St. Matthew 13:1-13; 18-23
Divine Service
Pentecost 8

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ: 

How does one go about explaining a parable?  I’m sure we all remember the axiom about parables:  they are an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.  No matter how hard we try, the full meaning seems to elude us.  And this parable was subtle enough that Jesus even had to explain it to His disciples!  And with that explanation, we, too, can get a better understanding of the heavenly meaning.

I grew up in the suburbs.  My only experience with planting was a backyard garden where we placed precisely three seeds into the ground very carefully; my grandfather would say that there was one for the bird, one for the worm and one to grow.  I usually had all three come up, and then I had the difficult decision of how to thin the garden!  The idea of broadcasting side was foreign to me.  Occasionally someone in the neighborhood would re-seed their lawn, but that was the limit of my notions of broadcasting seed.  But this lack of understanding of the broadcast method of seeding was never an inhibition to studying the meaning behind the parables of Jesus.

Today’s parable of the Sower and the Seed also deals with precisely three things: The seed, the sower, and the soil.  What do the seed, the sower, and the soil relate to in our lives?  Jesus in our Gospel lesson gives us the answer.  The seed is the Word of God being scattered upon the earth.  The Sower is God, who, through the Word, is expecting to harvest a bountiful crop, yielding an enormous harvest by the standards of the ancient world.  The soil is man – those who hear the Word and thereby have it planted in their hearts. 

Most importantly for this parable, we have the Word of God, the seed in the parable.  God’s own message given to us, precisely as He intended it; written down by the Prophets and the Apostles.  The Bible is not something that we can pick and choose from the parts we want to believe and which to ignore…it is all God’s Word.  And, as we read in the Old Testament lesson it always accomplishes God’s purpose: "It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." ( Isaiah 55:11b)

The Word will accomplish the purpose for which God has sent it; it has nothing to do with our hopes and desires for the working of His word.  And this Word that God has given us is the entire knowledge of Him that He has chosen to reveal to us.  It is sufficient and it is the only basis for our belief.  We need no more instruction in attaining salvation than what has been revealed to us.  We may choose to write books and so forth to further explain it, but the Bible is still the basis for belief.  And, even though it may not seem that way at times, God’s Word is clear – it does not hide the truths we need to know in riddles and puzzles.

Next, we are the soil that receives the seed.  So often, people want to interpret this as man being the sower, casting God’s Word out among those who do not yet believe.  But, that twists the Jesus very words in the reading – His explanation to the Disciples!  We are the soil…we passively hear God’s Word, and it accomplishes His purpose.  But not everyone who hears this Word is good soil.  Jesus talks about three situations where the seed does produce productive faith.

            1^st:        Where the soil is too hard.  Our lesson calls this a path, soil stepped on so often that it is almost brick-like: where the devil can reach in and take that Word before it has time to took root, to bring about faith.  Where understanding is inhibited, for whatever reason.  In these people, faith never begins to crop up, to take hold in the heart of the hearer.  And, the devil is always ready to take this Word away, to prevent proper hearing and understanding of God’s Word. 

            2^nd:       Where the soil is too shallow, where rocks lie just under the surface; where the Word is received with joy and gladness, but does not last.  The roots are too shallow.  Here the parable talks about the one who, ‘when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.  This is the person who gets ridiculed and scoffed at because of his faith.  And many, not just today, but in every age, ridicule those who believe, and it is a great temptation to just “do it their way,” the way society wants to do it, because it is so much easier.  This is the easy path that does not lead to heaven, but is so easy to follow.  Jesus here again warns about following that easy path.

            3^rd:       Where the seed falls among the thorns; where other concerns draw all the attention, making the good seed, God’s Word, unproductive.  This is such a problem in modern society.  We have all of those other things to worry about.  For those working in business, the worries are about the gaining the boss’s favor, getting that next promotion, making the extra dollar; or the farm or the ranch demands that extra time to be just a little more productive.  It seems like these things are demanded of us.  If we aren’t doing that ‘little bit extra,’ we are in danger of not having those good things that we have become accustomed to.  These pull us away from God and His Word.  We focus our lives on the ‘daily routine,’ rather than focusing on the promise of life eternal that we receive through our faith.  This is the danger – that sooner or later we may get so caught up in the thorns of life in this world that our faith gets choked out by these cares.

We mustn’t forget the sower: God Himself; Our gracious, generous God who sows His Seed over the entire world!  The God Who has given this Word so that all men may be saved.  Still, not by force, the force of His will, but through means; by the way of His Word and Sacraments.  He then patiently changes each to whom He has given faith, bringing those who hold firmly to that faith unto Himself; those hearers who are that group soil.  And as any good steward of gifts, God sends most of His Word to those where the soil will be fruitful and produce good crop; God is not wasteful of His Word, but generous.

We all know that, at various times, we have been one of those non-productive soils: hardpan, rock or thorny soil.  Still, God has tended us patiently, changing us, and continuing to change us, into good soil.  The thorns and rocks of our lives still show up, and must be dealt with.  As we tenaciously hang onto the faith that has been given us, God will help us to un-cover and remove the rocks from the soil; He will kill off the thorns and allow us to grow in faith.

God is always right there helping us to hold onto the faith that He, the sower of the Word, has given.  He knew from the beginning of our inability to overcome our sinful nature without His help. That is why Jesus Christ came to earth: to be our salvation.  As we cling to our faith in His atoning death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead, we can, with God’s help, recognize and avoid the rocks and thorns in personal fields, and continue to grow in our faith.  And through this faith we have the certain hope, the knowledge, of our eternal salvation.  That is the harvest that God is preparing, the reason that he is sowing the seed.  Not for any earthly benefit for man, but for man’s eternal salvation.  This final harvest will not be to just keep us in the faith, but in that harvest will be in the eternal presence of our just and loving God.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen.

+ SDG +

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