Plant the Seed, Hear the Word
Luke 8:5-14
February 20, 2022 anno Domini
The word “hear” occurs eight times in Luke 8. In case you didn’t notice that Jesus will help you, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Jesus tells a parable about all the obstructions to hearing God’s Word – hard hearts, temptations, worldly pleasure. These are your enemies. They shout in your ears and fill your mind and get in the way of your faith which receives God’s Word into your heart.
(Read vs. 5) Like last week’s parable, Jesus once again teaches the mystery of God’s Kingdom as one man going out – last week it was a vineyard owner, this week it is a farmer – a seed-sower. Most often that singular man is the Son of God, coming out of heaven to save us. In this parable it might be better to consider the Holy Spirit as the Sower and the Seed is Jesus – the Word made flesh. It is the Holy Spirit’s task to scatter the life-giving seed of Jesus all over the world by ordaining men to preach God’s Word.
The farmer sows his seed. How much of the seed does the farmer need to plant in hopes of a crop? Now I’m not asking how much seed, but how much of the seed (singular) must he plant. Could a cheap farmer gather up the chaff that came out the combine last fall and plant it? It is, after all, part of the wheat. It’s the stalk and the husk. Could he plant corn cobs? Cobs are cheap. Would they grow?
Why do I ask questions that even a non-farmer could easily answer? Because I want to ask you this – how much of Jesus must be planted in your ears to bring about your salvation? While you would consider a farmer foolish to plant chaff or corn cobs would you accept a pastor who said, “The Virgin Birth doesn’t matter. The miracles may or may not have happened. Jesus was ill-informed about modern human sexuality. It doesn’t matter if He really rose from the dead – it’s just a story to give you hope.” What if your pastor reduced Jesus down to “God is love” and that “love” means accepting and approving of sinful behavior? How much can you remove from the life-giving Word of Jesus until you’re planting chaff or corn cobs?
All Scripture is inspired by God. You break one commandment you break them all. The Prophets were commanded to speak every Word God said. Paul says he preached the “whole counsel” of God. What is Jesus without the Virgin birth? He is sinful. What is He without the miracles? A mere man whom others lied about. What is He without His resurrection? A dead hero. If He didn’t call the Apostles, there is no church. You could stay at home and have some me and Jesus time. If He didn’t institute baptism, absolution, and the Lord’s Supper you would have no way to receive His gifts. It’s either the whole Jesus or no Jesus. You can’t pull Him apart any more than you could plant part of the seed and expect it to grow.
You might think we’re above that in Missouri Synod. We’re not going to depart from God’s Word. That’s the problem with those liberal and inferior seed-sowers out there, not for us. Do you think you are above the temptation of ignoring parts of God’s Word you don’t’ want to hear? or that might call on you to sacrifice a pleasure or a sin?
That’s what the rest of the parable is about – all the enemies of the Word that prevent us from hearing it, receiving it, and taking it to heart by faith. Don’t these all soil conditions apply to us as baptized Christians?
Our hearts are hardened, especially to that Word which hits us too hard. The Word which closes the communion table to your daughter. The Word which leaves no excuse for missing church. The Word which cuts you open exposing your favorite sin, the word which says only men should be pastors. You know which seed you don’t want planted in your ears. I know the ones I would rather not preach for offending you. We would gladly let the Devil take away that Word like a bird plucking seed from the ground.
Our faith is shallow. You’re watered in baptism and are fully alive, but then you don’t live in baptism. You live far from the life-giving stream of God’s Word. You refuse to let His Word plow deep into your life, leading you to repentance so that His forgiveness can be planted deep in your heart. You don’t let Jesus sink His roots into you so when trouble comes, you don’t have His strength. You aren’t well-watered in the gifts of Christ given in your baptism, so the heat burns you up.
Then there’s the weeds, the thorns and thistles. There are so many weeds in this world that look alive and falsely promise a fruitful life. Think of all the worship we have rendered to the god of health these last two years. We have offered health billions of dollars, hung on every word of her high priests, sacrificed our freedoms, adopted her worship practices, partook of her sacraments. We even surrendered our worship of the true God on her altar. Don’t get me wrong. Health is good. Your body is a gift so look after it. But there are greater things to fear than death. Fear losing your faith. Fear being away from Jesus, for He and He alone is life.
This parable does call us to look at ourselves, but not for life. That’s the secret or better the mystery of this parable. It seems to be an instruction on how to be good soil, but God’s Word says you’re not good soil. Life is not found in you – dust you are and to dust you shall return because of sin. The mystery of this parable is that the sower scattered his seed on every kind of soil there is. That seed, Jesus, can bring life wherever He is planted into the ears of dead sinners. He can break open your hard heart. He can plant Himself deep into your heart. His love bears fruit far beyond the world’s pleasures and promises. He has done that to you, for you. You’re here, having Jesus planted in your ears. You’re good soil, because the Holy Spirit has planted Jesus through your ears deep into your heart. Jesus is bearing fruit in your life. You confess your sins and desire His forgiveness. You want to eat His body and drink His blood and that heavenly nourishment will bear fruit for you now and for all eternity.
The mystery of God’s Kingdom is that life isn’t found in you, it is found in Jesus. Soil without good seed produces nothing but weeds. The good seed enters the soil and brings life and fruit. That is why you called me to preach Jesus and why you promised to hear. That is why we both promised to be faithful to God’s Word, all of God’s Word, only God’s Word, all of Jesus, only Jesus. He was planted in a garden tomb for our sins and rose again three days later bearing the fruit of forgiveness for our sins and everlasting life. God wants us to have nothing less, so He scatters the seed and plants it in our hearts through our ears. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” In the name of Jesus. Amen.