"A Scattering Word" Sexagesima February 8, 2015 Luke 8:4–15 In the Gospel reading today a large crowd gathers around Jesus and so He tells them a parable. He says that a sower goes out to sow his seed. As he was doing so some of the seed fell by the wayside. Some fell among the rocks. Then there was some that fell among thorns. Finally, there is seed that fell on good soil.
The way Jesus describes it, it’s kind of a messy process. This sower is not careful with his seed. He tosses it out on the ground and some of it scatters. Some of it falls on areas where it doesn’t grow because the birds snatch it up. Some of it grows but it quickly withers because there’s no moisture. Other of it grows but it’s crowded out by thorns. The seed that falls on the good soil grows and produces a rich crop. Jesus is just speaking this parable out. There are a lot of people there and Jesus doesn’t pick and choose who should hear it. He just speaks the parable. He closes the parable with a quip, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” The parable is spoken for all to hear, but who all is really going to take it to heart? He doesn’t force anything on anyone. He speaks it out and if there are those who aren’t willing to listen, that is beyond His control. But now there’s a shift. It moves to His disciples asking Him what this parable means. They heard it as all did, but they’re puzzled. Jesus responds first with a statement about parables themselves. Why does He speak them? He tells the twelve disciples that to them it has been given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. But get this, to those out there, all those people out there, it is spoken in parables, so that seeing, they may not see, and hearing, they may not understand. Now let’s be honest. Doesn’t this sound exactly the opposite of what we’d expect Jesus to do? Doesn’t He want people to see? Shouldn’t He want people to understand? That seems to make sense considering God has revealed to us His salvation. Throughout the centuries the prophets and the apostles and pastors have proclaimed the Gospel, the message of salvation. So what is Jesus getting at here when it appears He is deliberately trying to conceal the mysteries of the Kingdom of God from the masses instead of plainly laying it out? The answer lies in the seed. The seed, He says, in explaining the parable to the disciples, is the Word. This Word of God is a scattering Word. It is a little messy in how God sows it. He doesn’t carefully select who He would like to bring it to. Rather, His sowing of the Word is not just on the ground where a rich crop will result. It is to all different kinds of soil. So this very Word which is meant for life and salvation actually brings about blinded eyes and minds to those who reject this life and salvation in Christ alone. This seed, the Word, is that very message. And this seed is scattered. The soil on the side of the road is those who hear the Word, but the devil comes quickly and snatches it away. The ones on the rocky soil are those who hear the Word and receive it with joy. But they don’t have a firm root, and so when temptation strikes they easily fall away. The ones among the thorns also have heard, but they get choked by the cares and the pleasures of this life, and so there is no growth. There is also the last type of soil, the good soil. These are the ones who hear the Word in an honest and good heart, and they hold fast to it and bear with it in endurance. Jesus’ explanation of the parable shows the messiness of the Word of God. When some hear it the devil is right there to pounce on them and they do not resist him. He snatches God’s Word away from them and they easily comply with that. They look at God’s Word and it doesn’t seem nearly as attractive as when they first heard it. This never prevented God from giving them the Word in the first place. It’s just sad, though, that some would rather follow right along with Adam and Eve who listened to the serpent and doubted God’s Word at the drop of a hat. Things are messy also with those who hear the Word but attend to it on a superficial level. It seems like a good thing, but there’s no root there and so when temptation strikes, they fall away. How can the Word of God be so great if I am being hit hard by trials? God at the very beginning makes His Word known to them, though. He wants them to hear, it’s unfortunate that they really don’t want it. And there is the messiness of those who hear the Word and are attuned to it, but things keep cropping up. There’s the busyness of life, there’s the pleasures that seem so much more tantalizing than what being a follower of Christ seems to offer, and there are the riches of the world alluring them. God doesn’t shy away from making His Word known to them, though. But they are caught up in the things of this world. The last ones are perhaps the messiest of all. Everything described in the first three kinds of people happens to those who are of the good soil. What Christian does not face temptation? What Christian is not wrapped up in the cares of this life? What Christian is not enticed by the riches and the pleasures of this world? Those who hold to the Word of God hold to it steadfastly, even though it seems like the Word of God alone is not enough. When the devil shows you something that appears to be better, you stick with the Word of God. When He shows you something that seems more powerful, you rely on God’s Word, weak though it seems. When the world comes at you with all kinds of temptations, you take shelter in the Word of God. This is the messiness of the Word of God. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. When you are struggling against sin and temptation, don’t flee the Word of God, cling to it. When life offers you something greater or more powerful or more appealing, stick with the Word of God even though it may seem your life is the poorer for it. You may want your life as a Christian to be perfectly set in place. You may want for God to work things out for you in a coherent manner or in a manner where things go smoothly and you don’t have to struggle. But His Word is scattered throughout your life, it’s not compartmentalized. His Word goes forth, as the Old Testament reading says, and accomplishes the purpose for which God has sent it. It penetrates not just your day-to-day activities but your very life and soul. When you struggle against sin you have the only power which can eradicate that sin—the Gospel. When you are crumbling under temptation you have the only power which can overcome that temptation—the very work of Jesus Christ Himself. From the very moment when Adam and Even fell into sin, God began scattering His Word in the lives of people. Prophets proclaimed the Word not just to the Israelites. The prophets proclaimed the Word near and far and far and wide. In the Church it continues this way as the Gospel is proclaimed throughout the world for all to hear. His scattering Word has come to culmination in the Word made flesh, His only-begotten Son. This was the messiest of all God’s work. He sent His Son not to show the way, or pave the way, or give a glimpse of what might be. He sent His Son to die. He gave His Son to be offered over on a cross where He ended up as a bloody mess. There He suffered for every sin, every ounce of guilt, every moment of eternal damnation every one of us deserves. God did not pick and choose who He gave His Son for. Jesus died on the cross for every single person, every single sin, for all guilt, for all eternal punishment. This is why His Word, which is scattered far and wide and throughout every aspect of your life is just a little bit messy. It’s not clean and compartmentalized as you might like it to be. Rather, He takes a very simple, but not always so easily containable, element, and pours out upon you His grace and mercy and forgiveness. In pouring out upon you the water of Baptism, His Word takes root in your heart and you are forgiven, you are saved. Could He have done this without the water being applied to you and splattering a bit on the font and on the baby’s face? Sure, He is all-powerful and can do anything. What He chose is to use simple water to bring you into His eternal Kingdom where you are given to know the mysteries of that Kingdom. What you are given in this new and eternal Baptismal life is Christ and Him crucified, delivered to you more and more throughout your life and often. As He was offered up on the cross in a bloody sacrifice, He is given to you in a Sacrament where you eat and drink the fruits of that sacrifice, His body and blood, given and shed for you for your forgiveness. You might still wonder or have questions, just as the disciples did. When you do, know that the seed is the Word. It is a scattering Word. It is a Word which goes forth and doesn’t return to God empty. It accomplishes the purpose for which God sent it. It is a Word for you to hear and for all to hear. It is a Word given freely to you and giving you the opportunity to freely give it to others. It is a Word which ultimately is bound up in the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, mysteries at their heart that are revealed in Jesus Christ and Him crucified, risen and ascended, given to you now and forever. Amen. SDG -- Pastor Paul L. Willweber Prince of Peace Lutheran Church [LCMS] 6801 Easton Ct., San Diego, California 92120 619.583.1436 princeofpeacesd.net three-taverns.net It is the spirit and genius of Lutheranism to be liberal in everything except where the marks of the Church are concerned. [Henry Hamann, On Being a Christian] _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list Sermons@cat41.org http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
