Sixth
Sunday after Pentecost
July
16, 2017
Matthew
13:23
Christ
Makes the Soil Good
In
the name of the Father
and
of the ☩
Son
and
of the Holy Spirit.
Amen!
Jesus
taught His people with stories. This parable is a straight-forward
story about farming, about seeds and how they grow. And the point of
the story is that more Jesus is always better.
The
seeds fall all over the ground. This is seed-sowing is like Jesus,
whose saving death and resurrection have been heard all over the
world. The seed is sown by the preaching of pastors and the prayers
of fathers with their wives and children. But there are sadly many
who hear Jesus, but nothing grows.
The
following explanations point out, not cradle-to-grave heathen
unbelievers, but instead those who at one point believed, but do so
no longer.
So
some seeds fall on the side of the road. Jesus said this represents
those who hear Him, but don’t listen to Him. For example, what was
last Sunday’s sermon about? You might think:
(1)
I remember!
(2)
Oh no, I can’t remember!
(3)
Who cares? It’s just the same old thing every week.
This
last reaction is what this roadside seed is about. They heard Jesus
and they just don’t care.
Some
seeds fall onto rocky shallow ground. These are those who hear Jesus,
but only hear what they want to hear. This is usually the
happy stuff. They load up on the John 10 and Psalm 23, the Good
Shepherd Jesus; they love Christmas Eve and Easter Morning, animals,
a cute baby, angels, the obviously glorious Christ. Noah’s Ark is
fine as along as it’s the happy boat with smiling animals popping
out.
But
they never want much else. Good Friday and the crucified Christ—pass.
The righteous judgment against the people of Noah’s day and the
judgment that is coming also for the people of our time—skip. Jesus
declares that He brings swords and division to our homes and
churches—no thanks.
Other
seeds fall among thorns. These are those who hear Jesus, but the
world’s priorities end up running their lives. The world tells us
how to spend our time, perhaps always working, perhaps always having
fun. These people knew Jesus, they liked Him, but they just love the
world more.
Finally
there is the seed on good soil. Jesus explained:
And
the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who
hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings
forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.”
MATTHEW
13:23 NASB 1995
Why
does the seed grow here? Because the soil is good. Unfortunately in
much Christian art, drama, and music, even among things labeled
“Lutheran”, the idea is that you make yourself ready for Jesus by
being good soil.
Being
good soil to make God like you is a theme of another story Jesus
told. He told a story about a father who allowed his younger son to
take his inheritance and leave home to chase wine and women. But in
the end the father brought the younger son back into his home and
family and threw a feast to celebrate his son’s return to life. But
the older brother was furious with his father’s generosity.
“Look!
For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected
a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so
that I might celebrate with my friends; but when this son of yours
came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the
fattened calf for him.”
LUKE
15:29-30 NASB 1995
Like
the older brother in the story of the Prodigal, this idea that we
make ourselves good soil for God by following the rules (and of
course, never God’s Commandments, but instead whatever rules you
can keep and are comfortable with) actually put you back into the
thorns.
Christ
makes you good soil. He makes you good with Himself, His Word. To use
His metaphor, He takes bad soil like us and makes us alive. This is
the miracle of faith. He takes dead things and makes them alive by
His Word and promise.
The
soil that Christ Jesus has made good produces fruit. This fruit takes
many shapes and sizes and may take time to appear. Most of the life
of these good plants is in the necessary, but unseen roots
underground. But fruit will appear. And indeed our greatest work is
listening to Jesus.
So
more Jesus is always better. More Jesus at home, listening to His
Word is always better. More Jesus at church is always better, too,
and not necessarily longer sermons, but certainly more opportunities
to receive His body and blood on Sunday morning.
For
even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to
give His life as a ransom for many. Amen!
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