Trinity 5
In the Gospel, Jesus tells the familiar parable of the sower: A sower went out to sow. In it, Jesus tells what happened to the seed that the sower sowed: some were eaten by birds; some fell on rocky ground and sprouted but soon burned up; some landed among thorny weeds which grew faster and choked them out; and, finally, some fell on good soil and grew and produced various amounts of grain.
Jesus Himself interprets this parable. The seed is the word of God [Lk 8.11]. Jesus is the sower and He still goes out into the world and through His Church. Through the pastors and missionaries of His Church, through His word that is read or spread through the airwaves, through each Christian telling another person the Good News about Jesus, Jesus is the sower going out to sow His seed, the seed of the Word of God. Just like a seed looks all dried up and dead, but which sprouts and produces a plant, so too the seed of the word of Jesus doesn’t look like much. Each seed has that inexplicable life force that causes it to grow; the seed of the word of God too has that life force—the Holy Spirit—in it who causes that seed of the word to grow into faith in the Lord, a faith that looks to and trusts in Jesus and His work alone for the forgiveness of sin and eternal life; the Holy Spirit through that word creates in us true spiritual life.
But notice: in the parable, not every seed sprouts and if it does grow, it does not always mature into a harvest. That’s the point of this parable. It’s a warning for us to examine our hearts and lives: is the seed of the word of God growing in my life? Just because someone hears the word of God, doesn’t mean that they will believe it. Remember the crowds at Pentecost who heard the sound like a rushing mighty wind, who saw the tongues like fire on the head of the disciples, who heard the disciples preach in foreign languages. Not all of them believed. What did we read about this Pentecost crowd [Ac 2.13]? –Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.”
Just because we are brought to faith does not mean that we will remain in the faith. Remember, in the parable we hear of the faith being snatched away, or people falling away in time of tribulation, or faith being choked out by the cares and worries of this life. The life of a Christian is one of struggle—we are fighting to hold to and remain in the faith against overwhelming odds: the devil, the world and even our old sinful nature are all in battle formation against us. That’s why we need to hold fast to Jesus and His word and make constant, diligent use of His holy word and Sacrament; for through these the Holy Spirit is mightily at work to strengthen our faith and help us persevere. It does the seed no good to sprout and then wither away; it does the Christian no good to come to faith but fall away in time of trial or let the cares of the world choke out that faith.
The parable of the sower is a call to examination of heart and life; it is a call to faithfulness to diligent use our Lord’s holy word and Sacrament.
Our text, too, has an agricultural image: For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there [unless it waters] 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. In our text the Word going forth from God and successfully doing what God wants it to do—that is most often understood/ interpreted as the word of the Gospel. The Word of God goes out into the world and brings people to faith in Jesus.
Yes, that is right and true. But perhaps our text might better be understood if by “word” we mean the Eternal Word, Christ Jesus. After all isn’t Jesus called in Scripture “the Word”? St. John writes [Jn 1.1,14]: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The eternity of the Son of God! And what happened to the Word? And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The Word, the eternal God, the Son, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity became also true man, taking on human flesh and blood in the womb of the Virgin.
What we have in our text is a beautiful image of the Incarnation—the Son of God becoming also true man. The incarnation is described in terms of the rain and the snow coming down: For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there [unless it waters] 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. As rain comes upon and enters the soil of the earth, so the Divine, the son of God, came upon and entered into humanity becoming one of us in every way, except sin. As the rain and snow come down, so too, the Son of God, for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary and was made man.
Also earlier, the Lord described Jesus’ work, His incarnation and the salvation and righteousness He would bring about, using the image of rain [Is 45.8]: Rain down, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together. I, the Lord, have created it.
And then what about the Word of God, the Son, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity who became also true man? –So shall My Word be that goes out from My mouth; it shall not return to me empty. The Word returns to God. Jesus, the eternal Word, returned to the Father. That’s His ascension! And the wonderful thing is that at His ascension into heaven, after having finished all the work for our salvation, Jesus, the God-man ascended. Jesus did not stop being true man with His ascension. That means that true man is in heaven; heaven is now open to us.
Again notice what the Lord here says: For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there [unless it waters] 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. The rain and snow come down, water the earth, eventually get evaporated up again into the clouds and come down again as rain or snow. This is the regular course of nature. The rain and snow coming down have a purpose and they carry it out. In the rain and snow falling from the sky, we see God’s power to bring to completion His purposes in nature, in carrying out what He wants to do: making [the earth] bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater. The reason that rain and snow have this beneficial effect is because of God’s will. He wills and has the power to carry it out.
So what does it mean when the Lord says in our text: 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? It is a tremendous comfort to us. It means that Jesus accomplished the task that He had come to do. Jesus did not come to earth in vain and He did not return empty-handed. But, everything that He had come to do, He did. Jesus, the eternal Word from the mouth of the Father, did indeed totally and completely do all the work for our salvation. This means that He placed Himself under the holy Law of God and for us kept every single part of it, fulfilling that perfect righteousness that God demands of us if we are to enter heaven. It means that He took all of our sins on Himself, became sin for us, and went to the cross bearing the sins of the world and there endured God’s wrath an punishment, the very sufferings of hell, for us. Jesus rose from the dead. His sacrifice for the sins of the world was accepted. We are reconciled to God; our sins are forgiven and no longer separate us from God. With Jesus’ resurrection we see that there is not one sin that Jesus did not pay for. With Jesus’ ascension we see that He completed all the work He came to do—the work for us and our salvation. Our Lord gave this promise to His OT people: 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; no ifs ands or buts about it! He promised it and Jesus, the eternal Word, delivered and returned in glory and triumph! What great joy and comfort we have. We need never doubt if Jesus’ work for our salvation was done or if it was enough or if we have to add anything to it! Never—My Word… that goes out from My mouth… shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. Through faith in Jesus His righteousness is ours. Our salvation is full and complete in Him.
Jesus is the Word that goes out from the mouth of the Father and He leads us back to God. Our text: For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace. All of Jesus’ work for us and our salvation would do us no good unless He has His word go out announcing His saving work and giving us the fruit and benefit of it. And Jesus does this through His holy word and sacraments. That’s why Jesus is still the sower who goes throughout the world and through His Church announces and gives the forgiveness of sins. On our own we could never come to know Jesus rightly in true faith; we could never receive His gifts He won for us. But through His word and sacrament Jesus announces and gives us the blessings of His work. Because He is that eternal Word that came from the mouth of God and accomplished the work He came to do, the work of our salvation, He now leads us out of our spiritual prison of sin, death and hell. He calls us by the word and invites us to receive His gifts of forgiveness and salvation; in that word, the Holy Spirit is powerfully at work to create faith—faith that trusts in Jesus and receives His work. He called us in Holy Baptism where the Holy Spirit came upon us and brought us to faith. He continues to call us and lead us out in joy and peace as by His Holy Spirit He strengthens our faith in and through the Word of Holy Scripture. We continue on that path of joy and peace as in the absolution we receive the forgiveness of sin. And along that path by which He leads us to heaven, Jesus comes to us in the Sacrament of the Altar, giving us His very body and blood, uniting with us, strengthening our faith, forgiving our sins, assuring us that we are so closely connected with Him as He leads us to where He has gone—heaven.
What joy is ours in Jesus! All creation rejoices over the salvation we enjoy now and that will culminate in heaven: the mountains and hills before you shall break into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
As Jesus now leads us to heaven to be with Him eternally, our lives are different. We have full, rich, new abundant spiritual life. Look at our text: Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the LORD, and everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. The thorns and briers are symbols of sin and misery; they are images of spiritual deadness; they are useless and offensive plants. But that changes—we change as the Lord brings us to faith through the word and sacrament. There the Holy Spirit creates in us new, spiritual life; one in which we love the Lord and strive to do His will, in which we fight against sin and serving self. This new life in Christ, this life that has been created in us by the Holy Spirit is pictured in our text as majestic and fruitful trees: the cypress and the myrtle. Instead of the worthless life of sin we lived before, the Holy Spirit is leading us in a life of faith and good works. Although we daily sin much and need and seek the Lord’s forgiveness, the Holy Spirit is still leading us, as we hear in the epistle: For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. All this because Jesus is that eternal word of God, who has come and like the snow and rain, completed His work and returned to heaven and is leading us there. INJ Amen.