The Statistics of Death and Life
St. Luke 8:4-15
February 23, 2025 anno Domini
Three quarters of you are not listening to my sermon. Isn’t that what Jesus’ parable is saying? The seed is the Word of God being scattered in the ears of people, yet three-fourths of the time the soil doesn’t receive it.
Would it make you feel better if we broadened it a little bit? We could run the numbers on the church. Three-quarters of the Christians in the world aren’t believers. Statistically that bears out. On average only ¼ of the members of a congregation attend church.
The statistics even work on the world. About 2.4 billion people in the world claim the name Christian. The world population is 8 billion. That’s around one in four, not a perfect fraction or percentage, but close.
However you interpret Jesus’ parable there’s nothing over which to rejoice or boast. If you only pay attention to ¼ of my sermon today or only listen to one out of four sermons or only show up to church 1 in 4 Sundays, repent. Concentrate. Fight against distractions. Block out the cares and worries of the world. Pray. Listen. Come to church more often than you do.
We shouldn’t do theology according to statistics. Let me give you an example. According to our latest statistics Redeemer has 254 baptized members and an average attendance of 123. Should we boast that we’re better than the dirt in Jesus’ parable? I don’t think so. Those 129 souls, who don’t come to church, at some point were connected to the body of Christ, at some point desired the Word and the Lord’s Supper, and now they don’t. The Word has been snatched from them, their faith has withered or been choked out by the cares of the world.
Statistics don’t work well in matters of of life and death. Flying is the safest mode of transportation but tell that to those passengers on the Delta Jet in Toronto. If you just received the diagnoses of cancer it doesn’t matter if the chemotherapy is effective 75% of the time. You want it to be effective on you. If you’re facing surgery, the doctor is going to tell you the survival rate. 90% is good. Unless you’re in the 10%.
The one statistic that Jesus would want us to remember from this parable is that 100% of us will die. Biblically it is more correct to say that 100% of us are dead.
There is no life in this parable at all without the seed. Not on the path, not in the stones, not among the thorns, not even in the good soil. The parable describes the world, our congregation, you. Because of sin life is a hard road, a beaten path, with the Devil swooping down to disturb and destroy you. Life isn’t a rose garden. It is a rock pile filled with hard places, hard people, and hard hearts. Ever since Adam sinned God’s good garden has been filled with thorns, not only those things which make work difficult, but also those things which choke the life of God’s Word out of you.
Not only are you dead in sin, but according to the parable you don’t want His Word of life either.
Why aren’t you listening to God’s Word? Because your heart is hard. There a parts of God’s Word you don’t like, don’t want, can’t stand. And it probably has to do your favorite sin or your big sin, or the sins of your child or grandchild. It might be God’s Word about closed communion or divorce and remarriage or tithing or your children not going to church or your grandchildren not being baptized or your nephew wanting to be called your niece. The Devil has convinced you that it’s safer for you if he take bits and pieces of God’s Word away. The Devil wants, or so he says, what’s best and easy for you.
Why aren’t you listening to God’s Word? Because you don’t want it to get too deep into your life. Keep it shallow. If it should penetrate too far it might just upend your life (or your deadly desires).
Why aren’t you listening to God’s Word? Because the cares and pleasures of the world are choking out your time to hear the Word, to be in the Word, to gladly learn the Word and obey it.
100% of us have problems hearing God’s Word. If that wasn’t the case, the Sower would stop sowing, but He hasn’t. The seed is the Word of God. God plants it in your ears. I’m still here – ordered to preach that Word and plant it home. You’re still here to hear that Word. Preaching and hearing will stop when Christ returns. Then the harvest will be gathered and saved, and the straw, stubble, and weeds will be burned.
There’s something in every parable that is quite obvious and there’s also something quite mysterious. The obvious point of this parable is that the Sower wants a harvest. He wants his field to be fruitful and multiply. He wants those seeds to sprout and grow and produce fruit. If you want fruit you need to plant a tree. If you want your own tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers, till your garden and plant your seeds. Don’t worry about zucchini, you can always get those for free.
God scatters the seed of His Word because He wants you to have life. Life is in the seed and the seed is the Word of God and the Word of God is Jesus. Every place the seed lands in the parable is dead and barren – a dead path, a rock garden, thorn infested soil. Even the soil in which the seed finally takes root would produce nothing without the seed.
As I said earlier – all that we have on our own is death, because all we have on our own is sin. In a week and a half, we’ll gather on Ash Wednesday to hear these words, “Dust you are and to dust you shall return.” At your graveside the pastor will say, “Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” Dirt is simply decomposing stuff that once lived. That’s you. That’s me.
Into our dirt God sowed His seed – the Son of God, the Word of God, the Word made flesh. The Son of God is the seed planted in the dead earth. The living God became man. He took on our dirt, our filth, our rotten decomposing thoughts, words, and deeds. Jesus of Nazareth died for our sins and was planted in a garden. And from that deed seed, life springs forth, first Jesus, then the 12, then the 120, then the 3000 on Pentecost day.
The mystery of this parable is how much God wants you to have life. He’ll spare nothing. The Sower sows seed everywhere. He is not frugal or miserly. He scatters Jesus all over because He wants all to have life.
The seed is the Word of God and the Word of God in Christ is this, “Your sins are forgiven. Even though you die you will live. Your body will rise on the last day.” Having given you that life God expects fruit. Note the order. Bearing fruit doesn’t produce life. A living plant produces fruit. Good works do not earn life with God, rather the life God has given you produces fruit. Good works spring from faith.
One reason this parable was chosen to prepare us for Lent is because Lent is a time during which Christians are called on to bear fruit – through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving (charity). Lent calls us to spend more time in God’s Word and prayer. Deny yourself some of your luxuries. Fast from alcohol or sweets or your phone. Deny yourself so that you can live for others. Don’t go out to eat and donate that money to charity. Or try tithing or more for those 40 days. You have God’s promise that you’ll live through it. After all the Sower went out to sow that we might have life. And we do in the name of Jesus. Amen.