1. Grace, mercy, and peace from God our heavenly Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. The message from God’s Word today, as we begin our Summer Sermon series on, “Parables for Pentecost,” is taken from Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23. It’s entitled, “The Reckless Sower,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow.” (Matt. 13:1–3) Why did Jesus tell the parable of the sower, and what’s the point of it? Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets [mysteries] of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.” (Matt. 13:10–11) So, Jesus’ parables are like the pillar of fire that lit the night for the Israelites fleeing from Egypt, but at the same time cast darkness on Pharaoh and his armies chasing them.
3. “The kingdom of heaven” means the same thing as “the kingdom of God.” Before the Gospels of Mark and Luke, Matthew was written when more of the Church was comprised of converted Jews, who have a hard time reading too many mentions of the name of God. So, the “kingdom of heaven.” And what does “kingdom” mean? Well, when we say kingdom in our day and age, we probably conjure up the idea of a place, a realm. The Kingdom of Great Britain, or the Magic Kingdom. But when the Bible talks about God’s kingdom, it’s not talking about so many square miles. Jesus said, “A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return” (Lk 19:12). Now the man didn’t haul a thousand square miles of land back with him. Receiving a kingdom means to be made king. To rule or reign, as in, “Jesus Christ, . . . who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.”
4. When Jesus talks about the “secrets [or mysteries] of the kingdom,” he’s teaching us about how God reigns, specifically through himself. And he told this parable because there was a question about it. Just prior to this passage, the religious rulers were already looking for a way to eliminate Jesus, for healing a man on the sabbath, among other things. They accused him of being an agent of Satan. The rulers demanded signs, after condemning him for performing signs! The crowds were divided.
5. All this opposition begged the question: “Hey, how come this isn’t working? Why don’t people just believe and follow Jesus?” It’s not effective. It wasn’t just followers in general but some well-known Bible characters who questioned God’s methods. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (Nathanael; Jn 1:46). “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” (John the Baptist; Lk 7:19). “Many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him” (the crowd; Jn 6:66). “They watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him” (Pharisees; Mk 3:2). “They all left him and fled” (the disciples; Mk 14:50). “Lord, this business of You offering heaven for free to anyone and everyone, and in return getting rejected, and persecuted on top of it, can’t be the way this is supposed to go!” Is it?
6. And so, comes the parable, and six more after it, explaining the secrets, the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. This first parable for today is different than the others because this one is the foundation for the other six. We have the parable itself, and the explanation. But the parable itself tells us more about the sower, Jesus. The explanation tells us more about the soils, the ones who hear Jesus. Here’s the deal: I’ve got good news and bad news. What would you like to hear first? Bad news, you say? Lutherans. I might have guessed. Okay, then, first, let’s read the explanation about you and me.
7. “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path” (Matt. 13:19). The word understand carries the sense of bothering to understand. Jesus is saying, “I know that many people are going to let my words go in one ear and out the other. They are not interested in understanding.” It’s true. A lot of people like Jesus’ style, his courage; they like his style on Palm Sunday with the parade on the donkey. But on Friday, it was easier to yell “Crucify!” than to take in what Palm Sunday was about. The problem is with the hearer, not with the word of the kingdom. This is one huge reason Jesus told this parable. Why did Jesus tell the parable? Let’s come right out and say it—changing the Word, changing the Gospel to fit the dirt. Marketing the dirt so we’ll know what kind of seed to use. Notice, there’s no mention of the sower, looking at the negative results and changing the “seed.”
8. Jesus did not say, “The sower threw seed on the path but didn’t use the right kind of seed. Therefore the birds came and devoured them.” He said they did not take it in, so the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. You’ve sown there too, haven’t you? Sure you have. And you got nothing. And you thought, “What am I doing wrong?” We all could be better at sharing the Gospel, showing Jesus more clearly, more accurately.
9. But tell the truth. It’s Jesus they didn’t want to take in. It may be exactly because you showed them Jesus clearly that you got no response. You didn’t do anything wrong. And neither did the Lord by sending you, or Isaiah, or Paul. The evil one that comes and snatches away what has been sown would be just as happy for results-orientated Christians to change the seed altogether. That would actually save the devil the trouble of snatching it away! Or maybe we’ve been that soil that says “No!” And we’re so afraid the seed will take root that we let the evil one snatch it away. How? Just hear the Word once in a while. That way, we can manage the germination and still run our own life.
10. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and receives it with joy, but he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. (Matthew 13:20–21) Rocky ground. I can’t help thinking how sad Jesus looked telling all this to Simon, whom he would very soon name “Peter”—literally, “Rocky”—who thought he had root in himself. He swore he did, but he fell away when trouble arose on account of the Word. Scary, isn’t it, when we realize we have no root in ourselves? Maybe that’s because we have our eyes on ourselves.
11. “As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful” (Matthew 13:22). The deceitfulness of riches! What riches are we talking about back then? A camel of your own? A deeper well in your backyard? Three extra tunics? If these are the distractions they let choke the Word out of their lives, how would they do in today’s amusement park we call everyday life? How did we even have a fighting chance—let alone turn ourselves into good dirt!
12. We did not figure out the secrets or mysteries of the kingdom on our own. “To you it has been given to know.” Jesus said the same thing earlier in Matthew 11:25, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children.” And later in Matthew 16:17 Jesus said, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven”. What’s Jesus saying? You are here, the one who hears the Word and understands it. You bear fruit and yield, “in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty” (Mt 13:23), not because you turned yourself into good dirt, but because he’s been waiting for you before you were conceived. How the seed took root in us is why it’s called the secret, the mystery of the kingdom! By God’s grace we took it in, and our hearts broke, he overtook us and distractions melted away, and our gaze was transferred from the thorns that choked our devotion to the thorns that pierced his brow . . . and we came alive!
13. St. Paul says, “You have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” (Rom 8:15–17) It was the seed that did all that! It was the Sower’s work. Jesus can say, “Hey, this ground is kind of ‘Peter-y,’ but I’m sowing there anyway.” He knows what he’s getting into. He knows how much work we will be. Look how carelessly and lavishly he sows! He throws seed everywhere! On the one hand, if rocky, hard hearts or shallow, worldly hearts say no, it’s not because they didn’t see their ship come in. On the other hand, we’re safe in His arms because the sower was reckless with the seed for all our sakes.
14. But why so reckless with the seed? Isn’t that too precious a message to squander on those who don’t have a clue and don’t want to? Oh, dear redeemed soil, his recklessness concerning you is much bigger than seed. He was reckless with his blood! He shall sprinkle many nations! He was reckless with his dignity! High and lifted up on the cross for you! He earned the right to scatter seed when he set his face toward Jerusalem and our cross!
15. As the Good Friday hymn says, “O sorrow dread! Our God is dead.” Big purchase! There is plenty of seed! And powerful seed! “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 shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Is 55:11). The success is God’s business, and he alone shall define success. Our happy business is to take in the Word, keep bearing fruit, and joyfully and recklessly sow seed with him, saying: “All is forgiven! Come home!” Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.
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