Matthew 13:1–9, 18–23

-July 10 2011 Sermon

¹That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.

²And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach.

³And he told them many things in parables, saying: "A sower went out to sow.

⁴And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.

⁵Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil,

⁶but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away.

⁷Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.

⁸Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

⁹He who has ears, let him hear."

¹⁸"Hear then the parable of the sower:

¹⁹When 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.

²⁰As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy,

²¹yet 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.

²²As 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.

²³As 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 parable is quite familiar. Most of us know it as the Parable of the Sower. However, I would propose that we change the name to the Parable of the Soils. Why? It doesn't really talk much about the sower or about the seed. But it gives a lot of detail about the different kinds of soils.

There are four kinds of soil mentioned here. The path was hard soil, packed down by hundreds of feet trampling over it day after day. Neither water nor seed could penetrate it. The seed just lay on top and the birds came and carried it away.

Another soil was rocky. The seed sprouted and little plants started to come up, but the roots could not go deep enough, so when the hot sun blazed down on the tender plants they could not get enough water. They withered and died.

Another soil was filled with weeds. Once again, the seed sprouted and grew for awhile, but when the weeds got bigger, they crowded out the good plants, covered them so they could not get enough sunlight and stole the nourishment from the soil, so that in the end, the good plants just withered and died.

The final soil was good soil. The seed took root, sprouted, grew and produced an abundance of fruit.

Now, I suppose one might question the sower. Why was he not a little more careful? Why did he waste good seed on bad soil? Could he not rather have been a little more careful and just thrown the seed on the good soil and not the bad?

These are questions we want to answer as we study this text. What farmer would be so foolish?

When Jesus explained this parable, he said that the soils really represent us; humans. We are the four kinds of soils. And the seed is the word of the kingdom, in other words, the Gospel message. It is this word that brings the kingdom of God into existence. So as we pray, "thy kingdom come," we are praying that the seed be sown and that it sprout and bear fruit.

The sower is Jesus himself. The seed is the Word of God. Some seed is thrown on the path. This is the soil of unbelieving hearts, the seed does not sink in and the birds, that is, the devil, comes and snatches it away. This soil are those who don't pay attention to the word. This soil is all of us at birth, before Baptism. This soil is also those whose hearts are hardened toward God and do not listen. Or more clandestine, they may even sit in church every week but pay no attention to the word preached. This bad soil are those who daydream during the service, who nod off to sleep, or who are thinking about the roast in the oven, or the guests coming over for dinner, of some big problem they had at work, or even worse, thinking about the guy in the next pew who you really can't stand. These are the people who never study the Bible, or if they do, find it boring and uninteresting. Amazing how we can find entertainment in off-color jokes, or even listening to a boring lecture on Sigmond Freud, or reading the gossip column in the newspaper, but when it comes to the Bible, the word of God, we suddenly tune out and fall asleep. Why? Jesus tells us why. "The devil is the one who snatched away the seed." Yes, we have an enemy, the devil. He works overtime to make sure we don't hear or read God's word. So the next time you are tempted to sleep in church, turn down an invitation to study the Bible, or not even go to church some Sunday morning, just remember where that temptation comes from: the devil himself. You have an enemy.

The next kind of soil Jesus cast his seed is rocky soil. These are those who do hear the word of God and receive it with joy. They believe for awhile. This is you who rejoiced the day you heard and believed the message of Jesus Christ. You were all enthused about coming to church and hearing more. This is you on Confirmation day when you promised God that you would walk in the ways of the Lord the rest of your life, that you would obey God's law and love your neighbor better. But then problems came along in your life, your friends didn't understand your "religious zeal" and they started avoiding you. Sickness came along, then perhaps a loved one came down with an incurable disease. So you began to hesitate, doubt God, and slowly you turned away from that zeal and obedience. You might still come to church, but you are distracted by your doubts and thoughts that this religion thing may all be a sham.

Or the next kind of soil: again the seed sprouted and grew until the weeds choked it out. This is you when you heard the word and believed the promise of salvation, but just couldn't give up that sinful life. Some temptations were just too strong. Some pleasures too great to give up. The riches and treasures of the world lured you. The sinful life you were living before just kept coming back, until you finally gave in and returned to living in sin instead of fighting to resist the temptations.

But there is that final soil, these are the ones who, by the working of the Holy Spirit, receive the gospel with joy, turn to Christ in faith for forgiveness and by the power of the Holy Spirit remain faithful until the day you die. Your life was changed and the fruits of righteousness, of love for your neighbor, of service to one another, of humility, forgiveness and love become the words that best describe your life.

Therefore, which soil are you? Take your pick. Look at your life and see which describes you best. Are you the one who gets bored and closes your ears? Have you stopped listening? Or are you the one who is struggling with doubts amid the troubles of this life? Are you the one who was baptized and confirmed but has returned to your former sins? Or are you producing fruit for the kingdom? The truth is, at one time or another, you have been all of these. We all have hard and impenetrable hearts. We all have rocky and thorny hearts. We are all four. Four different kinds of soil. Same high quality seed. Same Jesus sowing the seed. But different ways of hearing the word proclaimed.

After telling this parable Jesus said to his disciples, "Be careful how you hear." "he who has ears to hear, let him hear!" Each type of soil was a different kind of hearer of the word. That's why I propose changing the name of this parable to the Parable of the Soils. Seems like this parable is really about the soils.

But now, let's go back to our original question: what kind of a farmer would waste so much expensive seed on these bad soils? No one! That is the element of shock in this parable. A farmer wouldn't be so careless and wasteful.

But Jesus did! The seed sown is the word of God, the soils are the people of the world, and Jesus is the sower. Jesus himself. He is the one who went around preaching the coming of the kingdom. The word of the kingdom is Jesus' word; Jesus' preaching. It was Jesus who spread the seed on all people. It was Jesus who wasted the good seed on bad soil. What love is this? Can there be such love? Jesus came for the entire world. Jesus came to die for all people, not just the good, but the good and the bad alike. Jesus came to seek and save sinners. Jesus came with the desire to save everyone. Jesus went to the cross for all men. He is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the whole world.

Indeed, it is true that some reject his word. Others lose their faith and doubt when troubles afflict. Still others let the lust of the flesh, the love of the things of this world tempt them away from him. But Jesus died for all people, no matter what kind of soil they are. No matter what your sin. He has paid for it.

Jesus offers forgiveness, salvation and eternal life to all people, no matter what kind of soil they are. That is the miracle of God's love. No matter who you are and what you have done, Jesus is calling you to repentance and faith. That is why he sowed the seed on all kinds of soil. Because no one is excluded from his love. Because the gospel message of forgiveness through faith in Jesus Christ and eternal life is just as true for the bad soil person, the rocky soil person and the thorny soil person as for the good soil person. The same grace and salvation is offered to all, even though not all receive it with faith. Jesus was the sower who sowed seed on all kinds of soil so you are included in his work of salvation. This parable tells us just how much God loves you, even if you are the bad, or rocky, or thorny soil. So I guess, we will have to keep the name and continue to call this the Parable of the Sower; because end the end, it's really all about Jesus and how much he loves each one of you.

So take heed how you hear. Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them is like a wise man who built his house on a rock. "Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only. The one who hears the word and does not do it, he is like one who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror and goes away and forgets what he looks like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing." The one who hears and does is the one who has faith. Only by faith do we receive the gospel seed and bring forth fruit. The good soil is those who believe the message by faith.

But only by the power of the Holy Spirit can you have faith; can you be that good soil. Only the Holy Spirit, through the gospel can change your hard, rocky and thorny hearts into good soil. Only the Holy Spirit can produce the fruit of faith. Only the Holy Spirit can make you a hearer and doer of the word. And he does that through word alone. Through listening to the word, through Baptism and Holy Communion the Spirit changes your heart into good soil.

So ask God who will send his Holy Spirit through the word to change your heart from hard, rocky, and thorny and make you good soil that bears much fruit. He sows the seed today in Word and Sacrament.

And when it lands on good soil, soil that the Holy Spirit produced in you, then you too shall cast the seed on all kinds of soils. Jesus passed the mission of sowing seed to his apostles, and the apostles in turn passed it to us. "Go, make disciples of all nations," Jesus commands. That is bearing good fruit. Your works of love and compassion; works of service unto others; and spreading the gospel, that is, casting the seed on all types of soil, that is what it means to bear much fruit.

Sure enough, some of the seed of the gospel you cast will land on the path. There will always be people who reject your message. Some will fall on rocky and thorny soil. But don't let that discourage you. Keep casting the seed until some of it lands on good soil and in turn it will not return void to the Father, but will produce the good fruit it was meant for.

Jesus intends that the seed be sown. It was Jesus who sowed the seed on all kinds of soil, hoping that some of it would fall on good soil. What a wonderful Savior we have, who loves all people, and desires the salvation of sinners. The Jesus who died for the sin of the world also now sends us out to the uttermost parts of the earth to cast his seed on all men.

Amen.