Sermon for Pentecost 6: The Parable of the Sower

+ 6^th Sunday after Pentecost – July 12^th, 2020 +

Series A: Isaiah 55:10-13; Romans 8:12-17; Matthew 13:1-25

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Jesus spoke many things to them in parables.

If the Gospel of Matthew was a library, Matthew 13 would be the parable or the story telling section. Matthew 13 features some of Jesus’ most memorable parables: the parable of the weeds (stay tuned for that next week), the parable of the mustard seed and leaven, the parables of hidden treasure, a pearl, and a fishing net. It all starts with Jesus’ Parable of the Sower, the great watershed of all Jesus’ parables. It’s a beloved and familiar parable. So well-known in fact, that a statue of Christ the sower sits atop the state capitol in Lincoln, Nebraska.

And since we’ll be hearing parables over the next three weeks’ gospel readings, it’s worth spending a moment to unpack what is a parable. Jesus’ parables have been called many things: short stories with deeper meaning; earthly analogies of heavenly things. Jesus’ parables are earthly stories that point us to, or tell us something about, the greatest story of all: Jesus himself, his crucifixion and resurrection for you. That’s the key to this parable and all the parables. Jesus is at the center. The key to unlocking the mystery of the parables is to see Jesus crucified and risen at the heart of every parable.

Jesus taught in parables for a reason. When his disciples asked Jesus why he spoke in parables he answered this way: “He who has ears, let him hear.” And, I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.”

Jesus’ words present us with a paradox. On the one hand, He teaches in parables to communicate with those who do believe in him in ways that they will understand. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” These are the ears of faith that hear in Jesus’ parables the mystery revealed: that the reign of God is found in Jesus’ dying and rising. Ears attuned to the Word, listening for the voice of their shepherd.

On the other hand, Jesus teaches in parables to reveal that those who misunderstand his parables also misunderstand and reject him. They reject both the message and the messenger and so “hearing they do not hear and seeing they do not see.” It’s Jesus’ description of their unbelief.

Now, for a closer look at Jesus’ parable of the sower. Behold, a sower went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; 

Right away we know Jesus’ parable is about something other than agriculture. Most farmers or gardeners wouldn’t scatter precious seeds so abundantly and recklessly, all over pathways and rocky, weedy, thorn-filled soil. Go right for the good soil. But our Lord isn’t like most farmers. He spreads the seed abundantly, graciously. 

The seed is the Gospel of the kingdom. In a word the seed is Jesus, the promised Seed. He is both the message and the messenger. The Word of God incarnate who speaks the Word of God. The promised Seed and the Sower of the Seed of the Good News he bears and brings.

Remember Jesus’ words in John’s Gospel. That “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” He was referring to His own death on the cross where He laid down His life for the life of the world. For your life too.

This parable also gives us a window into how Jesus works. It is so often contrary to what we expect. Consider his imagery of a seed. Think about how small a seed is, in some cases ridiculously small, compared to the plant that will grow. This is not how we would expect the Word of God to come. Something noisy or noticeable like a thunder clap or a divine fireworks display. But a small, insignificant little seed? And yet, that’s how our Lord works.

Jesus is the Seed, sown and planted within the womb of Mary. The Divine Sower himself became smaller than a mustard seed. So that he might grow and live for you and then be buried and planted in the earth for you, having died for you. And then out of the earth he rose for you to bring the fruit of his salvation for you, in you, and through you to others.

Still, the life of this Seed, of Jesus and his good news for us, is fraught with danger. 

Jesus warns us, this Good News is proclaimed in the harsh and hostile environment of this fallen world. a sower went out to sow…and the birds came and devoured them. This is the Evil One, Jesus says. A reminder that there is a spiritual war raging around us and in our own sinful flesh. And Satan would love nothing more than to snatch away this message of Good News that Jesus proclaims as quickly as a bird gathers seed. 

And yet, just like the birds that nibble a seed, swallow it and pass it out again, the devil has no power against the Word. For he is defeated. Crushed. Destroyed. Stripped of all power over sin and death by Jesus’ death in our place. Nobody – not the devil, not the world, not our own sinful flesh – can take you away from the love of Christ that will never let you go.

Some seed fell among the rocks. The shallow soil. Shallow hearing. Faith based on feelings is faith with no root, a shallow faith unable to endure the heat of persecution, hardship, and testing. This is what happens when our hearts or emotions become a barometer of God’s presence and the Spirit’s working. 

Some seed fell among the thorns. The thorns are the cares and concerns of this world and the deceitfulness of riches. Anxieties such as what will we eat, what will we wear, and so on. It’s always worth asking ourselves, what is choking my hearing and receiving of God’s Word?

And then there is the seed that falls on good soil, soil that has felt the blade of the plow. Broken and turned under soil. This too, just like the sowing of his Word, is all God’s doing. Our rocky, hearts of stone are plowed and turned over by God’s Word, and then the sower sows the seed. Recklessly. All over the place.

The Divine Sower casts the word of Jesus, the good news that in Jesus there is forgiveness, life, and salvation. That in Jesus there is no condemnation under the Law. That in Jesus there is peace and hope.

And the promise in all this is that Word of the Gospel, that Word who is Jesus, never returns empty but always accomplishes HIs purpose. Jesus indeed bears fruit in you. 

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.