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Todd A. Peperkorn, STM
Messiah Lutheran Church
Kenosha, Wisconsin
Sexagesima Sunday (February 11, 2007)
Luke 8:4-15
TITLE: “The Reckless Love of the Sower”
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text is the parable of the Sower from Luke chapter 8.
It is amazing how often the point of parable is misunderstood. How many sermons have been preached on variations of the theme, “What kind of dirt are you?” In this sort of interpretation, the point of the parable is that you have to make sure that you are good ground so that God’s Word can do it’s work upon you. That is a fine Law reading of this text, and is true as far as it goes according to the Law, but Jesus Himself tells us that this is not the point. The point of the text is that God’s Word, our Lord Jesus Christ, goes out into all the world, and that it accomplishes it’s purpose in the most unlikely of places, and that the growth of the Church through His Word is miraculous, and God’s work alone, for you.
Now the Law understanding is easy to find here. Who among you has not been tempted by the devil, the world and your own sinful nature? Who among you has not let money or family or work or leisure get in the way of hearing God’s Word? You are guilty of it, and so am I. It is so very tempting to make hearing God’s Word and receiving his Holy Sacrament into one more thing to check off the list of a busy weekend. Sometimes you don’t get everything done. Sometimes you don’t make it here, or if you are here, sometimes you’re not really listening and hearing at all.
Repent. Repent of your self-satisfied ways and your laziness at hearing God’s Word and taking it to heart. Repent of every time you thought you knew it all, or that it’s the same old meaningless message time and time again. Repent that you thought you could make yourself righteous, and good ground for God’s Word all on your own. Repent of the times where you don’t even care that you live on the bread of the mercy of God alone. Repent that you take God’s Word for granted.
Now that we have that clear, we see that hidden in this parable is a precious nugget of the Gospel, which is the true purpose of the parable. Our hymnodist catches us onto it:
3 The sower sows; his reckless love
Scatters abroad the goodly seed,
Intent alone that all may have
The wholesome loaves that all men need.1
Did you catch the nugget? Our Lord, who is both sower and seed, is intent that everyone may have the Bread of Life. Everyone. That means you, dearly baptized. That means every sinner who ever was or who ever will be. That means the worst sinner before the world and the self-righteous who seem so perfect. God wants all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). There is no sin so great that God did not forgive on the cross of Jesus.
So because of this great love for you in Jesus Christ, Our heavenly Father sends out His Word, Jesus, to preach, to baptize, to absolve and to give out His body and blood, the visible Word, to all. This is what the theologians and scholars call the universal atonement or objective justification. In English that means that Jesus gives out His Word of forgiveness to one and all, not just the select few.
Our Old Testament reading from Isaiah fifty-five reminds us that God’s Word always does what it says it will do (Isaiah 55:11). This double edged sword of His Word (Hebrews 4) always slays you with the Law and enlivens you with the Gospel. This is His great and holy work.
We of course don’t believe Him. Just as we are lazy and inattentive to God’s Word, so also we treat it as simply another book, more information to learn, kind of a spiritual emergency manual. When in big trouble, break the glass and get out a Bible.
Now if you look at this parable, you see that God’s Word has a pretty low percentage of success. It goes out everywhere, but only one fourth bears fruit. If the Church were a business, it would have closed long ago. But the fruit which His Word bears is a hundredfold, in the rich dirt that has been plowed, fertilized, turned over, soaked, and plowed again.
This is you. This is Our Lord, crushing you and planting His Word in you. Nothing grows works on bare ground rock hard dirt except weeds of sin. So He turns you over in suffering, with His Law, and in this life which He has given to you. But He does these things out of HIs great love for you, because He knows that you are not just dirt to be trampled on. He has planted this Seed of His Son into you, and you will grow and blossom into a great tree by His Word, grafted in and a part of His holy Garden. The more that the devil and the world and your own sinful nature fling their assaults against you, the more our Lord strengthens you by His Word.
Do not be afraid, dearly baptized. God’s Word is in you and with you always. You need never wonder if God loves you. He has planted Himself in you, forgiven you your sins, and you will bear fruit a hundredfold. As our hymn puts it:
Preach you the Word and plant it home
And never faint; the Harvest Lord
Who gave the sower seed to sow
Will watch and tend His planted Word.2
And now the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep you hearts and minds in true faith to live ever lasting. Amen.
1 LSB 586:3 Preach You the Word and Plant it Home, by Martin Franzmann
2 LSB 586:6 Preach You the Word and Plant it Home, by Martin Franzmann