Luke 8:4-15
Sexagesima
✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠
We are right now in the midst of the three “gesima” Sundays in the church year. “Sexagesima” has to do with the fact that we are approximately 60 days away from Easter. As we prepare for Lent and Easter, these gesima days fit in very nicely with the three solas of the Lutheran Reformation, namely, that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ’s Word alone. Last week we heard about grace alone in the parable of the laborers in the vineyard who were paid not by works but solely on the basis of the generosity of the landowner. Next week we will hear about faith alone in the account of the healing of the blind man. And today we focus on the Word, how the Word of Christ alone implants life and salvation in us.
It is hard for us to believe that the Word of Christ is all that we need. We are so easily tempted to think that the Word is not enough, that in addition we need something more to make it effective–good packaging and a marketing strategy with a fancy logo, dynamic presentations and music and speakers that will really draw a crowd, a set of programs that meets the “felt needs” of the people. Some of that can be fine, but the great danger is that the Word of Christ will end up taking second place to what we do and what we want. We must never forget the words of St. Paul in 1 Corinthians, “When I came to you, I did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God (lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power) . . . I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my preaching was not with persuasive words of human wisdom . . . that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”
In today’s parable it is abundantly clear that our Lord does not conduct a demographic study before determining how He’s going to scatter the seed of His Word. Instead, He casts it anywhere and everywhere, on good ground and bad, on those who seem receptive and those who don’t, on the righteous and on the unrighteous. His technique does not seem to be very wise or effective. But it is the way of His lavish love. He sows His seed in foolish, weak, and impossible places, with no thought of gain or loss, only conscious that the seed is good and that all are in need of the life and the mercy it brings.
As Jesus preaches and sows the seed of His Word, great crowds are coming out to hear Him. But having big numbers is not necessarily the same thing as having many believers. Some of the people were just coming out of curiosity or hoping to see a miracle. And so Jesus tells a parable which describes how, though many hear the Word, not many grasp it and continue in believing it.
Some are like the seed that fell on the path, the hard, foot-worn soil. The Word of Christ is heard. But it is not received or planted home where it can take root and sprout. It can’t penetrate the hardened, impenitent heart. We are reminded by this of the importance of not just knowing the faith outwardly, mentally, but of receiving the Word into heart, clinging to it, relying on it. Jesus said that the seed is trampled down. It is slandered by so-called scholars as being untrustworthy; or in the popular culture it is made fun of so that it’s not taken seriously. Seed that falls on the hardened path is gobbled up by the birds. Satan slithers in and with his forked tongue snatches away the Gospel.
Some are like the stony, rocky ground on which the seed was sown. These are the ones who have an impulsive faith, who haven’t counted the cost of what it means to follow Christ. Initially they seem to have a great deal of enthusiasm for the faith. But then something happens in their personal life or in the life of the church that changes all of that. When things start to get too difficult, when life becomes a mess, then the doubts and questions creep in. Their once seemingly strong faith is now shown to be only a surface faith, easily scorched by the heat of testing and temptation. It is based on feelings and emotions. Their faith is not deeply rooted in God’s words and promises but on how well He’s coming through for them right now. In the end when it becomes clear that following Christ means real repentance and change and taking up the cross, they become offended; they stumble and fall away. They wither spiritually, never having been firmly rooted in the faith.
In the third instance, the seed lands among the thorns that choke out the young seedlings. Christ is preached and heard and believed, but there are so many other voices clamoring for your attention that faith in the Word of Christ gets choked off, like weeds crowding out a garden plant. That’s the big temptation that our consumeristic, entertainment-oriented culture places before you. Sometimes it’s not as if we purposely ignore the daily practice of our Christian faith. It’s just that there are so many pleasures and distractions and diversions offered to you that you don’t have time for the one thing needful. The thorns crowd out God’s Word. You may desire within yourself to pray more regularly and read the Bible and have devotions more often; but then you hardly ever seem to have the time, there’s so many other obligations and things you supposedly have to do first. Even here in church the thorns try to crowd your mind and divert your attention to other things so that you can’t dwell on God’s Word as you should.
It’s interesting to note here that Jesus refers to the thorns as the “riches, cares, and pleasures of life.” That’s odd because usually when you think of thorns, you think of something that’s painful, something that hurts. And yet the thorns Jesus mentions include riches and pleasures, things which seem to be the opposite of pain! And yet experience teaches that Jesus’ words are true. For, in fact, the things that often promise us the most pleasure bring us the most pain. The things of this world give a temporary happiness but leave us with a lasting sadness and emptiness if they are what we set out hearts on. St. Paul says in 1 Timothy, “Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. . . For the love of money some have strayed from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” Riches and pleasures are indeed thorns which can very easily ensnare and entangle us in all sorts of worries and cares and anxieties which bring us only pain.
Well, if you’re anything like me, you can probably see yourself being described in more than one of those first three soils. We must confess that even as Adam was created from the dust of the ground, we are that dirt full of hardness and rocks and thistles, dirt that the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh want to make unfruitful, so that we will remain nothing more than dust. Who here can claim to be that fourth good and perfect soil? Who here can claim that they always act from a noble and good heart with patience? This parable cuts through us all like the sharp blade of a plow, calling us to acknowledge our condition and repent.
The good news is that the Father sent forth His Word from heaven precisely to rescue you from what has infested you. Christ Himself is the seed. He is the Word made flesh and the substance of all true preaching. The Father sends forth His Word from heaven; and Christ does not return to Him void but accomplishes the purpose for which He was sent. Though the seed, the preaching of Christ, outwardly appears to be powerless and ordinary, yet it contains within it the power of God to save. For in Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
Christ Jesus has cleared away the debris in your soil through the power of His suffering and death. Since Christ literally is the Word, the seed that is cast, whatever that seed experienced–on the path, on the rock, in the thistles–Christ has experienced for you. Thorns were placed on the head of Christ, the Lamb of God who bears the sin of the world. Jesus was crucified in some hardened and rocky soil called Golgotha, the place of the skull, in order to deliver us. There, He bore the withering heat of the day and the fire of our judgment. There, people trampled on His Name with their insults, and Satan and his demons, like scavenging birds, gobbled Him up in death. Do you see? All that happened to the seed in the first three instances happened to Jesus. But because Christ suffered all of that in your place, the devil and the world, sin and death are now conquered for you. Christ has destroyed the power of the raven and the hard clay, the thorn and the rock from the inside out. For on the third day our Lord rose from the depths of the earth, bringing with Him the abundance of His mercy and the fruitfulness of His new life, for you.
The truth is that it is Christ Himself and Christ alone who is that fourth good soil. For only Christ is without the stain of sin; only He is not overcome by the devil or the world. He is the divine Word of the Father who was cast like seed from heaven into the good soil of His perfect humanity, which He received in the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary. He alone is the One with the noble and good heart who received His Father’s will and patiently carried out His Father’s Word, growing up and producing a bountiful harvest of those who believe and are saved.
Our Lord Jesus is that promised Seed of Eve, planted in the tomb in order that abundant life might spring up through His bodily resurrection. And you share in that life. For you are one in whom the Seed has been planted. In Christ alone, by the working of His Word alone, you become the fourth soil. The seed of the Word was planted in you by the Holy Spirit with the water of your baptism. It is sown still in the absolution and the preaching of the Gospel. And the seed of Christ will be scattered on the soil once again today as the very body and blood of Christ are placed into your mouth for the forgiveness of your sins. The Word of Christ is at work in you now, that you may bear fruit one hundred fold–the fruit of faith toward God and fervent love toward one another. The Sower is still sowing His seed, that you may have His life and live His life forever.
To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. Treasure these mysteries, dwell upon them, believe in them, so that you may remain deeply rooted in the Word of Christ, and so that you may share in Christ’s resurrection in the final harvest on the Last Day. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
✠ In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ✠