Isaiah 55:10-13; 2 Corinthians 11:19-12:9; St Luke 8:4-15
Rite of Transfer: Busenberg and Fietsch
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
A sower went out to sow his seed. That is, a preacher went out to preach. And this preacher was a powerful preacher, a persuasive preacher, a preacher who preached to change men’s hearts. He was eloquent and winsome, witty and wise. This preacher was a true master of his craft.
But this wicked sower didn’t toss his seed all over the place like the One of whom you just sang: “scatters abroad His goodly seed” (LSB 586:3). No, this preacher wasted not one kernel. He was very strategic in how he planted. Very particular about where he dropped his seed.
His target was the pure, good and honest hearts of your parents, Adam and Eve. And it worked. He preached and soon their hearts were his. Pure hearts became corrupt hearts. Honest hearts became deceitful hearts. In one short sermon he took the good and perfect heart of man and transformed it into one filled with hard spots, rocks and thorns.
That old preaching serpent in the Garden went out to sow his putrid seed, to pour his honeyed- poison, his twisted, perverse version of God’s Word into the ears of man and woman. And it worked! It made it way from the ears to the heart and then from their hearts to their lips and finally from their lips into their lives. They were his.
And he would have a hundredfold harvest. For a hundred percent of those born of Adam would be born with those same corrupted hearts, twisted and perverse hearts, all headed for eternal destruction.
Hearts like the one you were born with. Hearts that were described by Jesus in the parable this morning. Hearts that can be tight as a drum when it comes to listening to what God’s Word says, but be so receptive when it comes to taking in cruel gossip about a coworker.
Hearts that have only shallow commitment to doing what God’s Word says, but are all in when it comes to doing whatever will benefit you.
Hearts that are so filled with the thorns of worry and the thistles of greed and lust that God’s Word has no chance to get deep, down to where it needs to be.
A sower went out to sow his seed. That is, a preacher went out to preach. And he succeeded a hundredfold. For when he was done there was no good soil to be found in the hearts of men. As the Preacher the son of David, the king of Jerusalem said, The heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil (Ecc 8:11). He who has ears to hear, let him hear. And repent.
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall My Word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to Me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it (Is 55:10-11).
In repenting, He repents you. In turning, He turns you. His Word goes forth from His mouth and does not return to Him void. It accomplishes the purpose for which He sends it: your repentance and faith.
Therefore, you who mourn and detest your wretched sins, repent, but do not despair. Rejoice that the bones our Lord are restored. Hear joy and gladness. And lift up your damaged heart.
For there is another Sower who went out to sow His Seed. That is, another Preacher who went out to preach. A Sower who didn’t sow destruction, but who sowed in order to save. A Preacher whose power is made perfect in weakness. He went forth from the mouth of His Father and the womb of His Virgin Mother ready to win back man’s ruined, idol-loving, God-hating, self-interested hearts with the true Word of God.
And despite all the overwhelming opposition that the Evil One had planted in men’s hearts, and all the villainy we have there cultivated for ourselves, He would succeed in producing an overwhelming harvest.
For the true and living Word of God that He preached was so powerful, so living, so active, so transformative, so creative, that it would even produce the very receptive soil He needed to guarantee a generous harvest.
This heaven-sent Sower sowed His reckless love. Scattered abroad His goodly seed. Intent alone that all may have the wholesome loaves that all men need (LSB 586:3). And it found its way into your heart. And your stony, twisted, waterless heart, was changed by the Seed of God’s Word. His Word, His Seed, produced the conditions it needed. He sowed His Word into your ears and unto your heart, and it changed everything. Your ears went from bad to good. Your heart went from hard to fertile. Your fruit went from rotten to good. What a Sower. What a Preacher!
But He was more than just the Sower of God’s Word. He was God’s Word in the Flesh. That is, He was God’s Seed in the Flesh. Which means He was not only the Preacher, He is also the Message, the Word. And truly, His whole life was one big sermon that preached one message: I have come that you may have Life and have it abundantly (Jn 10:10).
And so the Sower was also the Seed. But seeds are small and insignificant. So the most significant Being in the world, took on flesh, and made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant. But seeds must became weak and die to unleash their power. And so Jesus, the Seed made Flesh, the true and living God, became weak and died for you.
He is the Seed that saved you. He atoned for all your careless listening. Jesus was the Seed made Flesh who stood on the Stone Pavement in front of Pilate as He heard the unjust death sentence.
To pay for your shallow commitment to doing what God says, Jesus was the Seed made Flesh who staggered on the rocky path to Golgotha, carrying the huge weight of His own Cross until they ordered someone to help Him.
To absolve you of your twisted priorities, He was the Seed made Flesh who came to have thorns twisted and placed on His head until that head drooped in death, and His moisture less lips cried out, It is finished!, making full atonement for all the sin mankind has ever conceived and committed.
But Jesus is also the Seed made Flesh who rose from the hard soil of the tomb on the Third Day, the first fruits of a marvelous harvest to come. In dying, He destroyed death. In rising to life again He brings life and immortality to light. He is the Seed which fell into the earth and died and bears much fruit.
You, and your fruits of good works done in faithful love, are part of that harvest right now. A sower went out to sow. That is, an another preacher went out to preach. And by the Seed of God’s Word you have been given ears to hear. His Word has been implanted in your hearts, which are honest and good by that self-same Word, and produce the ripe fruits of good works done in love toward your neighbor. Hold fast to that Word, even as the Busenburgs and Fietschs will confess again today. Their confession is your confession. The thorns and thistles will come. You cannot stop Satan from flying overhead and seeking to snatch away the Word from your heart. But you can keep him and all the birds of greed and lust and the passions of the flesh from making nests in your hair.
And here is how: That wicked sower preached Adam and Eve to the food that brought death. This morning, the Good Sower, Jesus Christ our Lord, preaches you again to the Food that brings you eternal life. Food that forgives you and saves you. Food that strengthens your faith in Him and your fervent love toward one another. The triumphant and risen Body of Jesus Christ that is planted in you at this Altar.
There is the Good Seed of Christ the Word planted inside of you because of Baptism. You are begotten from above, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, by the Seed of the Word, Jesus Christ. He is the Sower. He is the Seed. He is the Giver of your new heart. And He gives it freely, with those new desires and new impulses He works in you to serve and please God above all. He has given you those new ears to hear His Word with eagerness and joy and those generous hands that patiently bear so much fruit for God and His Kingdom.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Rite of Transfer: Busenberg and Fietsch
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
A sower went out to sow his seed. That is, a preacher went out to preach. And this preacher was a powerful preacher, a persuasive preacher, a preacher who preached to change men’s hearts. He was eloquent and winsome, witty and wise. This preacher was a true master of his craft.
But this wicked sower didn’t toss his seed all over the place like the One of whom you just sang: “scatters abroad His goodly seed” (LSB 586:3). No, this preacher wasted not one kernel. He was very strategic in how he planted. Very particular about where he dropped his seed.
His target was the pure, good and honest hearts of your parents, Adam and Eve. And it worked. He preached and soon their hearts were his. Pure hearts became corrupt hearts. Honest hearts became deceitful hearts. In one short sermon he took the good and perfect heart of man and transformed it into one filled with hard spots, rocks and thorns.
That old preaching serpent in the Garden went out to sow his putrid seed, to pour his honeyed- poison, his twisted, perverse version of God’s Word into the ears of man and woman. And it worked! It made it way from the ears to the heart and then from their hearts to their lips and finally from their lips into their lives. They were his.
And he would have a hundredfold harvest. For a hundred percent of those born of Adam would be born with those same corrupted hearts, twisted and perverse hearts, all headed for eternal destruction.
Hearts like the one you were born with. Hearts that were described by Jesus in the parable this morning. Hearts that can be tight as a drum when it comes to listening to what God’s Word says, but be so receptive when it comes to taking in cruel gossip about a coworker.
Hearts that have only shallow commitment to doing what God’s Word says, but are all in when it comes to doing whatever will benefit you.
Hearts that are so filled with the thorns of worry and the thistles of greed and lust that God’s Word has no chance to get deep, down to where it needs to be.
A sower went out to sow his seed. That is, a preacher went out to preach. And he succeeded a hundredfold. For when he was done there was no good soil to be found in the hearts of men. As the Preacher the son of David, the king of Jerusalem said, The heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil (Ecc 8:11). He who has ears to hear, let him hear. And repent.
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall My Word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to Me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it (Is 55:10-11).
In repenting, He repents you. In turning, He turns you. His Word goes forth from His mouth and does not return to Him void. It accomplishes the purpose for which He sends it: your repentance and faith.
Therefore, you who mourn and detest your wretched sins, repent, but do not despair. Rejoice that the bones our Lord are restored. Hear joy and gladness. And lift up your damaged heart.
For there is another Sower who went out to sow His Seed. That is, another Preacher who went out to preach. A Sower who didn’t sow destruction, but who sowed in order to save. A Preacher whose power is made perfect in weakness. He went forth from the mouth of His Father and the womb of His Virgin Mother ready to win back man’s ruined, idol-loving, God-hating, self-interested hearts with the true Word of God.
And despite all the overwhelming opposition that the Evil One had planted in men’s hearts, and all the villainy we have there cultivated for ourselves, He would succeed in producing an overwhelming harvest.
For the true and living Word of God that He preached was so powerful, so living, so active, so transformative, so creative, that it would even produce the very receptive soil He needed to guarantee a generous harvest.
This heaven-sent Sower sowed His reckless love. Scattered abroad His goodly seed. Intent alone that all may have the wholesome loaves that all men need (LSB 586:3). And it found its way into your heart. And your stony, twisted, waterless heart, was changed by the Seed of God’s Word. His Word, His Seed, produced the conditions it needed. He sowed His Word into your ears and unto your heart, and it changed everything. Your ears went from bad to good. Your heart went from hard to fertile. Your fruit went from rotten to good. What a Sower. What a Preacher!
But He was more than just the Sower of God’s Word. He was God’s Word in the Flesh. That is, He was God’s Seed in the Flesh. Which means He was not only the Preacher, He is also the Message, the Word. And truly, His whole life was one big sermon that preached one message: I have come that you may have Life and have it abundantly (Jn 10:10).
And so the Sower was also the Seed. But seeds are small and insignificant. So the most significant Being in the world, took on flesh, and made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant. But seeds must became weak and die to unleash their power. And so Jesus, the Seed made Flesh, the true and living God, became weak and died for you.
He is the Seed that saved you. He atoned for all your careless listening. Jesus was the Seed made Flesh who stood on the Stone Pavement in front of Pilate as He heard the unjust death sentence.
To pay for your shallow commitment to doing what God says, Jesus was the Seed made Flesh who staggered on the rocky path to Golgotha, carrying the huge weight of His own Cross until they ordered someone to help Him.
To absolve you of your twisted priorities, He was the Seed made Flesh who came to have thorns twisted and placed on His head until that head drooped in death, and His moisture less lips cried out, It is finished!, making full atonement for all the sin mankind has ever conceived and committed.
But Jesus is also the Seed made Flesh who rose from the hard soil of the tomb on the Third Day, the first fruits of a marvelous harvest to come. In dying, He destroyed death. In rising to life again He brings life and immortality to light. He is the Seed which fell into the earth and died and bears much fruit.
You, and your fruits of good works done in faithful love, are part of that harvest right now. A sower went out to sow. That is, an another preacher went out to preach. And by the Seed of God’s Word you have been given ears to hear. His Word has been implanted in your hearts, which are honest and good by that self-same Word, and produce the ripe fruits of good works done in love toward your neighbor. Hold fast to that Word, even as the Busenburgs and Fietschs will confess again today. Their confession is your confession. The thorns and thistles will come. You cannot stop Satan from flying overhead and seeking to snatch away the Word from your heart. But you can keep him and all the birds of greed and lust and the passions of the flesh from making nests in your hair.
And here is how: That wicked sower preached Adam and Eve to the food that brought death. This morning, the Good Sower, Jesus Christ our Lord, preaches you again to the Food that brings you eternal life. Food that forgives you and saves you. Food that strengthens your faith in Him and your fervent love toward one another. The triumphant and risen Body of Jesus Christ that is planted in you at this Altar.
There is the Good Seed of Christ the Word planted inside of you because of Baptism. You are begotten from above, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, by the Seed of the Word, Jesus Christ. He is the Sower. He is the Seed. He is the Giver of your new heart. And He gives it freely, with those new desires and new impulses He works in you to serve and please God above all. He has given you those new ears to hear His Word with eagerness and joy and those generous hands that patiently bear so much fruit for God and His Kingdom.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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