✠ Psalmody: Psalm 44:23-24a, 25b-26a, 44:1a; Psalm 83:18, 13; Psalm 60:2, 4b, 5a; Psalm 17:5, 6b–7a; Psalm 43:4a
✠ Lection: Isaiah 55:10–13;2 Corinthians 11:19—12:9;Luke 8:4–15
In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
As Christians, and especially as Lutherans, we should be familiar with the idea of Sola Scriptura, a Latin phrase translated as Scripture Alone. We measure all things seen and unseen by Scripture alone, by God’s Word alone, for it alone is His special revelation that endures forever. In our faithful confessional documents collected in the Book of Concord, the Reformers boldly state “We believe, teach, and confess that the only rule and norm according to which all teachings, together with ‹all› teachers, should be evaluated and judged are the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures of the Old and New Testament alone.” (Epitome I 1) Scripture alone is a foundational principle in understanding God and what He seeks of us and for us, such as in hearing that some of the sower’s seed “fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold.” There is everlasting life within the seed of the Word of God that when taken in, laying firm roots, bringing forth abundant fruit, exponential goodness in the life of the soil. Dear children, the Lord desires to make you fertile, good soil, abounding in the goodness that His Word brings into life. We praise the Almighty Father that His beloved Son is indiscriminate with how He seeks to spread His Word, a blessed Word that accomplishes what He pleases, not having the mind of a calculated, scrimping, earthly farmer, but that of a lavish seed Sower Who seeks His Word to succeed wherever He casts it. By His mighty Word, the whole of Creation came into existence, and also by His Word, new creation springs forth even from the rotten soil of the soul of man.
If the Lord speaks with the intent of new life coming forth, then His word will accomplish its task as it goes out in His mighty power, for He says, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” We are the thing into which He sends His prospering Word. Thus, in equating the it to seed being sown, Jesus proclaims its intent: to abundantly bring forth life where it grows unto maturity, to turn us from lifeless dust into a garden of a living being; a living being that has more natural desire for life to spread than the seed shed by all the lilies of the field. A plant’s seed has a goal: to sprout up other plants, more life, that will do the same, and again the same and the same.
Also, a seed springs forth fruit of its kind, not that of another, just as no apple seed produces tomatoes, nor does cucumber seed produce strawberries, but lilies beget lilies and the Divine begets divine. The seed of the Divine Word sprouts divine goodness as it is given in the life of the Christian to produce bountifully from above. This is why our Lord gives us the confidence in Him and His planted Word and warns about the environment into which the seed is cast that we may ever be watchful. We know that we are not able to make ourselves good soil, for within us rests the corrupted seed of sin always ready to grow in disobedience, dishonesty, hate, pride, despair quicker than the weed of a new summer’s day. If we were to describe ourselves as any type of soil, it would be either the ground at a toxic waste site or the barren surface of the dark side of the moon where it is impossible for life to exist. No matter how green our thumbs get at growing tomatoes, strawberries, or squash, nothing that we plant can survive an environment like the dust of the moon, much less yield a hundredfold. Therefore, wisdom says don’t garden on the moon. Don’t waste seed in such a place. This is not the Lord’s attitude toward you, for His seed and the brightness of His righteous Sun overcomes the impossible, because Wisdom from above in His Word says that with God all things are possible; yes, even to bring forth life where only death can be fathomed. The condition of the heart is never too dead for Life Himself to take root therein. He sprouts resurrected life from tombs of death.
This Lord of Life has many enemies, all of which you have inherited as His baptized child when you forsook the wicked seed of Satan. The fruit that your Father in heaven seeks to produce in you by His implanted word is that which enemies seek to prevent or destroy, yes, especially the enemy within. The picture of what we literally do with the word in our lives shows each of us the danger we put it and ourselves in. If we hear the Scriptures and doubt them or refuse to hear them at all or submit to their authority in all manners of life, we are the ones trampling the good seed underfoot, caring not that the devil swoops in to snatch it away, seeing to it that it has no chance to yield its goodness in us. If we allow our Bibles to go unopened, treating them more as standard issue Christian props than as vital to our everyday lives, then we are casting the seed upon the rock, thinking it will do in us no great thing as we live out self-fulfilling prophecy, pridefully surprised that there’s no fruit of a strong, hopeful faith within. If we prioritize an easy life, worldly pleasures, or security in what this temporary and fallen place falsely promises to give, then we plant the thorns that choke faith and seek to root it out till it’s gone.
Beloved, lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. Worry not that you don’t understand everything that God says in His Word as if such a scenario is good reason not to open and read it. Do you apply the same principle to other things that you use for good in your lives, like your cars? None among us understands everything about a car, especially the complex machines of our day, yet you trust them to accelerate when you want, to stop when you need, to be faithful to your turn of the steering wheel, and to warm you on cold, winter days as you travel about. Oh, how much more does the richness of Scripture provide for the soil of the heart even when you know not all its depths!
It is true that the Scriptures, the very words of God that reveal the secrets, the mysteries of His eternal kingdom, are challenging to understand, as they are meant to be, and yet they are also clear. God desires that you come to know His Word and has thus made it possible and a joy to learn them in the heart in which His Word and Spirit enkindles. This means that you must slowdown in life, to stop the hustle and bustle, to be intentional more than even with your daily meals, to turn away from the cheap distractions, to regularly get in a position physically and mentally where you open the Blessed Text and pay attention to what you read. No cursory glances at the Bible, not even a quoted verse on a calendar, is able to mine the Word for the glorious riches He intends to pour out on you. Nor does God expect you to understand every single thing that you read as soon as you read it, for not even pastors can do that; not even wise, well-seasoned pastors; mainly because there’s so much about God revealed in the Bible in many different and magnificent ways that the desire of the Christian heart is to stroll in them so as to learn of its Redeemer. There’s always more to learn and to love about God in His Word, and, all praise, honor, and glory to His Name, He wants to be known more. His desire is that you first know the Word and the power therein unto salvation. Upon that foundation, you can then open up the Scriptures, pray God to help you understand, to bless you by what you read, and to give you the desire to return once again the next day to hear from Him all the more. Your new heart’s desire is to hear from God, to have Him speak into your life by His Word, and to plant into you the good things He desires. That only happens by His word, the same Word that the devil, the world, and your flesh want to keep you out of and away from.
So, don’t fret or turn spending time reading God’s Word into a burdensome task. Even in the most frustrating parts of the Bible, God still works to strengthen the faith He has implanted in you by His Holy Spirit and Word. Such sure salvation by His actions is the foundation upon which He seeks to bless you in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Do not fear, be of good courage, take up the Scriptures, confident that the Lord desires nothing but your good to come from time spent in them to the extent of a hundredfold. The bounty of His Word is His desire for all those He claims as His own.
In ✠ Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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