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 13th 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
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