Text: Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 Proper 10C
SN: 0025 07/16/23
Water Your Faith with the Word
Over the last few weeks, my family and I have spent a fair amount of time driving around Racine as we try to get to know the area. As I drive through the countryside and look at the farm fields, I always feel like something is missing. Where I grew up, nearly every field had a huge irrigation system, so fields without them looked strange to me. The region of Wisconsin where I grew up is called the Central Sands region because that is what we have, sand. Not nice soft beach sand, mind you, but harsh dry abrasive sand that gets absolutely everywhere and is not very good for growing crops. In order to grow crops in such soil, you need to have irrigation because the soil quickly dries out. Even after an extremely heavy rain, the puddles would usually be gone by the next day. Without the constant water from the irrigation systems, the crops would quickly dry out and die.
The type of soil that you plant seeds in is incredibly important if you want to have a good crop. Think of all the work that farmers and gardeners do to ensure that soil conditions are right to help the plants grow. This is the main point of comparison in the parable from our Gospel today. Jesus compares the Word of God to a seed sown in four different types of soil. As Christians, we rightly identify with the good soil where the Word of God has taken root and rejoice in our salvation. However, this parable also serves as a warning that we are in a constant battle against the temptations of Satan, the world, and our own sinful flesh which seeks to destroy our faith. Our faith needs to be nurtured and rooted in God’s living Word, which produces a harvest of salvation. And so, this morning, I encourage you to water your faith with the Word.
The first type of soil that Christ describes is the hard and beaten-down soil of a path where the seed does not grow and is snatched away by the birds. This is the natural state that all people are born in because of sin. We are hard-hearted and hostile to God. Satan does everything in his power to keep us in this wretched state by preventing the spread of the Gospel and destroying the faith of those who hear God’s Word. Paul tells us in Eph 2 that by nature, we were dead in our trespasses and sins. We could do absolutely nothing to save ourselves. We cannot by our own work the hard soil, sow the seed, or cause it to grow because we are dead. However, God, in his great mercy, sowed the seed of the Gospel in our hearts and caused it to sprout and grow. The life-giving message that Jesus Christ, the perfect and holy Son of God, offered his own life to pay for the sins of the world. This is the power of the Gospel. The seed sown in hearts that creates faith takes us from being enemies of God to being his dear children. This is the faith that is then watered by that life-giving Word, just as our OT lesson reminds us, “Just as the rain and the snow come down from the sky and do not return there unless they first water the earth, make it give birth, and cause it to sprout, so that it gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater, in the same way my word that goes out from my mouth will not return to me empty. Rather, it will accomplish whatever I please, and it will succeed in the purpose for which I sent it.
The second type of soil is a thin layer of dirt over rocks. The seeds sprout quickly in this soil warmed by the sun, but as the soil dries out in the heat of the relentless sun, the plant quickly withers and dies. In this parable, the sun represents persecution. And just as the sun is constant, persecution is a constant reality in our lives of faith. In Matthew 10:22, Jesus warns us, “You will be hated by all people because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved.” No one wants to be hated; we want to be liked and admired by others. Have there been times that we have failed to share our faith with others because of our fear of persecution? Have we wilted and withered in the heat of the sun? Or, when faced with hardship and trial, have we doubted God’s promises and questioned his faithfulness? Praise be to God that we have a Savior who did not wilt or wither in the heat of persecution. Think of the persecution that our Savior endured willingly for our sake. Just before the events we heard about today, Jesus was called a servant of Beelzebub, he was doubted by his own family, and many who heard his message rejected it and him. Later he would face the hatred and scorn of the Jewish leaders and be tortured and put to death. All this he did so that in love he could offer his holy precious life as payment for our sins. In this parable, Jesus warns us that if our faith is not rooted in God’s Word, it may wither and die in the face of persecution.
But just as the sun can cause our faith to wither, it can also help our faith to grow. This growth can only happen if we are regularly saturated by the water of the Word as we hear and read the Bible and regularly receive the assurance of forgiveness offered in the Lord’s Supper as we hear again and again the unshakeable truth that Christ has completely paid for all our sins and restored our relationship with God. He destroyed the power of death and hell and won for us the eternal joy of heaven that is far greater than any trial or persecution we may face. As James 1 says, “Consider it complete joy, my brothers, whenever you fall into various kinds of trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces patient endurance.”
The third type of soil is full of thorns and weeds that choke the life out of the plant. Jesus explains that these thorns are the troubles of this life and the temptations and desires that lead us away from our faith. As Christians, we honestly confess that we let these weeds and thorns grow in our lives. Perhaps we let our favorite sins gain control of us again and again. Perhaps we let our hobbies and leisure activities have higher priority than regularly studying God’s Word. Or maybe we let our desire for wealth and material blessings dictate the priorities in our lives. All of these things are harmful to our faith. They replace the one thing that is truly needful, the life-giving water of God’s Word. Praise be to God that our salvation is not dependent on how well we keep our own gardens weeded. If it was not, one of us could be saved. Instead, we have a perfect Savior who offered his life in our place. By his death, Christ has removed our sins and given us his perfect life as payment for our sins. In joy and gratitude, we tend our garden. We seek to root out the weeds and thorns that have infested our lives and live a life that is pleasing to our Father in heaven. We do his will and keep his commands because we are his redeemed children who desire to do his will.
As God’s holy and redeemed people, we are the good and fertile soil where his Word has produced abundant fruit. It is interesting to hear in this parable how Jesus describes the seed producing different yields of crops. This does not mean that some faith is better than others; Christ tells us that even faith as small as a mustard seed saves. As we are reminded in other places in Scripture, our Lord has given us different spiritual gifts. We have all been called to sow the seed of the Gospel in the hearts of others, but we do not all do this in the same way. In our lesson from 1 Corinthians, Paul reminds us that we are all servants of God. “What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are ministers through whom you believed, and each served as the Lord gave him his role. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. “ In the same way, some of us will have different roles at different times in our lives. Perhaps we prepare the soil in the hearts of others by being witnesses of our Lord. Perhaps we help others pull the weeds in their hearts by reminding them of God’s commands and in love showing them their sins, or maybe like Apollos; we water the seed that others have sowed. No matter what role we find ourselves in, we take comfort knowing that it is not our efforts that create faith but the power of the Word that changes hearts and breaks the hard soil of unbelief.
This is the amazing comfort that everyone who shares the Gospel of our Savior has. We rejoice that God’s Word is powerful and does not depend on our feeble efforts. As Paul says, “So then, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but it is God who causes the growth.” Last week at my ordination, I promised to faithfully proclaim the Word of God to you in its truth and purity. This is an awesome and humbling responsibility that would fill me with dread if I did not remember that it is God who does the work, not me. Friends, I have a confession to make to you; like Pastor Zarling, I, too, am a bit of a sci-fi nerd. One of my all-time favorite shows is called Babylon 5. The main character in the show is Capt. John Sheridan and one of his quirks is that each time he takes a new command, he gives the same speech. In this speech, he relates an anecdote about having dinner with the Dalai lama, who asks him if he understands. He replies that no, he doesn’t understand. “Good beginning,” replies the Dalai lama, “you’ll be even better when you begin to understand what you don’t understand.” Dear brothers and sisters, there is much that I do not know and do not understand about Water of Life. But I do know that God has planted salvation in our hearts. He has given each of us unique gifts and abilities that we will use together to proclaim his message of salvation to the world, and together we will sow the seeds of his Gospel and grow together as we water our faith with his powerful Word. Amen.