Sunday, February 3, 2013

Sexagesima Sunday



Sexagesima Sunday – February 3rd, 2013 – Luke 8:4-15

In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World +
          St. Paul writes in 1st Corinthians that “the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”  Few passages of Scripture demonstrate this truth better than the parable of the Sower and the Seed.  In fact, I don’t know if there is any character in any story Jesus tells that seems more ridiculous than the Sower.  But again, in this parable we learn again God’s wisdom, God’s love – and indeed how His weakness is true strength for us.  Let us consider our parable this morning.

          “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”  What a foolish Sower!  His seed gets everywhere, it is scattered all over the place!  Doesn’t this Sower realize that seed is precious, that you shouldn’t waste it?  A full three quarters of his seed is wasted.  Not one of our farmers here would put up with that.  It would be ruinous.  You don’t sow seed on the roads, you don’t plant on the rocks, you don’t throw it into thorns and thistles!  It’s as though the Sower isn’t even a farmer – he sounds more like some city boy playing at being a farmer.  And to people who hear with only the ears of the world, to people who think only by their own reason and strength and without the aid of the Holy Spirit, this would be nothing but a story of utter folly.

          After He preaches this parable, and people are left wondering why Jesus would tell a story of a seemingly stupid farmer, the disciples pull Jesus aside.  What are you talking about, Jesus?  “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’  This is an interesting thing that Jesus says.  Not everyone is going to understand the Word of God.  Some folks aren’t going to get it.  Some will not understand – for some this parable will remain nothing but a foolish tale, or they will run off in strange directions with it.  That’s the way of it in this fallen world.  Jesus is quoting the prophets when He says that “seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.”  That was the story over and over in the Old Testament, especially when the prophets proclaimed the Christ.  But you – you have been given ears to hear, and by the power of the Spirit, you will hear.

          “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.”  And with these simple Words, Jesus flips everything around.  The seed is the Word of God.  The point of the parable isn’t the farmer, this isn’t about our actions, or how we are to learn not to be so careless or foolish like the farmer – this is a description of how God sends forth His Word.  And the parable does remind us of a truth that we Christians forget: to the eyes of the world, God is foolish.  So often they see His people, His Church at work, and simply mock.  So often the world hears but does not hear, and the Church is ridiculed and mocked.  Indeed, most of these very disciples to whom Jesus is speaking will be mocked and even put to death by the world because they disdain the Word that they will proclaim, the seed that they will sow.  But here we see God’s Wisdom.  The Word will go forth!  The Word will be sent forth into all the world, the mockers not withstanding.  And this makes perfect sense when we remember that it is God who truly sends forth the Word.  The whole world exists how – only by the Word of God – that is how God creates.  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”  This is true, even though, “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own,[b] and his own people[
c] did not receive him.  The ignorance and foolishness of the world does not undo the Word of God – and just as God has sent His creative Word throughout the world, so too He will have His Gospel preached to the entire world… even to people who could care less.  With this parable, Jesus is telling us what we should expect when we as His Church look upon the world, when we see disdain for the Word.

          “The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.”  Our Lord reminds us of a truth that we do not like.  This world is not a morally neutral or safe place.  No, in this world there is active opposition to God, and when you proclaim Christ, when you show forth Christ’s love, you will be opposed.  You will be mocked.  There will be angry birds swooping around and pecking at you, there will be turkeys constantly making a mess of things.  That’s just the way it is.  And yet the seed is still sown.  God is not daunted or intimidated by the world – still His Word goes forth.  Even those birds who care nothing for the Word still are alive only by the power of the Word – just as even the most coarse and crass unbeliever still lives off of the goodness of God, off of the care of Him who makes the rain to fall on both the just and the unjust.

          “And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away.” A second warning.  In this world there will be trials and testing, and yes, trials and testing even for those who believe.  The seed in the rocky soil sprouts, but it cannot bear the summer heat, it is cut off from the moisture of the soil.  Now, consider this.  You are baptized.  God has come to you in water and the Word, made you His own child.  This is true – even when sorrow and trial and hardship come your way.  For this is the temptation that Satan will throw at you – the idea that old snake will whisper is this – “see how hard your trials are, surely God no longer cares for you!”  Satan will try to dry you out, burn you to a crisp with despair and disappointment.  Over and against the words of Satan, remember the true and powerful word of God – I baptize you In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Your sins are forgiven.  You are not rootless, but you are tied to the life giving waters of Holy Baptism, joined to Christ Jesus Himself, attached to Him.  Do not let the vexations of Satan cut you off – remember your baptism, remember that you are indeed delivered from Evil and the Evil One.
 
          One final trial.  And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.”  This is the one that we as Americans should know the most.  We are people who are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life.  And Jesus simply warns us of the truth – our sinful flesh will want to turn blessings from God into idols, will take something good in our lives but let it grow all out of proportion, let it grow like a weed, like a cancer, and it can choke us out, strangle our faith.  And this is a common enough reality.  Do I have to belabor the point?  Doesn’t the temptation lay upon all of us to be off doing something else right now?  Our work, our family, entertainment – all blessings from God, yet in this sinful world our flesh would gladly let them be the excuse to forego receiving God’s greater gift of forgiveness with our brothers and sisters in Christ. 

          And then the final soil.  As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.”  Now, don’t get too proud, my friends, don’t puff out your chest and go, “Oh, lookie at me, see I’m good soil.”  Not the point.  The point is not the try to compare soils or figure out who’s good or who’s rocky.  The point is the Seed and the Word of God.  What do you call a good field with good soil that has no seed planted on it?  You call it empty, barren.  And that is what we were – apart from God we would be empty, barren fields, as dead as the highway, unkempt, rocky, full of whatever weeds or junk just happened to grow there.  But what has happened?  God has come to you with His Word, and He has given you growth and wisdom.  This is not your own doing – it is a gift of God.  Do you believe because your heart is good – or rather, as we sing does God create in you a clean heart, a right Spirit within – and thus you hold fast and cling to God?  Do you bear fruit because you are awesome, or because Jesus is the vine, you are His branch, and abiding in Him, remaining in Him you bear fruit?  Is patience your own doing, or is it not the work and gift of the Holy Spirit?

          You have been given ears to hear – and so hear the wisdom and wonder of God.  While you are there, powerless and weak, like and empty and barren field, God in His great love and wisdom comes to you and plants His Word in you, showers you with it, gives it to you with full abandon over and over again.  And why?  So that you would receive the life and love of Christ Jesus, so that you would see the wisdom of God in sending His Son Christ Jesus to the cross for the forgiveness of your sins.  So that in hearing the Word, so that by being joined to the Word in Baptism, being nourished in the Word in the Supper, you would remain tied and attached to Christ, so that He might bring forth fruit and life and patience and a clean heart in you.  You were dead, but the Word has come, and now you live.  You were empty, but the Word has come, and God has called you together here in His house.  You were fallow, but the Word has come, and now you have abundance in Christ.

          The truth is the world will not care for God’s Word, and indeed, your own sinful flesh will fight and rail against it.  But yet in His Wisdom, God has given you the Word of His Son, He has proclaimed it to you even when to the eyes of the world you were trampled upon, or rocky, or prickly and full of thorns.  He has come to you and make you His own soil with which He is well pleased, for He has planted the Word, Christ Jesus in you.      And that Word of God gives you life, gives you what it says.  You are forgiven of all of your sins, you are a new creation in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting.  In the Name of Christ Jesus, the Light of the World +

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