Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
This morning, both our Old Testament and Gospel lessons
speak to the power of God’s Word. Isaiah’s image of rain and snow watering the
earth and bringing forth new, green life is one we understand. The rain showers
we got two weeks ago perked up the grass, changing it from limp and dying to
standing tall and coming to life again. The visual image preaches itself, a
picture of the Word of God giving life to dying mankind when it is read,
preached and taught. Sometimes, God’s Word cuts like a knife, cutting to the
core of man’s sins, exposing it to the light, calling mankind to repentance for
what was done. Sometimes, God’s Word cools and sooths, restoring and healing
wounded hearts and bruised consciences with the Good News of Jesus. Whether it
is the Law of the Good News, God’s Word “shall not return to me empty,” Isaiah
proclaimed, “but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in
the thing for which I sent it.”
In short, the Word of God is a living Word and it does
exactly what God wants it to do, sometimes calling people to repentance for
their sins; sometimes delivering the very forgiveness that is the antidote to
those sins. The Word works.
I take great comfort in that fact, as a Christian pastor. It’s
not me that does the work; it’s the Word. That’s why St. Paul could say to the
Corinthians, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God granted the growth,” (1 Cor
3:6).
I met a fella named Brad in 2007. He was Jewish by birth but,
for him, Judaism was more about social policy and politics than faith. He could
have cared less about kosher rules, Sabbath law, or worshipping with other
Jews. He had been reading some fiction books where the heroes went back to
medieval Germany and Lutherans were just entering the scene with the
Reformation. Because the Lutherans were counter-cultural to the church of Rome,
and this was historically accurate if somewhat loose, leading a rebellion
against the Papacy and the Emperor, Brad had a certain socio-political
curiosity about Lutheranism. Through a series of events that only God could
orchestrate, we met and every chance I had, I witnessed about Jesus to him. I told
Brad that he didn’t need Jesus because he was Jewish but because he was a
sinner, unable to be perfect as the law demands. Moses, Elijah, David – all of
the Old Testament heroes of faith looked for Messiah to come, to rescue from
much more than just the Philistines or whatever other enemy was at the gates,
but to rescue and save into eternity. The conversation became personal, he
asked me to tell him more about Jesus, why I believed He was that promised One,
why I thought God could forgive me because of what Jesus did. We talked more
and more, Law and Gospel, sometimes conversing late into the evening. To use
the imagery from the Gospel reading, I was sowing seeds left, right and center.
I asked if I could send him a New Testament and a Small Catechism to help
understand what the Bible was saying. He agreed, and when they arrived, he
called me to thank me. Then he said this: “I appreciate the gift a great deal
and I will put them in a place of honor on my bookshelf, right between the holy
books for Buddhists and Taoists.”
In that moment, I realized the seed wasn’t going to be
sprouting after all. For Brad, Jesus was just another idea, the Bible was just
another book, the cross was just another ornament that hung on some people’s
walls or around their necks. I don’t think I was the problem – I used all the
evangelism techniques I had learned over the years; I was winsome, direct,
applicable, theoretical, Biblical, Christological, Catechetical – you name it
and I think I checked all of the boxes in that a good witness for Jesus should
be. It wasn’t me – we remained friends, or at least friendly. It was the seed.
Brad didn’t want the seed to blossom and grow. When he died in the fall of
2020, I had the sad realization that I probably will not see my friend again in
the resurrection of all flesh.
This is the paradoxical mystery of the Seed of the Word. On
the one hand, Isaiah says, the Word works and does exactly that which the Lord
would have it do – call people to repentance and call people to faith and give
the very gift of life eternal in Jesus Christ. But, on the other hand, Matthew
warns that the Word of God is also humanly resistible. The sinful, old Adam and
the sinful, old Eve can play the part of the three monkeys, refusing to hear
the Word, to see Jesus in the Word, or to speak and confess the Word made
flesh. Or, to use the language of the parable, the seed is unable to penetrate
the rocky heart, the heart infested by the weeds of the world and the flesh,
the heart that is hard-packed by satan. We can do everything right, as disciples
of Jesus, sowing the seed and watering it with prayer and sanctified encouragement
but, using the math of the parable, three out of four will deny or lose faith
in Jesus.
It is a mystery why, how, one choses to refuse the growth of
the seed of God and, instead, chose to remain in death. If the Word works, why
doesn’t it work 100%? The answer is that God coerces no one; He forces no one
to faith. That is not love. He calls, gathers, and welcomes. That begs a parallel
question – why doesn’t He only focus on the 25%, those whom will most likely
believe? He scatters the seeds of the Word here and there, casting it in the
excellent soil and in the less quality soil, even among the weeds and the
thorns. So eager is God for His harvest that He even scatters the seed of the
Word on the hard, beaten paths, seeds bouncing around like pebbles on the road,
why? Because He wants a harvest.
This is a story about Jesus. It’s not about you or me or an
evangelism or witness program. The reckless farmer is Jesus who spreads the
Good News wherever He can, going to tax collectors and sinners, to prostitutes
and Pharisees. What chance does He have with those people? He goes to fisherman
and lepers. He goes to a rich young man who thinks he has it all in the bag, to
a Roman soldier who is the village hero but whose servant is dying, and He goes
to a young woman whose only son is being carried away for burial. He goes to
Jews, the Chosen Ones, heirs of the Promises, and He goes to Gentiles, who have
no idea who He is. He goes into a broken world that needs His Good News so
badly that He is willing to risk wasting His work and His word for a harvest of
faith.
Thanks be to God, this Good News comes to your ears. Again
and again and again, He scatters the seed of the Word into the world and you
hear it. Some days, more willingly; some days, almost reluctantly, but you hear
it. You heard it while in the womb of your mother; God willing, you will hear
it on your death-bed. You hear it in your living room when you have your
morning devotions, you hear it in your bed at night when you read a final Psalm
for the day. The seed is planted and nourished and fed. This Word is for you
because the Sower has gone out into the world to spread it. He is the Sower who
goes to spread it, and He is Himself the Message that is spread.
The Message is this: He stays faithful to His Word. He is
the one who, in spite of suffering and death, willingly went to the cross for
you. Jesus is the one who is not turned aside by the temptation of the devil.
He did not fear persecution and suffering when the thorns came up and choked.
He did not turn aside when hardship came his way, when all his followers
abandoned. And even though he was king of all creation, he did not use that for
his own benefit. He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, obediently
sowing the seed, even to death on a cross where He laid down his life for you.
This is why the farmer is so desperate for the harvest. His
faithful work is the only way that this broken world and our broken lives can
be restored to its creator. He has laid down his life and He has taken it up
again so that you and I could be a part of his harvest. Thanks be to God that
this word has come to us. Pray for those where the seed falls. Be bold as you
sling the seeds of the Word. All for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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