Is the Seed Sower Unsuccessful?
Luke 8:4-15
February 12, 2022 anno Domini
Jesus’ parable is troubling, but that’s good. The whole point of God’s Word is to trouble us, to shatter our rock-hard hearts so that He can plant His Word in us and bring us to life.
The most obvious trouble with this parable is the apparent lack of success for the Sower and His Seed. If a farmer in Minnesota regularly only got ¼ of his crop to produce each year, he should sell the farm and move to Saint Cloud, where every business and restaurant is hiring. He might even get a signing bonus.
The apparent failure of the Seed Sower is even more troubling when Jesus tells us this mysterious parable is about the Kingdom of God. Does God only have success in 1 out of 4 people? Statistically, among Christians, that is about how many come to church on a Sunday. How many people think they are Christian because they are members of a church or once were? How many think their faith can be maintained by making the occasional appearance in the Lord’s house? Or worse, how many come to the Lord’s house every week, but willingly hold on to their sin and walk lockstep with the world all week. Repent, this is not God’s failure. It is your own.
Then, between the parable and its explanation Jesus tells us another mystery about the nature of parables. Through the parables believers are given to know the mysteries of God’s Kingdom, but for others … seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.
Using those words “seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand” Jesus is taking us back to Isaiah the prophet. In Isaiah 6, Isaiah is commanded by Yahweh, the Lord, to preach. This happens right after Isaiah is called. We sing about this in the Sanctus before the Lord’s Supper. Isaiah is taken into the heavenly temple where the Lord is seated. He sees the Seraphim, those six-winged angels who with covered faces sing, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God of hosts.” Then Isaiah is consecrated to preach by having his mouth cleansed with a burning coal from the altar and he is ordained a prophet. Vicar, be thankful your eventual ordination will be far less painful, but no less serious.
After Isaiah said his “amen” to the Lord’s ordaining, the Lord told him to preach with these words, “Go and say to this people:
“Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive
Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” Isaiah 6:9-10
Don’t you think Isaiah found this troubling? He has just been ordained a prophet. He was ordered to preach and then told by the Lord that his preaching will make the people’s hearts dull – literally fat and a fat heart will kill you. His preaching would blind their eyes and stop their ears. Even more disturbing is that it sounds like this is the Lord’s will, that He doesn’t want His people to hear and turn and be healed.
What is the answer to this problematic parable of the failed farmer? What unlocks the mystery as it relates to the poor preaching of prophet Isaiah? Well, you know the answer and the key. It’s Jesus.
How is Jesus doing in the world right now? How is His Word fairing in the Minnesota? In Saint Cloud? In the churches that bear the name of Christ? How is He doing in your heart, in your marriage, in your home, among your children, and grandchildren?
What’s the point of the parable? It is not failure or success. It is planting. “Preach you the Word and plant it home. To those who like or like it not.” And that Word is Jesus. The seed is the Word of God and Saint John tells us Who or What is that Word. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. (John 1:1 & 14a) Using the parable we can correctly say the Word was planted in our midst. Jesus, true God and true man, was first planted in Mary’s womb by the Holy Spirit, then He was planted in the tomb in death, and finally He rose to life never to die again. Jesus made sure through His Apostolic Church that His Word is still planted in our hearts through our ears and mouths. That Word, that Seed, is life and there is life nowhere else.
Where does the seed take root? In good soil – plowed soil, weed-free and rock-picked soil. To plant Jesus a preacher must first till and kill everything else in the soil, by preaching the Law. Do your ears want to hear about your sins? How do you think the thousands of drivers on Third Street would respond if our sign read, “Abortion is Murder” or “Marriage is One Man and One Woman” or “Boys are Boys and Girls are Girls. Thus says the Lord.” All of that is preaching Jesus and planting Him home.”
Why do we defend the unborn? Because God created the unborn in His image. Because Jesus Himself was unborn in the womb of Mary. Because God wills that men and women in marriage create life that He can save. Marriage is only one man and one woman because that is the only union that can produce life. Christ describes His relationship with us as a marriage. He is the Groom and we are the bride, and united to Him we have life. Divorced from Him there is only death. Every doctrine and teaching we hold finds it center and substance in Christ. We do not hold to these teachings because of politics or society. We hold to these teachings because they are God’s Word, because they center on Christ.
We preach the Word and plant it home because Jesus is life. He is your life. At the end of the parable the Word finds good soil in which it takes root and produces a crop a hundredfold. This is another mystery which only believers can understand. The soil is inert. It does nothing. The Seed is planted by Someone else and the soil receives that which gives life. You are passive in salvation, while God in Christ is active. You cannot boast about being good soil. You can only boast about the good Seed that has brought life into your dead world. Does this confession come easy to us? Is it easy to say, “This is entirely my fault?” and then when something wonderful and joyous happens to say, “I don’t deserve this, but all thanks and praise to God.”
We preach the Word and plant it home because God can and does make good soil all over His creation, even where the Devil roams, where hearts are rock hard, and where the cares and pleasures of the world surround and abound. If God can make a pine tree grow in a chunk of granite, how much more the living seed of Jesus? It was not up to Isaiah to make the Word successful. It is not up to your pastor to grow the Church nor is it up to you to make your children or grandchildren believe. Pastors are to preach the Word and plant Jesus home. The Holy Spirit is the One who allows the Word to be trampled deep enough until it cracks the granite of our hearts and brings life. Parents and grandparents are to preach that Word and plant it home in their families. If want your children and grandchildren to have life, give them children’s Bibles and have a collection of Arch books from Cconcordia in your home. You should always have devotions, but make sure to do so with your grandchildren. Pray with them at meals and before bed. The Devil is hard at work in the government, in schools, and sadly in many churches to trample God’s Word and to snatch Jesus from us. God promises His Word will accomplish the purpose for which He sends it, and that purpose is life.
Don’t worry about success – the angels in heaven rejoice over one sinner who repents. On the last day if that one is your child or grandchild your joy in heaven will be a hundredfold and you will see the abundant harvest of your good works. To you it has been given the mysteries of Gods’ Kingdom, the mystery that God became a man, that Jesus brings life in the deadest places, that God’s Son died for a dead sinner like you, so preach that Word in whatever Satan filled, rocky, thorn infested place God puts you this week and plant it home, because that Word is life, for you and the world. In the name of Jesus. Amen.