! But the warnings don’t save you. Working on your soil does
not save you. You cannot make yourself good soil. It is the Word of God that
makes you good. He declares to you what is true of Jesus: you are holy and
righteous, perfect and forgiven. You did nothing to deserve this. And yet He
throws His seed out into the sinful thorns anyway. All for you. God’s Word will
accomplish what He wants it to. It will perform miracles. God’s Word can
transform bad soil into good. Listen to Him.
If your life is full of thorns
and briars, and you are choked by the cares or pleasures of this world, listen
to Jesus. His Word is true bread that gives better and longer-lasting life than
anything you could work for or worry about on this earth. His Word gives
greater joy and gladness than any of the sinful pleasures we so quickly turn
to. If your life is full of stones and you’re parched, running into one
obstacle after another, listen to Jesus. His Word is living water that cleanses
and renews the soul. If you’re surrounded by demonic birds that try to snatch
away your certainty of salvation and peace, listen to Jesus. His Word cannot be
shaken or made untrue. As long as God is true, His Word is true, and He speaks
it for you.
He
who has ears to hear, let him hear.
He who believes, receive what Jesus has to give. He transforms bad soil into
good. He declares sinners to be saints. His Word is powerful. It gives you what
you need: forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. The Word of God gives you
Jesus Himself. It plants Him in you, and makes your heart a rich and fertile
soil, where the Word grows, and faith grows, and produces fruit, a hundredfold.
The Word is God’s great gift to us. Through His Word He speaks, comforts,
forgives, and loves us. Hear it. Hold it. That is where our faith comes from. The
Word of God Alone! Jesus has done it all. By His cross He paid the price for
our sins. By His Word He forgives you all your sins. The Lord speaks. He does
the work. He sows the seed. Listen to Him.
Stay
with us, Lord, and keep us true;
Preserve
our faith our whole life through –
Your
Word Alone is our heart’s defense,
The
Church’s glorious confidence. (LSB 585:6)
In the Holy + Name of Jesus – Amen
