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Sermon for Sexagesima
Isaiah 55:10-13 + 2 Corinthians 11:19-12:9 + Luke 8:4-15
The parable of the sower and the seed is one of Jesus’ best-known parables. And it’s really pretty easy to understand, because it’s one of those parables that Jesus actually goes on to explain. We don’t have to guess the meaning of the seed, or of the four kinds of soils on which it falls. Jesus explains all that. He explains it to His disciples who ask Him what it means, not to everyone. To the crowds who gathered around, He spoke the parable without an explanation. I wonder why they didn’t press Jesus to explain it to them. But then, that’s kind of what the parable is about, isn’t it? The Word of God doesn’t always fall on good soil.
The seed is the Word of God, Jesus says. What is that word? Is it just a matter of picking a phrase or a sentence or a paragraph from somewhere in the Bible? Is that what it means to sow God’s Word? Seth lived one hundred and five years, and begot Enosh. After he begot Enosh, Seth lived eight hundred and seven years, and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years; and he died. There. That was from Genesis 5. Is that God’s Word? Yes. It is true? Yes. But have I sown God’s Word by reading those verses? Is that the Word that germinates and grows and bears fruit? No, there’s more to it than that.
What about the Commandments? You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. Are the Commandments God’s Word? Yes. Should they be learned by heart and studied and obeyed? Yes. But have I sown God’s Word by reciting those Commandments? No, there’s more to it than that.
The Word of God that is sown and that germinates in the hearts of men is specifically the Gospel, the message from God that all are sinners, but that God loved the sinful world and sent His Son to save our fallen race, who died and rose and made reconciliation between us and God, so that all who believe in Him are justified and saved from sin, death, and damnation. That Gospel is the Word that is sown. It can be sown in fewer words than that; it can be sown in more words than that and with different points of emphasis. It is sown together with all the teaching of the Holy Scriptures. But it’s this Gospel of God’s promised mercy in Christ that is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.
But not everyone believes. And some believe only for a while, and then fall away again. Today Jesus tells us ‘why,’ at least, as much as we need to know of the ‘why.’ And the first thing you should notice is that all four kinds of soil are those who “hear the Word.” All four groups are disciples of Jesus. We’re not talking here about atheists and Muslims and the rest of the non-Christian world. We’re talking about people who go to church, who hear the Word, who even use the Sacraments. The same Word is heard by all, it’s meant for all, it’s powerful for all, but not all receive it the same.
Some receive it like the seed that fell by the wayside. It was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. Jesus says these are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
Disciples, hearers of the Word, and yet they don’t believe it. Oh, they may believe that some of it is true. They may read their Bibles and nod their heads in agreement. But they keep missing the point, the point that all of Scripture points to Christ, to accuse us of sin, to humble us in our pride and to comfort the humbled with the free grace of God given to us in Christ. So they don’t repent of their sins. They don’t rely on Christ alone for forgiveness. They are not saved.
These are hearers who twist God’s Word to make it say what they want it to say, what their itching ears want to hear, as Paul says to Timothy: For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. These are the hearers who flock to false teachers, who make their own beliefs the determining factor in all things, rather than cling to God’s Word for truth. These are the ones who come to church for superficial reasons, and they also leave for superficial reasons. They become attached to things, people, institutions. God’s Word, for them, is never the determining factor.
Others receive the Word like the seed that fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. Jesus says these are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away.
The first kind of hearer doesn’t believe the Word, doesn’t have faith. This second kind of hearer does believe the Word and does have faith at first. They have the pure doctrine of Christ and they rejoice in it at first. They take God’s Word seriously. They may even become pastors. They’re excited about the Gospel. But then they begin to realize that the Christian life comes with a cross, with temptation and persecution and daily self-denial. They feel the heat of persecution. Times get tough. And finally, when it comes down to a decision of whether to confess Christ and suffer for it, or keep their confession quiet in order to keep the peace, they choose keeping the peace over Christ. And they wither up and die. Jesus says in another place, For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory.
Others receive the Word like the seed that fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. Jesus says these are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.
The second kind of hearer falls away when things are going badly. This third kind of hearer falls away when things are going well. There’s plenty of soil, plenty of water, plenty of sunlight. The trials they face in life are minimal. But the thorns spring up around them, together with them. They begin to imagine that they can hear the Word of Christ on Sunday, and then simply go and pursue their own goals during the week. There are earthly concerns they have to take care of. There is pleasure to be had. There is money to be earned. And rather than let God’s Word be the determining factor in how they live their life, they do as they want, they do as they please. They indulge their flesh, and they do not repent of it. As Luther puts it: To these belong those who hear the Word but do not bring under subjection their flesh. They know their duty but do it not, they teach but do not practice what they teach, and are this year as they were last.
Finally, some receive the Word like the seed that fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold. These, Jesus says, are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.
These hearers are surrounded by thorns, rocks, and the heat of the day. The birds would gladly snatch up this seed like the seed that fell by the wayside. But here in the good soil, the seed perseveres, sends down roots, finds water, sustains the heat of the day and the threat of the thorns. Here the seed grows and matures and produces an abundant crop of good fruit. How? They hear the Word. They keep the Word. They treasure it in their hearts. They order their entire life around God’s Word, so that it and it alone determines their going out and their coming in.
All of this is to say, that Christ is their all in all. Because the Word of God and Christ cannot be separated. You can’t disbelieve God’s Word but believe in Christ. Likewise, you can’t believe in Christ and ignore God’s Word. Where there is one, there is the other.
Jesus tells us this parable for our instruction. He wants us to understand that, although His Word is proclaimed far and wide, many of its hearers, even the majority, do not hear it with a noble and good heart. That serves as a warning for us, that we should listen carefully to God’s Word and believe it, watch out for false doctrine, face the cross with courage and beware the temptations of this life, so that nothing can draw us away from God’s Word and from Christ. This parable is a call to repentance to those who are resisting God’s saving Word.
This parable also serves to comfort us, because when you hear the Word of Christ and receive the Sacraments of Christ, there is the seed of life being sown in your heart. And as God said through the prophet Isaiah, 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. Know for certain that God wants all who hear His Word to be saved. Know for certain that God sent His Son for all, and that Christ died for all. Do you sorrow over your sins? Then be comforted by this Word of Christ. It’s doing in you exactly what God intends—to bring you to repentance and to faith in Jesus, faith that is not your work, but God’s work in you, God’s work, sown in your heart as His Word is preached, sown in your heart as His Word is also attached to bread and wine. The life-giving seed of God’s Word is not beyond your reach. As Paul says to the Romans, “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” Amen.
