July 10 sermon

Text: Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
Preached July 10 at Trinity


Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

So what do plants need to flourish? Those of us who gathered on Wednesday evening considered this question, and our young people just helped us think through it again. The first thing they need, of course, is someone to plant them. “A sower went out to sow,” Jesus tells us. If God’s people are to grow and bear fruit, God’s word must be planted in the first place. We need a preacher!

Now, by “preacher,” I don’t just mean those of us who get to study and proclaim God’s word during the designated “sermon” time on Sunday morning. That is important, of course (at least, I think it is!). And so are all the other ways in which we share the good news. Jesus wasn’t talking only to pastors when he said at the end of Matthew’s gospel, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”

All of us—all of you—who know the story of God’s love made known in Christ are preachers. God has given you his promises—a promise that he has named and claimed you as his own, a promise that nothing in all creation can separate you from his love in Christ Jesus, a promise that he will one day raise his people to eternal life and make all things new. These promises are for you, and they are for everyone around you. That means it’s your job to get the word out there—to be a preacher of the good news!

As we talked about with the kids, this sower doesn’t exactly seem shrewd and skillful about his farming practices, does he? I know those of you who cultivate crops probably have GPS-guided equipment that tells you exactly where the seeds go, and a whole arsenal of other scientific and mechanical tricks to make your efforts as productive as possible.

But this sower doesn’t seem to care where his seeds end up. Thankfully, some of the seed does fall on good soil, where it can grow and produce grain. But some lands on the path, which would have been worn down by foot traffic so that plant roots couldn’t penetrate the crusty surface before it was snatched by birds. Some lands on the rocks, which prevent the roots from getting down into the soil. Some lands among thorns, which steal all the sun and water and nutrients and starve the good plants.

The sower doesn’t seem to have much concern for maximizing his yield through careful planting. Instead, there seems to be an abundance of seed and little worry for precision. This is how God works with his word—he scatters it all over the place, through all these preachers he’s commissioned. And so we go—you go—and spread that word far and wide, regardless of where it might end up.

It is true, of course, that conditions must be right for the plants to grow. The seed must get its roots into the soil. Jesus says, “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path.”

There are plenty of folks in Matthew’s gospel who hear but do not understand. How about the religious leaders who hear Jesus’ message but oppose him every step of the way? How about the crowds who seem to love the healings and miracles but eventually turn on Jesus and put him to death?

How about our own pride and prejudices? How often do we think we can do better on our own than with God’s guidance? How much does our culture emphasize individuality and following our own desires, not letting anyone tell us what to believe? The word cannot sink in when hearts and minds are not open to receive it.

Once it does penetrate that top layer of soil, the seed must be rooted deeply. Jesus continues: “As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away.”

If you’re anything like me, you can easily get excited about a new undertaking, but the enthusiasm isn’t always sustainable. It could be college majors, careers, or hobbies. You get fired up about something so you spend money on photography equipment or musical instruments or sewing supplies or sports gear. But, as soon as you realize you’re going to have to work hard to be any good at this new endeavor, your enthusiasm vanishes and your shiny new things sit unused.

This is not the nature of discipleship, is it? Discipleship is long-term. It has to weather all the good, bad, and unremarkable times. Christians do not live on enthusiasm alone, but discipleship happens amidst the mundane routines of daily life.

The occasional mountaintop experience of closeness with God can be rejuvenating, and it is a blessing when it happens, but it cannot be the central substance of our faith lives. Faith is nourished in the community of Christ’s body, the church, and sustained by God’s word, and the sacraments, and spiritual disciplines like prayer.

Persecution and suffering is a reality. The disciples and the early church faced plenty of reasons for despair—both physical harm and rejection of the message in which they believed. We too are vulnerable to the suffering of life and the rejection of our efforts to reach out with the good news of God’s love. We must have roots deep enough to handle these challenges if we are to continue to grow in Christ.

When the seeds are planted and they’ve managed to establish healthy roots, they aren’t home free yet. What if their territory gets crowded? “As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing.”

Even a novice gardener knows that it’s important to keep weeds out of the garden, so they don’t steal all the nutrients from the plants you want to grow. The word must have adequate space and nourishment.

Matthew tells us of a rich young man who asked Jesus what he must do to have eternal life. Jesus told him he should keep the commandments, and he also said, “sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and…follow me.” And the man went away grieving. It seems he just couldn’t give up his possessions.

Many of us live fast-paced lives, juggling competing demands and priorities. And many of these demands—like family, work, and service—are not at all bad or frivolous. But they can still be distracting. Sometimes when I’m taking classes in seminary, I get so caught up in what’s due next that I forget why I’m doing it in the first place.

Obvious distractions like greed are dangerous, but these other, very important, very good things can also cause problems for our discipleship. As Jesus told Martha, only one thing is needed.

Taking time for prayer, praise, study, and fellowship sets up a different paradigm for our time, reminding us that we are not the savior of the world and that all does not depend on us. Discipleship means being set apart from the world and its concerns, so that they do not choke us, even as we are planted firmly in the midst of them.

It’s clear, then, that plants have to have the right conditions in order to grow. And it’s clear that God’s word must be received under the right conditions in order to thrive. But there’s an important thing to note about bad soil—it cannot change itself. A crusty pathway can’t soften itself. A rocky patch can’t throw out the rocks. A plot full of weeds can’t remove them.

Just so, we cannot transform ourselves into good soil for God’s word. The sower sows the seed, but God works the soil. The disciples are a good example. They often don’t seem to understand what Jesus is up to, and eventually they betray and deny him as he dies. But Jesus doesn’t give up on them. He continues to teach, encourage, and love them, and he entrusts his mission to them as he ascends into heaven.

God does not give up on us either. He continually transforms us into receptive soil that bears good fruit. Through Christ, God makes us good soil, and God’s Spirit continually works on the spots in our lives that are still hardened, rocky, or thorny.

It’s also important to remember that we can’t change anyone else’s soil type any more than we can change our own. As we sow the seed of God’s promises, we may not always find a warm reception. But even in the face of indifference or hostility, we can’t tell when or where God is at work, transforming the hardened, rocky, or thorny parts of other people’s lives just as he does ours, making them into receptive soil that can hear and understand God’s message of love and grace.

So we sow God’s word extravagantly, no matter what condition the soil seems to be in, and we trust that God will give the growth. You farmers and gardeners surely don’t expect every single seed you plant to germinate. Some of them might wash away or get pounded by hail or wither up mysteriously. But you plant them anyway, trusting that there will be a harvest.

Isaiah’s metaphor of snow and rain in our first reading points to the transformational effect of God’s word in the lives of its hearers:

“For as the rain and snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

The moisture of snow and rain, in combination with good soil and sunshine, ensure food for the season. God’s word does what its hearers need it to do, bringing God’s promises even into treacherous territory.

This assurance gives us freedom to take risks for the gospel, recklessly scattering that good news all over the place with no requirements about the worthiness of the recipient. That’s how God works, after all—we are all unworthy recipients of grace, mercy, and forgiveness, but God gives it freely.

Faithful sowing means giving freely that which we have been freely given—trusting that God will give the growth so that the word “bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundred-fold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” Because, whether or not we can see it, God has promised that his word will not return empty, and the harvest is assured. And God keeps his promises. Amen.