Pentecost 7 – 23 July 2017 – Year A

Grace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The text for this meditation is written in the 13^th Chapter of the Gospel according to St Matthew: Verses:24–30, 36–43

²⁴ He put another parable before them, saying “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, ²⁵ but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. ²⁶ So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. ²⁷ And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ ²⁸ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ ²⁹ But he said,  ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”

³⁶ Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” ³⁷ He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. ³⁸ The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, ³⁹ and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. ⁴⁰ Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. ⁴¹ The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, ⁴² and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

If you regularly read spy thrillers or watch them on the screen, you are probably familiar with the term ‘mole.’  A mole is someone who appears to be one of the good guys, but is actually working for the enemy.  A mole will infiltrate to the highest security levels and then feed sensitive information to the enemy while promoting false information to the good guys.  The results are usually deadly until the good guys expose the mole.

In today’s parable, Jesus tells us about spiritual moles in the world.  He is teaching about people who look like loyal friends but are actually moles.  Jesus used a parable to help us understand this situation.  In the parable, Jesus described a tactic that a person would use against only his absolute worst enemy – the over-sowing of a field with weed seeds.

Something that may not occur to us right away is that this is a well planned premeditated crime.  The weed used in this reading is Darnell and this weed looks almost the same as wheat but it is a weed and as such the Darnell grain is useless. It takes a well trained eye to identify the Darnell until it blooms. As in all such cases one has to ask why would someone go to the effort of growing, and harvesting Darnell seed and then storing in a barn until planting time for any other reason than to cause financial and personal damage to another farmer?  Even after sowing the weed then the crop field damage will not really be realised until the next harvest.  This is definitely a long term, premeditated attack.  It indicates an evil, bitter, very long term or even permanent animosity.  This is a hateful, despicable, and cowardly tactic.  This is an excellent word picture of the animosity that the devil bears toward God and God’s people.

The references in the parable are fairly straight forward.  Jesus explained, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.  The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom.  The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil.  The harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels.”  Remember that when Matthew uses the word kingdom he means the reign of God in Jesus Christ.  The sons of the Kingdom are those whom Jesus has rescued from sin, death, and the power of the devil.  The sons of the evil one are the exact opposite.  They are those who reject salvation and are still slaves to the power of the devil.

When Jesus explained the parable, He pretty much emphasised the harvest.  Jesus explained that day with these words: “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”  Those who reject salvation will suffer eternally.  Those whom Jesus has rescued from sin, death, and the power of the devil will spend eternity in the presence of God the Father.

There is one feature of the parable that Jesus did not explain.  Jesus explained the meaning of the parable at harvest time.  Jesus did not explain the meaning of the parable for the time that the good seed and the weeds were growing side by side.  What is the meaning of the parable during that time?

Remember the conversation between the owner and His servants.  When the weeds became apparent, the servants asked the master, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather [the weeds]?’  But [the master] said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.  Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’ ” This conversation indicates that the good plants and the weeds are not that easy to separately identify when they are growing together, and in the attempt to weed them out good crops could be destroyed as well. The weeds will remain in the field until the harvest when they can be easily identified.  With these words, Jesus taught that the Sons of the Kingdom must endure the presence of the sons of the devil in this world until the Last Day.

Since the sons of the evil one are still slaves to the power of the devil, they serve his wants.  The real tragedy is that the sons of the evil one may not even realise who they serve.  They are the ultimate moles who even deceive themselves.  Some of these moles may even think they are serving God.  Jesus Himself said this on the evening before He died on the cross.  He said, ^{[John 16:2]} “Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.”

Deception is the main weapon of the devil.  In fact, Jesus said this about the devil: ^{[John 8:44]} “[The devil] was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies”.  If the devil is a liar, then it makes sense that his slaves will also lie.  Just like the mole in a spy thriller, they hand out false information; and, since they may not know what they are doing, they may even spread this false information and sincerely believe it is the truth of God.

Since the devil does not care which lie we believe, he has multiplied lies and spread them throughout the world just like the weed seeds in the parable.  The slaves of the evil one have created lies for every culture, every personality type, and every situation.  These lies are seductive, they make sense in a worldly way, and they may even contain an element of beauty.  Never the less, they are lies and their goal is to lead us away from the Word of God.

These lies try to teach us that God is too big and important to care about us.  On the other hand, the Bible says, ^{[Hebrews 4:15]} “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”  Unlike the politicians who SAY, “I feel your pain,” Jesus actually has experienced all the evil that there is in this sin filled world.  He has experienced our pain and much, much more.

Have you ever felt alone?  Jesus experienced profound loneliness.  When the time of trial came, His disciples ran away.  As He hung on the cross, He was alone against the forces of evil.  Jesus did not just feel that the world was against Him.  The entire world actually was against Him. 

Have you ever felt abandoned?  As Jesus hung on the cross, He cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”  In a way that we could ever understand, even God the Father forsook Jesus.

Jesus experienced everything that this sinful world can dish out.  There is no trial that comes our way that Jesus has not already faced.  The devil does not want us to know this.  He will send his lies into the world to rob us of this comfort.

Jesus went far beyond any pain that we can feel in this world.  He actually endured and satisfied the full wrath of God’s justice against our sin.  When Jesus hung on the cross, alone, against the world – forsaken by His Father – He endured hell for you and me.  The devil does not want us to know any of this because he does not want us to receive the benefit of Christ’s suffering.

The devil does not want us to know that although we were once enemies of God, we are now His children.  He does not want us to know that although we were once slaves to sin, we now rule with Christ.  He does not want us to know that although we deserve eternity in the tortures of hell, we now have eternal life with God.  He does not want us to know that all these things are ours because of the holy life and the innocent suffering and death of Jesus Christ.

The devil most certainly does not want us to know about the sign that certifies that all these things are true.  The sign that certified the truth of all of Christ’s gifts is the resurrection.  After Christ endured our pain – after He took our place – after He died for us, He rose from the dead.  The sign of our risen saviour assures us that we now have peace with God.  It assures us that when the final harvest comes, we too shall rise and our mortal bodies shall be clothed in immortality.  We will shine like the sun in the kingdom of our Father.

This is the central and main truth that the devil and his sons want to hide from us.  The devil has sown his seed in this world in order to spread his lies.  He would rob us of our faith and hope.  He would rob us of our salvation.  Jesus used the parable in today’s Gospel to warn us that the sons of the devil will surround us while we live in this world.  Jesus has promised to be with us and protect us and He has sent the Holy Spirit to work in us to establish and sustain us in the true faith.

Jesus also taught us that a harvest is coming when the angels will remove the devil’s influence from this world and throw him into the eternal fire.  Then we will live in eternal peace shining like the sun in the Kingdom of our Father.  Amen

The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

Pentecost 6 – 16 July 2017 – Year A

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The text for this meditation is written in the 13^th Chapter of the Gospel according to St Matthew: Verses 13:1–9 & 18–23:

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. ² And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. ³ And he told them many things in parables, saying:  “A sower went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. ⁵ Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, ⁶ but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. ⁷ Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. ⁸ Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. ⁹ He who has ears, let him hear.”

¹⁸ “Hear then the parable of the sower: ¹⁹ When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. ²⁰ As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, ²¹ yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.  ²² As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. ²³ As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

I enjoy speaking with farmers and listening to the Country Hour on radio and watching Landline on ABC Television and I never ceased to be amazed at the level of new technology that is now available in farm equipment.  In essence, a lot of the machinery can drive itself.  Harvesting equipment can monitor the yield as it works its way through a field.  In turn, other equipment can use that yield data to meter out fertiliser and other chemicals in precise amounts in order to produce the best yield in the next crop.

The whole point of this technology is for the farmer to do what all businesses want to do … get the best return on investment.  You want to invest in seed, equipment, fertilisers, and other chemicals so that you get the most cost-effective yield.  On the other hand, you don’t want to waste any of your investment.

First century farmers in Israel didn’t have all the technology that we have today, but they still wanted to get the most they could from their investment.  They would make sure that all the seed they sowed fell on good soil.  They would avoid throwing seed on hard packed roads, rocky ground, or thorns.  They wanted all the seed to produce a good crop.

In our text, we heard Jesus tell a parable about a different kind of sower.  The people who heard Jesus tell the parable would say that the sower was very careless. ^{(Matthew 13:4–7)}  “Some seeds fell along the path, other seeds fell on rocky ground, and still other seeds fell among thorns”. This sower is sowing the seed everywhere.

Later, Jesus took the disciples aside and explained the parable.  The seed is hearing the Word of God.  The careless sower indicates God’s generosity and His mercy.  The proclamation of the Word of God is for all people in all places and times.  ^{(1 Timothy 2:4)} “[God our Saviour] desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth”. The careless sower could be anyone who shares the Word of God.  It could be an apostle, prophet, pastor, teacher, the head of a household, or even just one friend sharing God’s Word with another.  In each case Jesus has promised that the Holy Spirit will be at work when the sower shares the Word of God.  The teaching of the parable is that those who proclaim God’s Word are generous with it.  They throw the Word of God everywhere.

Different people, though, respond differently when they hear the Word of God.  That is the main illustration of the parable.  Jesus broke the response into four different categories … the well-travelled path, the rocky ground, the thorny ground, and the good earth.

Jesus began with those who simply reject the Word.  He said, ^{(Matthew 13:19)}  “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path”. Although God wants to save everyone, there are those who reject the Word and resist the Holy Spirit.  They remain in unbelief and under God’s judgment by their own fault.  Eventually, God allows the devil to take the Word away from them.  They have hardened their heart against the work of the Holy Spirit by simply refusing to believe.

The hardened soil of the path reminds us that there is a real battle going on for the lives of men, women, and children.  Satan makes it his business to take the Word of the Kingdom away from us.  This was his strategy at the beginning.  ^{(Genesis 3:1)} “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” The evil one’s first words to Eve replaced God’s Word with doubt.  Already, the evil one was coming and snatching away the Word that was sown in Eve’s heart.  The hardened soil and the birds represent the devil snatching the Word and taking it away from us.

Then there is the rocky soil.  At first the effect of the Word on the rocky soil seems hopeful, but then tragedy strikes.  Jesus said, ^{(Matthew 13:20–21}) “As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away”. Here the seed produces results for a while.  This type of person receives the word with joy.  He joins a local congregation.  He may even become quite active.  Then something comes along to test the faith and he falls away. 

The rocky soil really bothers me.  Over the half century since I was confirmed, I have seen the church in Australia, North America and Europe promote the rocky soil.  Very often the reason that many churchgoers do not have deep roots in the Word is that the leaders of the church do not provide opportunities that grow those roots.  Many, many congregations have grown by focusing on marketing … fun and entertainment.  Now don’t get me wrong.  There is nothing wrong with fun and entertainment in their proper place.  However, too many congregations have focused so hard on fun and entertainment that they forgot to proclaim the truth of the Word of God.  At first, they grew like gangbusters, but then came a challenge and they fell apart.  It is just as Jesus said.  “[They endure] for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately [they fall] away”.  The church in Australia, North America and Europe has a lot of repenting to do.  I pray that they get back to proclaiming the Word so that their members can once again have roots that go deep into the Word of God.

The third scenario illustrates a similar tragedy.  Jesus said, ^{(Matthew 13:22)}  “As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful”. Once again, the seed sprouts.  Once again, this type of person joins a local congregation.  The problem here is that the cares of this world are more important than the Word of the kingdom.  A late party on Saturday night or even late-night television is more important than being rested up enough to receive God’s Divine Service.  Concerts, sporting contests, and other extra-curricular activities are more important than Bible class or family devotions.  Basically, there are so many things to do in this world that God’s Word becomes an afterthought instead of a priority.  The thorns represent the world enticing us away from the salvation proclaimed in the Word of the Kingdom.

The last type of soil illustrates the fruit that God’s Word can bear.  Jesus said, ^{(Matthew 13:23)} “As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” This time, the roots of God’s Word run deep.  It thrives and produces a harvest.  In fact, the numbers that Jesus used are miraculous yields for that time and place.

Notice though, that even the good soil is dead until God’s Word takes root in it.  The power comes from God and He uses His Word to distribute that power.  God works in us as we read or hear the Word.  He brings us into His family as that very same Word combines with the water of Holy Baptism to join us to Christ in His crucifixion.  He sustains and strengthens our faith with the Word combined with bread and wine as He offers Himself to us in His body and blood.  These are the Means of Grace whereby God works the power of His Word in us.

Jesus makes it very clear in this parable that it is the deep roots of the seed that produce the fruit.  Then He tells us that the seed is the Word of the Kingdom and the roots are the understanding of that Word.  Therefore, when Jesus talks about the depth of the roots, He is talking about the depth of our understanding of the Word of the Kingdom.  He is also talking about the effect that the Holy Spirit has as He works through that Word.

When the roots of the Word of the Kingdom run deep in us, we see that all of Scripture points us to the salvation we have in Jesus Christ.  The Word of the Kingdom reveals the Holy Life of the Saviour – a life that He lived in our place because we cannot keep the law of God.  The Word of the Kingdom reveals the Holy Death of the Saviour – a death that satisfies God’s holy and righteous justice against our sin.  The Word of the Kingdom reveals the Resurrection of the Saviour – a resurrection that assures us that the Holy life and innocent death of the Saviour were accepted as payment in full for all our sins.

The devil, the world, and our own sinful nature want to drive us away from our saviour.  Their first step in alienating us from God is the same now as it was in Eden: “Did God actually say?”  They constantly strive to prevent the growth of the roots of the Word.  They constantly make the case against regular church attendance and regular Bible study.  When we think it is not important to study and understand the Word of the Kingdom, we are playing right into the devil’s hand.  That is exactly what he wants … humans who are weak because the Word of the Kingdom has not put deep roots into their hearts.

Jesus encourages us with the words, ^{(Matthew 13:9)} “He who has ears, let him hear.” Hearing is how the Holy Spirit gives understanding to us … how He causes the Word of the Kingdom to grow deep into our hearts.  Hearing is how the Holy Spirit reveals the salvation of Jesus Christ to us.  It is as written in the Old Testament^{: (Isaiah 55:10–11)} “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it”. May the Word of the Kingdom dwell and grow deep in our hearts that we may bear the fruits of God’s boundless grace.   Amen

The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen