Sower and Seed
St. Luke 8:4-15
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
St. Luke 8: 4-5a: And when a great multitude had gathered, and others had come to Him from every city, He spoke by a parable: “A sower went out to sow his seed…”
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ our Lord… Last week had I not gotten sick, we would have heard a parable in which our Lord does things in a way that is completely unlike the way things really work in this world. Well, today isn’t exactly a do-over, but we do we have another parable with a similar theme: the Parable of the Sower. And one of the first questions one might ask after reading and hearing this parable is, Does anybody farm like this? What kind of a farmer throws the seed all over the place: on the path, in the weeds, in the shallow dirt, on the good soil?
Seriously, does anyone plant their garden this way? Do farmers waste their seed like this? It’s hard enough to keep the deer from eating what you plant neatly in rows in the garden. Why would someone just throw seed around like it’s, well, limitless?
But that is exactly how the Lord does things in His kingdom. He sows the seed that way. He sends the preaching of His Word to the ends of the earth. Jesus died for all people, past, present, and future. The preaching of this Good News is for all people. You never have to be stingy with the Gospel. There’s enough Jesus to go around to everyone everywhere. There are no limits or rations on God’s Word; His Word endures forever. There are no restrictions on how much we can hear it, and there are no restrictions on how often it may be preached and heard.
So, once again, we see that the way the Lord does things is not the way we would do them. The thinking in many churches today is still to have mission programs and movements, and people think that there must be some trick to “getting people to church.” But the Lord just sows His seed. He scatters lots of it everywhere. That is how He does it in His kingdom.
Jesus tells His disciples, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God.” So, it is a GIFT that Jesus reveals to them what the kingdom of God is all about. And what is the key to understanding the parable? What is the key to the mystery of the kingdom of God? The key is… wait for it… Jesus! He is the key to understanding the parable. How does He unlock this parable? He tells us: the seed is the Word of God. We know that Jesus is the Word of God. So, what this parable is all about, therefore, is the preaching of Jesus.
Jesus, who was Himself planted in the ground in His death for our sins, is planted in those who hear Him by the Holy Spirit. If Jesus is not the key to the parable, then the parable goes in all kinds of whacky directions. Without Jesus as the key to understanding the parable it will become about us and how we must somehow “prepare our soil” to receive the Word, or how we must, by our own willpower and strength make ourselves into “good soil” that bears much fruit.
No! Christ and His Word are the seed. The Lord richly gives His Word and delivers Christ to us. In this way we are rescued from having to worry about making the seed work by ourselves. Instead, we simply believe and confess that the Word has the power to do its thing, just like Isaiah said in today’s Old Testament reading: “My word [goes forth] and accomplishes what I send it to accomplish. It does not return to me empty.” Here, we have not only the Good News that the Gospel is preached to all people, but that the Gospel itself has the power to rescue us from sin and death.
So why don’t more people believe? Why aren’t churches aren’t filled? With this good news about Jesus and the forgiveness of sins, how come the churches that rightly preach God’s Word and rightly administer His sacraments aren’t bursting at the seams with people who want to hear it and receive it?
Again, our Lord gives us the answer. The devil, the world and the flesh overcome those who have heard His Word, and they fall away. For some who hear God’s word, the devil comes and snatches it away. Whether this happens by questioning the Word or finally just causing people to lose interest in it, the Devil has snatched it away from those who hear it. They receive it with joy at first, but then, before you know it, it has been grabbed from them and it is no longer the center of their life.
Others are afflicted by the flesh. Temptations come along: temptations to doubt or despair, and these slowly squeeze and drive the Word out so that a person gives in to the things that are tempting them and abandons God’s Word as their source of forgiveness and life and comfort and direction.
Finally, there are those who receive the Word, but then the things of this world just get in the way. Maybe it is the problems of this life: job uncertainty or family troubles; or maybe it is the temptations: you need more money, your hobby or job consumes you. These things pile up and then begin to take the place of Christ’s promises and faith in your life.
In each of these different ways, the Word that was given as a gift and received with joy is let go of by the person who once lived in it but now finds his life in something other than Christ’s Word and promises. And you know how it goes from there. The kids did so well in Catechism but as they became teenagers and grew up they never came back. The folks took Adult Catechesis and were so into the Word and the church rejoiced to receive them into membership, but now they are hardly ever seen. Or maybe we tried Bible Study, and it was really interesting for a while but then it just wasn’t worth getting up a little earlier…and then church attendance falls off and no one really knows what happened to them. You know how these things can go.
Our Lord tells us that that is just the way it is with some of the seed. But it is not the fault of the seed; it is the fault of those into whom the seed is planted.
Our Lord tells us these things in order to teach us what happens to some who receive His Word and fall away; He tell us so that we will be warned. No pastor can magically make people come back to church. But the pastor must preach what our Lord says about it and teach his flock this parable so that by His grace you too won’t have the Word stolen from you or choked off by thorns or baked by the sun.
This parable is both a warning and a call to repentance. It is a warning not to despise God’s Word. It is a warning that these enemies – the Devil, the world, and our sinful nature – are all trying to rob us of the Word.
Take a moment and examine your life. Are there things creeping into your day-to-day life which make the Word of God seem less important and not worth studying and learning? Are there things in your life that are working to take your mind and heart off Christ and away from your Baptism and to keep you from coming to hear His Word and receive His body and blood? Of course, there are.
This parable teaches us to cry out to the Lord for His mercy that He – not you, He – would keep you in the faith, that He would keep you in His Word, and that the Holy Spirit would preserve you in the grace and forgiveness of your Baptism and stir up in you a holy hunger and thirst for the Supper. That is why Jesus says, “To you it has been GIVEN to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God.” The Lord doesn’t leave you in the lurch. He won’t leave you to those enemies. He will rescue you from them and keep you in the faith. That is His earnest promise made to you the day you were baptized.
But understand this: it is the Lord’s Word which does what it says and produces fruit in you. It is the Lord’s Word which offers to you forgiveness for your sins and keeps you in the faith. The Lord’s Word alone has this power. Again, the Lord’s words from Isaiah: “My Word goes forth and does not come back empty but accomplishes the thing for which I purpose it.”
Brothers and sisters in Christ, the parable of the Sower indeed warns you of your enemies. But it also gives you this promise: that the Word of the Lord, as a generous gift, comes to you and causes you to bear much fruit.
It begins with the Word of your Baptism that declares that by water and the Spirit you are born again from above and have the Name of God Himself placed upon you, making you a child of God, and rescuing you from the kingdom of darkness. It is the Word of Absolution that is announced by your pastor against which not even Hell itself can lodge a complaint. It is the Word of the Gospel read from the altar, preached from the pulpit, and put into your ears in Catechesis and Bible Study and in your daily devotions. It is the Word of Jesus which invites you to eat and drink His flesh and blood for the forgiveness of sins.
The Word that is planted in you and grows fruit is Christ Himself who has been planted in the earth, watered by the water and blood of His crucified side, and who burst forth from the tomb having conquered death. It is that Word – that Jesus – who makes you His own and works in you to bear much fruit of good works to His glory and the benefit and blessing of your neighbor.
The Parable of the Sower, once again, shows how God’s grace does things in a way that we would not. We would never scatter the seeds in so wasteful a manner. But the Lord is rich and lavish in His grace and sends the preaching of Christ everywhere. Many hear it and receive it and then decide, along with the Devil and the world and their sinful nature, that it’s just not for them. That’s just the way it is.
But for those in whom the Word does take root, there sprouts up a rich bounty and harvest of forgiveness, life, and salvation and good works. That is you, brothers and sisters in Christ. You who are here; you who have been brought into this church, have been given all of these gifts. To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God.
That means you have been given the gift of knowing Christ: Christ who was crucified and risen, Christ who has washed and absolved you and fed you with His Supper, Christ who is the Word of God who has been sown into you that to His glory your life might be a rich harvest of His Word. Jesus said, “Let him who has ears to hear, hear!” Those are your ears, opened by Jesus and filled with His saving Word. ]
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Hopy Spirit.
