Last week we heard Jesus tell the parable of the Farmer who sowed his seed on the path, on the rocks, among the thorns and weeds and on good soil. We were also told by Jesus that the meaning of that parable was that He was the one who sows the seed and He still sows the seed today through the proclamation of His Word and by the power of the Holy Spirit working through the means of Grace. Those people who reject the Word of God, either outright or because of the cares and concerns of this world, those people who reject the message of salvation, that Jesus alone is the way to be saved are like the seed sown on the path, on the rocks and among the weeds and thorns. Those people who hear the Word of God, those people who hear the message and are given faith in Jesus alone for salvation are those seeds sown on good soil that produces a crop, a hundred, sixty and thirty times what is sown. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” This week we continue listening to the parables of Jesus as He continues to use the imagery of the sowing of seeds.
Our text begins with Jesus telling the parable, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn’” (Matt. 13:24-30).
Our text for this morning then takes the liberty to skip past the parable of the mustard seed in which Jesus reminds us that, although the mustard seed is one of the smallest seeds, the plant that grows from it is so big that the birds of the air can build a nest in it, reminding us that although our faith may begin small, it can grow as we grow and mature in our faith. Also, the parable of the leaven is skipped. This parable reminds us that a little leaven leavens the whole loaf, that is that a little sin causes a great amount of trouble and a little forgiveness also goes a long way. Finally, what our text skips is the fact that Jesus spoke in parables for a purpose, in order that the message of salvation is not wasted on those who refuse and reject it.
Finally, after we have skipped these parts, Jesus tells the meaning of the parable. We pick up at verse thirty-six: “Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed is the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear” (36-43).
So, just like the parable from last week, Jesus is the one who sows the good seed. Jesus is not the author of evil, nor does He condone it. Jesus gives good gifts and blessings. Jesus comes to give faith, forgiveness, life and salvation. Jesus came to save us through the giving of His life for ours. He sows the seeds of His Word and as we were reminded in the Old Testament lesson from last week, that Word which He sows is a Word with power. His Word is a Word which does what it says. As His Word is sown, it will not return void or empty, because it is His Word.
On the other hand, the one who sows bad seed is the devil. This one is the one who often times takes his own words and twists them to make them sound like God’s Word, but instead they are words of deception and lies, coming from the devil, the father of lies. The devil would have us believe that there are many ways to the same eternal enlightenment, that is that all religions are valid. The word of the devil is a word with power as well, not the power to save, but the power to condemn.
The end result is that on judgement day the fruit of the good seed will be separated from the fruit of the bad seed. The fruit of the good seed will gain eternal life in heaven. The fruit of the bad seed will reap destruction, eternal death in hell with weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The people to whom Jesus spoke this parable understood what Jesus was saying. And yet, this parable was not spoken only to the people of His day, Jesus speaks this parable to us today. Today God continues to sow good seed through the means of Grace. This parable reminds us of the importance of making regular and diligent use of the means of grace. This parable reminds us of the importance of coming to divine service and Bible class. This parable reminds us of the importance of reading God’s Word on our own and having personal and family devotions. This parable reminds us of the importance of remembering our Baptism, the importance of confessing our sins and hearing those most beautiful words we can ever hear, the words of absolution, that our sins are forgiven, and it reminds us of the importance of coming to the Lord’s Supper to be given His body and blood and the good gifts and blessings He has to give to us.
Today we live in a pluralistic society. We live in what is called a tolerant society, even though we know it is intolerant of Christians. We live in a world where there are many religions, cults and sects, where there are many weeds. There are many religions, cults and sects vying for our time and attention. There are many “opportunities” for doing many things, many things except doing the one thing needful as Jesus so pointed to busy Martha. There are many weeds in our world which try to choke our faith in Jesus alone.
And, as Jesus told His disciples, so He reminds us, we will live this way until the end. Life will not get any easier. As a matter of fact, if you have been watching the way things have been going in our world, you may have noticed that it is getting harder and harder to be a Christian. It is getting harder because a Christian is one who believes what Jesus says in His Word and that is, that there is no other name, given among men, whereby we must be saved, in other words, there is only one way to eternal life and that is by God’s Grace, through faith in Jesus’ work on the cross alone. Yes, we Christians are intolerant. Think about it like this, if there were any other way to eternal life, why in the world would Jesus go through the pain of suffering and dying for our sins? As has been noted in Bible class many times, all the religions of the world, all the cults and sects, can be divided into two categories, those who believe in self for salvation, that is, those who believe that one must do something, live a certain way, that their character is what saves them and we, those who believe that we are saved by God’s Grace alone because of something outside of us, namely, because of Jesus suffering and death for our sins.
Thus, we realize that our work until the end of the world is to share the good news of Jesus with others. No this is not explicitly stated in our text, but it is there nonetheless. It is only at the end, it is only at Judgement day that we will see the results of faith and unbelief. And rest assured, we will see the results.
So, what? Jesus says, “He who has ears, let him hear.” Yes, there were those in Jesus’ day and there are still those in our world today who hear the Word of God and yet refuse and reject His good gifts and blessings. There are many in our world today who would just as soon go along with the philosophies and ideologies of this world, there are those who would just as soon go along with the ideas of cultural tolerance and pluralism rather than make waves, rather than stand up for what Jesus says, because it is a lot easier. It is very difficult and it is getting even harder for us in our world today to take a stand and to proclaim the difficult truth of what Jesus tells us in His Word, that is that there is only one way and that way is only through faith in Him. And yet, that is what we are to do.
So, we are continually reminded of our need to hear the Word of God. We are continually reminded of our need to make regular and diligent use of the means of grace, to read our Bible everyday, to daily remember our Baptism, to come to divine service every Sunday, as well as to come to Bible class and to come to the Lord’s Supper as often as we can so that we might be strengthened in our faith so that we might be able to face the struggles and accusations of this world.
“He who has ears, let him hear.” “We hear,” when the Word of God is proclaimed in its truth and purity and when we believe that Word of God. But faith is not simply something in our mind, it is what we do. We hear when we act, that is when we live lives of faith. We hear when we believe and trust in Jesus alone for our forgiveness and our salvation and when we live our lives in such a way that we are not apathetic, but are boldly proclaiming our faith in Jesus alone, no matter what the cost, for to do otherwise would be to break the commandments.
You know, it is fascinating that even though we are hearing Jesus’ Words some 2000 years after He first spoke them, the world has not changed very much. Jesus’ Word is still being sown as the Word of God, it is rightly proclaimed and taught in its truth and purity and the devil, the enemy is still sowing weeds as the Word of God is mis-proclaimed, twisted and outright thrown out, and as other weeds of other religions, cults and sects are sown. And we will go on living this way until the end, until the day of Judgement, when God will sort out the wheat from the chaff, when the chaff, when those who believe in something or someone other than Jesus alone for salvation will be cast into the fires of eternal death and that will happen.
For us, Christians, the good news, the greatest news is that when we, those of us who believe in Jesus alone are gathered before the Lord’s throne, we will be robed with Jesus’ robes of righteousness. It all begins and ends with Jesus. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Jesus is the one who created us to love us. Jesus is the one who loved us so much that He gave up the glory of heaven in order to take on flesh and blood. Jesus is the one who lived for us, perfectly. Jesus is the one who fulfilled all the law and prophecies of the Old Testament, for us. Jesus is the one who paid the price for our sins, suffering eternal death and hell on the cross for us. Jesus died for us. Jesus rose for us. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to give us faith. At our Baptism Jesus gives us faith. Through our hearing God’s Word, through our confession and absolution, through our participation in the Lord’s Supper we are given faith, strengthening of faith, forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. Jesus works in us to do the good works He has for us to do. Jesus does it all and in the end, He will gather us with all the saints and we will give praise and glory to Jesus alone. To Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
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