A Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
A Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
St. Matthew 13:1-43
by William Klock
Seeds. Matthew 13—most of it at least—is all about seeds. Well, sort of. It’s about the kingdom of God. But Jesus told the people about the kingdom using the imagery of seeds, because it was something familiar to them. Obviously, they lived in an agrarian society, but more than that, the God of Israel had been using this imagery of seeds going all the way back to the Prophets and even back to Abraham. Remember his promise all the way back at the beginning: he promised to bless the nations through Abraham’s seed. In other words, to set the world to rights through Abraham’s descendants, through his family. This image carries on through the prophets. The seed grew and became a tree—or in other places it became a vine—but it failed to bear fruit. The Lord warned that he would come to prune the dead wood—or even to cut the whole tree down. And yet there was reason to hope. The Lord keeps his promises. Even if the tree were to be cut down, the seed would remain—and it would put forth a new shoot. No matter how bad things might get, there was always reason to hope in the Lord.
And so, as Chapter 13 begins, St. Matthew tells us that Jesus sat in a boat on the Sea of Galilee, just off from shore, to preach to a crowd on the beach. “He had much to say to them, and he said it all in parables,” writes Matthew in verse 3. And so Jesus begins:
“Look!,” he said, “Once there was a sower who went out to sow. As he sowed, some seed fell beside the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some seed fell on rocky soil, where it didn’t have much earth. It sprang up at once because it didn’t have depth of soil. But when the sun was high it got scorched, and it withered because it didn’t have any root. Other seed fell in among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. And other seed fell in good soil, and produced a crop, some a hundred times over, some sixty, and some thirty times over. If you’ve got ears, listen!”
The people had seen the Messiah things that Jesus was doing throughout Galilee. Blind eyes and deaf ears opened, lepers cleansed and the dead raised. Demons ran at his command. In Jesus, God was on the move. It was obvious. The long winter was coming to an end. Everywhere Jesus went the ground thawed and flowers began to spring up. At the same time, it wasn’t what they expected. They knew the prophecies. They knew the word of the Lord. They knew his promises and they knew he was faithful. And so they knew he would come to their rescue. Like a sower sowing his seed, the Lord would one day sow Israel in her own land. And so when Jesus began to tell a story of a sower going out to sow, they listened. But it wasn’t quite the story they were expecting. The story Jesus told was a story of failure after failure after failure before—eventually—success! Jesus was telling the story of Israel. Over and over God had spoken. Over and over he had sent his emissaries: priests, judges, kings, and prophets to speak his word and to set things to rights. But the people wouldn’t listen. But now something was changing. Jesus had their attention. “If you’ve got ears, listen!” Jesus says. In other words, “I get it. This isn’t what you expected. It’s hard to understand. But things are different this time. Really! Stick with me. Keep watching. Keep listening. And you’ll figure it out. You’ll see that God is faithful.” Eventually they would understand—at least some of them would—but for now thy were just confused.
So were the disciples. So, Matthew says, they “came to him. ‘Why are you speaking to them in parables?” they asked. So Jesus answered: “You have been given the gift of knowing the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. But they haven’t. Anyone who already has something will be given more, and they will have plenty. But anyone who has nothing—even what they have will be taken away! That’s why I speak to them in parables, so that they may look but not see, and hear but not understand or take it in.”
Well, that doesn’t seem very helpful, does it? Every once in a while I hear someone claim that there are secret codes hidden in the Bible. So far I have yet to discover that any of these secret codes is actually there. The idea itself runs against the purpose of scripture. God speaks because he wants us to hear him and to know him. If scripture is hard to understand, that’s on us, not on him. But if that’s true, why would Jesus speak in riddles. That’s how the disciples saw it. And they knew: in Jesus the most important thing that had ever happened was happening. Everyone needed to know about it. So why not just say it plainly? The thing is that it was the same for them as it is for us. Jesus was speaking plainly. Everyone knew that when he told a story about a sower planting seed, he was talking about the Lord sowing his promises for Israel. They knew their story. They knew the prophets. The problem wasn’t with Jesus. The problem was with the people who thought they had it all figured out already. The problem was with the people who thought the Messiah should come, for example, to take up a sword and establish his kingdom the way other kings established theirs. And because they thought they had it all figured out, they weren’t hearing what Jesus was plainly and simply saying.
So Jesus says to the disciples (verse 14): “Isaiah’s prophecy is coming true in them [in the people].” And he quotes from Isaiah 6:9-10. This was the Lord’s commissioning and sending of Isaiah. He was to go and say to the people, “You will listen but won’t understand, you will look but not see. This people’s heart has gone flabby and fat, their ears are muffled and dull, their eyes are darkened and shut; in order that they won’t see with their eyes or hear with their ears, or know in their heart, or turn back again for me to restore them.”
Imagine being called as a prophet and the first message you’re to declare is that no one will understand you. What the Lord had promised to Isaiah was now being fulfilled in Jesus. Like Isaiah, he would speak plainly, but the muffled ears of the people would be unable to hear. Jesus goes on and says to his disciples: “But there’s great news for your eyes: they can see! And for your ears: they can hear! I’m telling you the truth: many prophets and holy people longed to see what you see and didn’t see it, and to hear what you hear and didn’t hear it.”
Now, the disciples knew their Bible. They knew that in that same passage of Isaiah—in verse 13—they knew that was when the Lord spoke of judging the tree that was Israel. All that would be left was a stump, and yet, says the Lord, “That stump is the holy seed.” It was a prophecy of judgement followed by restoration. So this is what would be in their heads as Jesus explains the parable to them.
“This is what the sower story is all about,” Jesus went on. “When someone hears the word of the kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in the heart. This corresponds to what was sown beside the path. What was sown on rocky ground is the person who hears the word and immediately receives it with delight, but doesn’t have any root of their own. Someone like that only lasts a short time; as soon as there’s any trouble or persecution because of the word, they trip up at once. The one sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but the world’s worries and the seduction of wealth choke the word and it doesn’t bear fruit. But the one sown on good soil is the one who hears the word and understands it. Someone like that will bear fruit: one will produce a hundred times over, another sixty, and another thirty times over.”
So God’s kingdom is coming. That’s the point of Jesus’ parable. But his point is also that it’s not coming the way people expected. Most people expected the kingdom to come in a blaze of glory. The Lord would return to his people and defeat their enemies. He would set everything to rights. He would bring justice and peace and righteousness, beginning in Jerusalem and then extend his righteous rule throughout the earth. But Jesus’ parable says that, no, that’s not how God’s kingdom will come. In fact, instead of coming with a blaze of glory, it’s instead going to be like seed sown on the ground. It’s going to start quietly, many won’t listen at first, but it will slowly and surely grow. Because this is how the Lord works. The story is as much about the history of Israel as it is about the people of First Century Judah or people today.
This is how the Lord works and there’s a good reason for it. The world is not as it should be. We long for the Lord to set it to rights. But for him to come back in a blaze of glory to deal justly with the world’s sin problem would mean that every last one of us would stand condemned. This is why, along with his promises to set the world to rights, the Lord also spoke through the Prophets to say that he is patient and merciful and because of that, his judgement will be delayed so that (1) he can provide a means of salvation for us and so that (2) people will have time to hear this good news and believe. The word—the seed—has to be sown and it needs time to germinate and grow.
This is what the people of Jesus’ day needed to understand. Not only did they need this gospel seed in order to know God’s mercy in the face of coming judgement, but so did the nations. They thought the Lord would come, congratulate them for their faithfulness, set them on top of the heap, and then rain down fire and brimstone on the gentile nations, but the truth of the matter was, that they needed to be set right just as much as the gentiles did and it would be through the Lord’s faithfulness to his people on display in the Messiah, that a new people would be born, that judgment would come on unfaithful Israel—and all of this before the eyes of the watching gentiles who would stand in awe of the God of Israel and be drawn to him in faith. The Lord will set Israel and the world to rights, not only by judging sin, but even more so through his grace and mercy to those who believe. This is how God would make good on his promises.
Now, as I’ve been pondering this parable, one caution came to mind. The parable was Jesus’ way of telling the story of Israel. God had sown the seed of his word over and over and people—or most of them—didn’t listen. The seed didn’t take root. And Jesus’ point is that in him, this time, God was doing something new. In him, the seed, the word had become flesh. This time, through Jesus, the Lord would do something he’d never done before: he would pour out his Spirit. And because of Jesus and the Spirit, the seed would finally grow and flourish—thirty, sixty, a hundred times over.
Brothers and Sisters, Jesus and the Spirit have changed everything. So I think we need to be at least a little cautious in how we think of this parable, because what we usually do when we hear about the seed on the path or the steed on the rocky soil, or the seed choked by thorns, what we usually do is say something like, “Don’t be that kind of soil. Don’t let the birds take away the seeds. Don’t let the thorns choke it out. Be the good soil. Let the seed grow and put down deep roots.” And there is something to be said for that. People do let the cares of the world choke out gospel seed planted in them. Some people are rocky soil and the seed looks like it’s going to grow and then it withers and dies. But here’s the point—and never forget—that because of Jesus and because of the Spirit, everything is different. They make the soil fertile and that’s why God’s word, ever since, has done what it has done. That’s why the church exists. That’s why this good news about the God of Israel has gone out and conquered the nations. Because Jesus and the Spirit have made the soil fertile. Without them the gospel seed will never take root and grow. That’s something else to remember in our ministry and evangelism. We are stewards. We’re called to plant the seed. But it is Jesus and the Spirit who cause it to grow.
That doesn’t mean we should just be passive hearers of the word. Do the work. Get rid of the rocks in the soil. Pull the weeds that might choke it out. But there’s a promise here that if we will faithfully steep ourselves in God’s gospel word, Jesus and the Spirit will cause it to take root and grow. And if we will proclaim it, Jesus and the Spirit will grow the kingdom.
Now, Matthew continues, Jesus put another parable to them. Verse 24: “The kingdom of heaven is like this. Once upon a time a man sowed good seed in his field. While the workers were asleep, his enemy came and sowed weeds in among the wheat, and went away. When the crop came up and produced wheat, then the weeds appeared as well. So the farmer’s servants came to him. “Master,” they said, “didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?” “This is the work of an enemy,” he replied. “So,” the servants said to him, “do you want us to go and pull them up?” “No,” he replied. “If you do that you’ll probably pull up the wheat as well while you’re collecting the weeds. Let them both grow together until the harvest. Then, when it’s time for the harvest, I will give the reapers this instruction: First gather the weeds and tie them up in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”
Again, it’s in our nature to want God to act right now. We’re tired of the pain and the tears. We’re tired of sin and death. Why does God allow evil to continue? In the next breath, Jesus tells the disciples that “the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. It’s the smallest of all the seeds, btu when it grows it turns into the biggest of the shrubs. It becomes a tree, and the birds in the sky can then come and nest in its branches.” But, of course, the tree doesn’t grow all at once. That takes many, many years. And then he talks about a different kind of “seed”: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid inside three measures of flour, until the whole thing was leavened.”
Just the other day I saw a video in which a woman went on an angry rant about how her first attempt at bread went horribly wrong. She turned her bread pan upside down and the loaf fell out and hit the floor with a loud “thud”. She picked it up and banged it on the counter: “Clunk, clunk!” “I followed the recipe exactly!” she yelled. “Why didn’t it work?” And then in the comments she revealed that, yes, she’d mixed all the ingredients correctly, but she never let the dough rise. She said she didn’t have time for that.
And sometimes we feel like we don’t have time—or we shouldn’t have to wait for God’s word to do its work. I have to remind myself all the time as a pastor to be patient. God’s word doesn’t grow people (or the kingdom) overnight. You probably—or you should—have to remind yourselves that God’s word doesn’t grow pastors overnight either. It takes time. That’s why the Lord uses this imagery of God’s word as seed all through scripture.
But this also means we need to be patient and to wait for the Lord to do his thing. The disciples weren’t sure they understood this and they asked Jesus what the parable of the wheat and the weeds meant and Jesus said, “The one who sows the seed is the son of man. The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one; the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are the angels. So when the weeds are gathered and burned in the fire, that’s what it will be like at the close of the age. The son of man will send out his angels, and they will collect together out of his kingdom everything that causes offense, and everyone who acts wickedly. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. If you have ears, listen!”
God’s word will do its work. The kingdom will grow. The enemy will sow weeds in its midst, but nothing can stop God’s word from bringing the life he sent it out to bring. As surely as the mustard seed will grow into a giant tree. As surely as the little lump of dough will rise and fill the bowl, God’s kingdom will do the same. If you ever doubt that, just remember what Jesus says here: “The one who sows the seed is the son of man”—is Jesus himself. Jesus (and the Spirit) will grow the kingdom and nothing the devil can do will stop that. And we can trust that one day God’s justice will confront our old enemies, sin and death, and put an end to them forever. I think that what Jesus had in mind here was the judgement soon to come on Judah, Jerusalem, and the temple but as that judgement showed God’s faithfulness to his promises, it also points forward to that time at the end of history, that time when the seed has grown into the great tree, when the leaven has worked its way through the whole loaf, when the gospel has gone out and the glory of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea, we can trust that God will deal with the wicked and with sin and death once and for all and the righteous will shine like the sun. That’s an image of resurrection that Jesus takes from the Prophet Daniel.
When something doesn’t seem right or when it doesn’t seem like it’s going to work, the experts love to say “trust the process”. And, Brothers and Sisters, that’s exactly what Jesus is asking us to do. He’s planted the seed himself. He’s shed his own blood to water the soil. He’s given God’s Spirit to make the soil of human hearts fertile. And he’s done none of that in vain. His gospel seed will surely grow and if it seems like it’s taking too long, remember that it’s all for the sake of his grace and mercy—grace and mercy you and I already know, but grace and mercy that the rest of the world still needs to know for themselves. Grace and mercy that, like the death and resurrection of Jesus, reveal the God who is worthy of glory, honour, and praise.
Let’s pray: Heavenly Father, keep your household the Church continually in your true religion; that those who lean only on the hope of your heavenly grace may always be defended by your mighty power, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.