Sermon
– July 12, 2020 Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
Grace
to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Listen!
It’s
an attention-getter, isn’t it? It makes you sit up a little, pay attention,
alerts you – this is important. Your entire mind needs to be focused on just
this. Put aside your other thoughts. If a teacher says listen, what
follows might save your grade. If a safety instructor says listen, what
follows might save your life. If the Lord Jesus says it, what follows may save
your soul.
To
listen, of course, means more than just to hear noises. One can be in the
presence of someone speaking and the words may not even register. This may even
be happening right now. But insofar as we are considering the words of Jesus,
we owe it to him to listen. And to listen with understanding.
Jesus
uses an image that his hearers would have been familiar with in order to move
them to something else. This is not about seeding practices or soil
conservation, important though these things may be. This is about God, and his
people. This is about what God intends for his people, and about what can get
in the way of what God intends for his people.
And
by virtue of being baptized into Christ’s death and hearing his words, you are
part of this people. You now are the seeded ones, the ones who are destined to
bear fruit for God. Earlier in Matthew’s Gospel his disciples heard that they
were to let their light shine before others so that others may see their good
works and glorify their Father in heaven. Now in a parable we hear that we are
seeded to bear fruit for the kingdom.
The
seeding is the beginning. But to bear fruit, a seed must be buried in the soil,
take root, and have space to grow. There are many obstacles, as the most rank
amateur gardener knows. A thin layer of dirt can hide a bed of rocks which
prevents a plant from taking hold. Invasive, unfruitful plants can choke out a
small fruit-bearing plant struggling to stay alive. A good gardener will make
sure that the soil is deep, rich, clear and prepared so that the seeds can take
root and produce what was intended.
I
did say this parable wasn’t about gardening, right? This is about listening to
understand, and when understanding happens there can be action. God
intends for us to bear fruit. He intends for his Word to dwell in us and that
it should transform our lives so that we are messengers of his kingdom to
others. But there are many obstacles.
We
may not be in the first group Jesus likens to the seed that falls upon the hard
path on the edge of the field. These are the hard-hearted, those who will not
even receive God’s word initially. We might be proud of ourselves for that.
The
second group are the rootless. Note carefully that they do not immediately
reject the Word like the first group. But when the going gets tough, their
faith withers and shrivels up. Their surface faith is not strong enough to
withstand persecution.
People
are fond these days of saying that Christians are persecuted. Perhaps so. There
are many kinds of hard and soft persecutions. We in America do not have a claim
to the life-and-death persecution that others face. We have recourse to lawyers
and courts and our nation has a long-standing Constitution guaranteeing the
freedom of worship.
But
there is a soft persecution all must face. It is a persecution that would
deride us as silly and stupid for even believing in a God at all. It does come
from our opinion-forming elites. And it is difficult to deal with, not least
because it makes us defensive and angry.
The
point is that any persecution, whether it be the hard persecution of the threat
of life or expulsion from the body politic, or the much softer persecution of
elite snobbery, demands more than a surface faith.
The
third group are those who are choked out by other plants. The soil is warm,
welcoming, and deep, the root has grown to its full extent. But other plants
grow tall and overshadow, preventing the sunlight from reaching the small
plant, and it does not yield the potential it has.
Now
we may be on familiar territory. We all must deal with the cares of the world
and the lure of wealth, which Jesus says choke the Word so that it does not
produce. All of us have cares, and all of us need some of the wealth of the
world, for God intends for us to live and flourish. However, there is another
flourishing which is beyond the power of wealth to give and with which the
cares of the world can interfere. For Jesus says in another place,
So
do not worry, saying ‘What shall we eat,’ and, ‘What shall we drink?’ and ‘What
shall we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who worry about such things, and indeed,
your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first his
kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you as
well.’
When
we are overly focused on our cares and our needs, then we push out the
necessity of the Word to dwell in us. But when we seek the kingdom, our cares
and our needs are ordered correctly.
Finally
we reach the planted seeds that have reached their full potential. They fall on
the deep rich soil, root themselves deeply, and the sun and rain reach them.
They stretch themselves toward the sky and bear fruit in abundance.
The
ones who hear the Word and understand it are like these seeds. Understanding
leads to faith, and faith also begets action. This is the life to which we are
called, so that we also can spread the knowledge and understanding of God’s
Word.
And
yet what if we do not understand? This is not an uncommon worry – for we often
feel like those who simply cannot comprehend the mysteries of God’s Word to us.
We may wonder if we are not more like those seeds on the path, not deep enough
for the Word to take root in our lives.
What
do we do in such a situation? We ask Jesus for understanding. This happens in
prayer, but it also happens when we turn to those who have taught and
interpreted the Word in the Tradition of the Church. Matthew is such a one, but
there are others. And we glean what we can from their knowledge, and we ask God
to complete our lack of understanding.
For
this is what the disciples did, when they were at a loss. They did not go away,
but stayed with Jesus and asked him in private what his words meant. And Jesus
was gracious in giving an interpretation. He does not despise our lack of
understanding, but he rewards those who ‘seek the kingdom of heaven and its
righteousness.’
May
this be our aim, to understand the Word, that we may be those seeds sown in
hope and harvested in gladness, having borne the fruit of faith and action for
the kingdom of heaven.
The
Rev. Maurice C. Frontz
St.
Stephen Lutheran Church
