Isaiah 55:10-13 

2 Corinthians 11:19-12:9

St. Luke 8:4-15

February 12, 2023

Grace, mercy, and peace be with you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

Amen. 

Last week was Septuagesima, or roughly 70 days before Easter. We looked at the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard from Matthew 20. We considered what could be giving up as part of our Lenten fasts. In particular, we could give up being lazy, comparing ourselves to others, or grumbling about what God gives us. These would all be good things to give up. But, whenever you give something up, something else inevitably will fill that void. Be intentional about that. 

Today is Sexagesima, or roughly 60 days before Easter. The Parable of the Sower from Luke 8 will help us consider what good things we can intentionally take up through Lent. Said another way, this parable will show how God gives faith and what He uses to cultivate that faith so that it bears much fruit. 

The parable begins: “A sower went out to sow his seed” (Matt 8:5). As he did so, the seed fell along the path, among the rocks, into the thorns, and onto good soil. What are these four soils? A quick glance at this parable might tempt you to say that these are four different kinds of people. After all, wouldn’t you say you know some good people and some thorny people, some people with stony ears and stony hearts, and still some other people who are constantly beat down and constantly steal your joy? You may know these people, but be careful when you turn to this parable. God does not predestine some to be good, others to be bad, and others to be ugly. God desires all people to be saved (cf. 1 Tim. 2:4). God desires that everyone would be good soil. 

That’s how He made Adam, the first man, the first farmer, the first one into whose ears the Word was planted. But because of Adam and Eve’s sin (cf. Gen. 3), they were no longer good soil Instead, Adam was cursed and the ground with him. God said, “Cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Gen. 2:17b-19). Only thorns and thistles would come from Adam’s labors. But I don’t think this only refers to his horticultural practices. I think it also extends to his efforts to save himself. 

Since Adam, there is no man or woman, not a single one of us who can look at this parable and say, “I am always and only good dirt.” How humbling is that? If you are honest with yourself – and you should be – then you will admit you have days, weeks, or perhaps even years spent as each type of soil. When life is hard, you feel trampled down and the devil snatches the joy of hearing God’s Word. When the bills add up and the money grows tight, your trust in God feels rocky. Even St. Paul, like we heard in the Epistles, through all of his persecutions, beatings, imprisonments, etc., etc., etc., even he felt the thorns trying to choke out his faith. If anything, this parable is hard to hear for everyone because, just by the numbers, three out of four times, your faith will be challenged by the devil, the world, and your sinful nature. 

Now, earlier, when I announced, “This is the Gospel of our Lord,” you sang, “Praise to You, O Christ.” Why did you sing that? Why are you praising Jesus when He says it’ll be hard three out of four times? 

Because He still gives you His Word, and His Word is truth and life. It comes to you on your good days and bad. It comes to you in red and black ink so you don’t have to wonder if God’s really talking. It comes in bread and wine so you can taste and see that the Lord is good. It comes in season and out of season, whether you feel worthy or not. It comes through a reckless Sower. 

There were two planting methods around the time of Christ. With one method, the farmer walked through the field with his seed bag on his hip, scattering that precious seed on the best and most fertile soil. The other method was done by cattle. The farmer placed the seed bag on some kind of cart behind a team, poked holes in the bag, and then scattered seed as the cattle moved around the field. The first method was much more efficient and exact, but both were careful with the precious seed. 

The farmer in today’s parable is not so neat or careful. He scatters the seed everywhere, on good soil and bad. No insurance company would help him with lost crops, not with these planting methods. But that is the picture of how God spreads His Word. He’s not stingy with it. It goes where it’s not expected. Perhaps the truly amazing thing is that its still effective. God’s Word will not return to Him void or empty, just like Isaiah promised in today’s Old Testament. God’s Word will accomplish its purpose. 

The farmer in this parable is indiscriminate in how he sows, but he is not irresponsible. There is a difference. Remember, God desires all people to be saved, all people to be good soil. But how to you make good soil? How do you maintain it? How might you convert rocky, thorny, or hard soil into good soil? It takes work. The farmer has to cultivate, weed, chase the birds away, cover it with fertilizer – yes, the organic stuff. And, each of these actions are not one-and-done. If only weeding the garden were a once per year chore. 

What does this mean? It means that God is living and active in your daily life. God your Father gives you everything you need to support this body and life, and He still takes care of you. God the Holy Spirit daily and richly forgives you all your sins and keeps you in the one true Faith. 

How? By the Word. Christians must be in the Word. You must read your Bible. Sure, it might be nice if reading your Bible were only a once per year thing, but weeds sprout faster than that. Sure, it might be nice if you only had to come to church twice per year, but your heart would grow hard as a rock and Satan would choke out your children’s faith. So, dear Christians, come to church and Bible study. Bring your kids to Sunday School. God is not stingy with His grace, so don’t be stingy with your Sunday morning. Devote not just one hour but two on Sundays. Come to the Lenten midweek services. If you’ve never done that before, then take that up for Lent this year. 

These are the tools God uses to cultivate your faith. He plants His Word deep into your ears and into your hearts. He weeds out sin. He chases the devil away. Its been quite a while since I’ve seen one, but scarecrows kept the birds away. What was a scarecrow but a body hanging on a cross? So it is with Jesus. To keep the devil away, God has hung a body on a cross. But not just any body, not just a body of stuffed straw, but the body of His only beloved Son. More than that, God buried that body in the ground, planting it like a seed for new, resurrected life to sprout up on Easter. 

I’ve had two funerals in the last week. One for Raymond Rodewald and the other for Vera Kaiser. Right now, there’s just clumps of soil covering their graves, but life will come up there. New life will spring up from those graves. Why? Because God planted His Word in their hearts. God watered and nourished them through the Sacraments. And God promises that His Word will accomplish its purpose, even the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Amen. 

Now may the peace that passes all understanding guard and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. 

Amen. 

Pastor Schultz
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
 

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