St Luke 8:4-15/Is 55:10-13/Heb 4:9-13
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
The desire of the Father is that all men turn and be saved. Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. All men have been justified by that wonderful, sacrificial act. And yet, despite that, not all go to heaven. Some believe for awhile but in the end are not saved. Others do not believe at all. Forgiveness of sins is of no benefit without faith.
The Father so loved the world that He gave His sole begotten Son. The Son did not come into the world to condemn the world. He came into the world that whoever believes in Him would not be condemned, but saved; spared the Father’s wrath, which has been spent on Him.
Men condemn themselves. For whoever does not believe is condemned already, because He has not believed in the Name of the only Son of God, even Jesus, the only Name under heaven by which men are saved. This is the condemnation: the Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness. Men love lies, false righteousness, and easy, pretend religious acts of charity. Men love names of their own choosing and design, comfortable gods who look, act, and think like them. Men love the cheating, non-satisfying pleasures of the devil. All these they love rather than the Light, because their deeds are evil; because they fear the absolute, unconditional, exclusive embrace of Love Incarnate. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
The Sower sows. He sows with reckless abandon and extravagant generosity. He sows prodigally; casting the life-giving seed into the most unlikely and unreceptive of places. He does so in love. God desires all to be saved. And so He scatters His Word, His living and active Word, without regard for where it lands. For He knows that it is needed by all men, even those who refuse Him. He loves those who hate Him. Lavishes on them His mercy, though they despise and ridicule Him. Though the devil, the world, and the cares of our flesh snatch and kill and tear down His Word before it has a chance to grow; still He sows.
And because of this it seems as though much is wasted. In truth there is no worthy soil for this seed. It cannot grow in the evil, sin-depraved hearts of men. The goodness of the soil does not originate from within our hearts. For nothing good lies within us, that is, in our flesh. The heart is wicked above all else. It is callous and stony, a hater of God and His righteousness.
There is One alone who is good. He creates by His living Word, sown into the darkness of creation, and produces that which is good, for it comes from Him. His good creation rests in Him. This is why He sows, for the same reason He creates – in reckless love. The Seed is His to do with as He pleases.
And the Seed is the Word, the Logos. The Word is the Light of men. The Word is the Life of men. And it pleases Him to offer up His life for hateful, rebellious men who will reject Him. He is Eve’s crushing Seed, sent forth from the mouth of the Father, to accomplish that which He wills.
And it is the will of the Father that all men repent and believe. But still, most do not have ears to hear. The Word goes out. And for the most part is it ignored, hated, and mocked. But when and where is pleases God, the Word pierces the division of soul and spirit, slices through joint and marrow, slaying the Old Adam and making way for the new man. The Word prepares the furrow, removes the heart of stone and replaces it with a heart of flesh. A Christian is born and life springs from an impossible place – in one born of Adam, in a heart once corrupted. Life out of death. Light in darkness. This Seed, God’s Word made Flesh to crush the skull of the devil, God’s Word to reveal to men His heart of mercy, God’s Word, living and active, by Whom all things were created and in whom all things have life, this Seed accomplishes the impossible.
This is a mystery. It is not commonly known or easily understood. It is not self-evident. God hides Himself in the weakness of parables. And the kingdom of heaven does not abide by the rules of men. It is a mystery - why some and not others – incomprehensible for our meager minds, a stumbling block for our foolish ideas about how things are supposed to work. It is a mystery why any are saved at all; a mystery that God loves us whom He should, and has every right to, hate us. He sows His Seed. He offers forgiveness and life, dies and rises in our place, simply because that is who He is. We have not deserved or earned it. There is nothing in us. It all comes from Him.
It is a mystery that God does not behave like us. For He sent His Son for us to suffer in place of our own punishment. He is the Seed who falls into the earth and dies. Rising to life, He bears much fruit; bringing life and immortality to light. It is also a mystery that He delivers this fruit through humble words. The Church has no weapons, no marketing strategies, no clever jingles or fleshly appeals, no business sense.
All we have is the Word. It is a sword to be sure. But is also a Seed; small and insignificant, neglected. Even the Sacraments, upon close scrutiny, reveal nothing more than the Word enfleshed in visible elements. For it is not the bread and wine, or the water, that give of themselves life and salvation. It is the Word of God, Christ our Lord, His promise in and connected to those things.
We have the Word. That is enough. Man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God, from every seed the Sower sows. Here, He who is the Word of God, brings life to dry, dusty, rocky soil, and Bread in abundance to feed the soul.
That is why He sows His life-giving Seed, that abundant Word. He does not do a demographic study or cast a vision or even form a committee. He sows. And He sends His undersowers out to do the same. “Preach you the Word and plant it home, to men who like or like it not.” He gives the Word without regard for status, riches, intellect, past, ethnic make-up, or even the sins of those upon whom it falls. He sows for man, for all men, because He loves them.
With outdated simplicity, but perfect love and abiding charity, He calls the world to repentance and faith. For that is what the world He loves needs. The world laughs. It scorns. The devil seems to win. He has more souls – three quarters is lost. “Ah what of that?” But still God sows. Still He loves. Thanks be to God that He doesn’t keep score. He feeds, nourishes, and strengthens through His Word. He produces here, in you, a harvest of miraculous proportions.
And that is why we care not for the great many times the Word is rejected and mocked. That is what we expect. And we rejoice and find comfort in those moments of miraculous intervention, when His Word rains down upon us and does what it says: when God brings life out of death at the Baptismal font; when He comes as Sower and Seed, Host and Meal in His Holy Eucharist, His true Body and Blood, given for us, His dear children, to eat and to drink; when His Word goes out and of its own accord, by its own power and strength, creates and sustains faith in His elect. And you, beloved, who are painfully pruned in suffering and bear the fruit of patience in confession – He loves you.
And without the world even noticing, or caring, the Word, the Seed, has been cast. It has, by the grace of God, made a home for itself in our unworthy hearts. He has taken you from the dirt, as He did Adam, and implanted in you His living Word, giving you life. In us, who have no merit or worthiness of our own in which we boast, who were the worst sort of soil imaginable, trampled underfoot, plucked at by birds, choked by weeds, in us sinners whom He came to seek and to save, whom He chose to love, the Lord of the Harvest has caused a miracle! He has created faith. He has comforted and consoled, redeemed and restored, forgiven and forgotten our sins.
He has fulfilled His promise. His Word has not failed. It never does. It never will.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
The desire of the Father is that all men turn and be saved. Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. All men have been justified by that wonderful, sacrificial act. And yet, despite that, not all go to heaven. Some believe for awhile but in the end are not saved. Others do not believe at all. Forgiveness of sins is of no benefit without faith.
The Father so loved the world that He gave His sole begotten Son. The Son did not come into the world to condemn the world. He came into the world that whoever believes in Him would not be condemned, but saved; spared the Father’s wrath, which has been spent on Him.
Men condemn themselves. For whoever does not believe is condemned already, because He has not believed in the Name of the only Son of God, even Jesus, the only Name under heaven by which men are saved. This is the condemnation: the Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness. Men love lies, false righteousness, and easy, pretend religious acts of charity. Men love names of their own choosing and design, comfortable gods who look, act, and think like them. Men love the cheating, non-satisfying pleasures of the devil. All these they love rather than the Light, because their deeds are evil; because they fear the absolute, unconditional, exclusive embrace of Love Incarnate. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
The Sower sows. He sows with reckless abandon and extravagant generosity. He sows prodigally; casting the life-giving seed into the most unlikely and unreceptive of places. He does so in love. God desires all to be saved. And so He scatters His Word, His living and active Word, without regard for where it lands. For He knows that it is needed by all men, even those who refuse Him. He loves those who hate Him. Lavishes on them His mercy, though they despise and ridicule Him. Though the devil, the world, and the cares of our flesh snatch and kill and tear down His Word before it has a chance to grow; still He sows.
And because of this it seems as though much is wasted. In truth there is no worthy soil for this seed. It cannot grow in the evil, sin-depraved hearts of men. The goodness of the soil does not originate from within our hearts. For nothing good lies within us, that is, in our flesh. The heart is wicked above all else. It is callous and stony, a hater of God and His righteousness.
There is One alone who is good. He creates by His living Word, sown into the darkness of creation, and produces that which is good, for it comes from Him. His good creation rests in Him. This is why He sows, for the same reason He creates – in reckless love. The Seed is His to do with as He pleases.
And the Seed is the Word, the Logos. The Word is the Light of men. The Word is the Life of men. And it pleases Him to offer up His life for hateful, rebellious men who will reject Him. He is Eve’s crushing Seed, sent forth from the mouth of the Father, to accomplish that which He wills.
And it is the will of the Father that all men repent and believe. But still, most do not have ears to hear. The Word goes out. And for the most part is it ignored, hated, and mocked. But when and where is pleases God, the Word pierces the division of soul and spirit, slices through joint and marrow, slaying the Old Adam and making way for the new man. The Word prepares the furrow, removes the heart of stone and replaces it with a heart of flesh. A Christian is born and life springs from an impossible place – in one born of Adam, in a heart once corrupted. Life out of death. Light in darkness. This Seed, God’s Word made Flesh to crush the skull of the devil, God’s Word to reveal to men His heart of mercy, God’s Word, living and active, by Whom all things were created and in whom all things have life, this Seed accomplishes the impossible.
This is a mystery. It is not commonly known or easily understood. It is not self-evident. God hides Himself in the weakness of parables. And the kingdom of heaven does not abide by the rules of men. It is a mystery - why some and not others – incomprehensible for our meager minds, a stumbling block for our foolish ideas about how things are supposed to work. It is a mystery why any are saved at all; a mystery that God loves us whom He should, and has every right to, hate us. He sows His Seed. He offers forgiveness and life, dies and rises in our place, simply because that is who He is. We have not deserved or earned it. There is nothing in us. It all comes from Him.
It is a mystery that God does not behave like us. For He sent His Son for us to suffer in place of our own punishment. He is the Seed who falls into the earth and dies. Rising to life, He bears much fruit; bringing life and immortality to light. It is also a mystery that He delivers this fruit through humble words. The Church has no weapons, no marketing strategies, no clever jingles or fleshly appeals, no business sense.
All we have is the Word. It is a sword to be sure. But is also a Seed; small and insignificant, neglected. Even the Sacraments, upon close scrutiny, reveal nothing more than the Word enfleshed in visible elements. For it is not the bread and wine, or the water, that give of themselves life and salvation. It is the Word of God, Christ our Lord, His promise in and connected to those things.
We have the Word. That is enough. Man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God, from every seed the Sower sows. Here, He who is the Word of God, brings life to dry, dusty, rocky soil, and Bread in abundance to feed the soul.
That is why He sows His life-giving Seed, that abundant Word. He does not do a demographic study or cast a vision or even form a committee. He sows. And He sends His undersowers out to do the same. “Preach you the Word and plant it home, to men who like or like it not.” He gives the Word without regard for status, riches, intellect, past, ethnic make-up, or even the sins of those upon whom it falls. He sows for man, for all men, because He loves them.
With outdated simplicity, but perfect love and abiding charity, He calls the world to repentance and faith. For that is what the world He loves needs. The world laughs. It scorns. The devil seems to win. He has more souls – three quarters is lost. “Ah what of that?” But still God sows. Still He loves. Thanks be to God that He doesn’t keep score. He feeds, nourishes, and strengthens through His Word. He produces here, in you, a harvest of miraculous proportions.
And that is why we care not for the great many times the Word is rejected and mocked. That is what we expect. And we rejoice and find comfort in those moments of miraculous intervention, when His Word rains down upon us and does what it says: when God brings life out of death at the Baptismal font; when He comes as Sower and Seed, Host and Meal in His Holy Eucharist, His true Body and Blood, given for us, His dear children, to eat and to drink; when His Word goes out and of its own accord, by its own power and strength, creates and sustains faith in His elect. And you, beloved, who are painfully pruned in suffering and bear the fruit of patience in confession – He loves you.
And without the world even noticing, or caring, the Word, the Seed, has been cast. It has, by the grace of God, made a home for itself in our unworthy hearts. He has taken you from the dirt, as He did Adam, and implanted in you His living Word, giving you life. In us, who have no merit or worthiness of our own in which we boast, who were the worst sort of soil imaginable, trampled underfoot, plucked at by birds, choked by weeds, in us sinners whom He came to seek and to save, whom He chose to love, the Lord of the Harvest has caused a miracle! He has created faith. He has comforted and consoled, redeemed and restored, forgiven and forgotten our sins.
He has fulfilled His promise. His Word has not failed. It never does. It never will.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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