Sermon on Matthew 13:1-23
Matthew 13:1-23
And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”
He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.
A mystery is something that is hidden. God hides the Gospel from the proud who rely on their own righteousness. To whom has it been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven? To those who hear Jesus’ word, believe it, and keep it.
Whoever does not have is the one who does not believe. Even what he has will be taken away.
And this can happen to those who once had. Jesus tells the Parable of the Sower and describes four types of disciples. The first are those who hear the word of God and do not understand it. These are the seeds that fell on the road. The devil snatches it out of their heart before they can believe it. It seems natural to ignore the Word of God, or to hear it and let it pass in one ear and out the other. But when you see someone hear the Word of God and dismiss it or ignore it as if it irrelevant to your life, you can be sure that the devil was right there in his heart to snatch the word out and make it seem confusing and unnecessary. Whatever such a person thinks he has of understanding in knowledge – even what he has – will be taken away.
Whoever does not have is the one who doesn’t believe. Even what he has will be taken away. Some receive the word with joy. The seed falls on the rocks, and the seed sprouts quickly. They believe. They have. They learn how Jesus is their Savior from sin. They go to church, get baptized, bring their children to be taught. But when any persecution comes because of the Word, such as happened this past year and a half when churches were closed down and fearful Christians chose their love of health and fear of disease over the word of God, they fall away. They don’t believe anymore, and so they have nothing. They lose the Word, though they had it. Even what they have is taken away.
Whoever does not have is the one who does not believe. To believe in Christ is to have Christ. To trust His word is to have His Word and all of its promises of forgiveness, mercy, and eternal life. Some receive this, but then other things begin to seem more important. The seed falls among thorns. They start to think that money, and worries, and pleasures are worth more than the Word of God. They begin to engage in sins that God’s Word warns them against, and they don’t think that it is that harmful a thing. They stop paying attention to the Word of God. They heard it, but they don’t keep it. They choose riches and cares and pleasures that choke the Word of God, and it bears no fruit. If it bears no fruit, they have no faith, because whoever abides in Christ bears much fruit. They had much, but they couldn’t keep it, because they finally put their life in the hands of earthly things. They lose the Word, and even what they have is taken away.
What a doleful, sorrowful, painful story Jesus tells! But He knows. He knows how He desires to save every man, woman, and child He has ever created, and how they treat the Word that created all things, and then makes men into new creatures, and rescues them from sin that kills them, and from judgment which all men should dread, and from the devil, who is stronger than all of us. He knows the soil very well. He is the Sower. He sowed through His prophets. He sowed through His Apostles. He sows still today through His pastors who preach the prophets’ and apostles’ Word which His Spirit gave them.
And He knows the good soil. It is the soil that is broken. It is the soil that has felt the plow of God’s Law, as it breaks the hard ground, turns up the rocks, and cuts the thorns at their root. It is the soil that has nothing in it at all. It is barren and nothing grows there, until a merciful Sower comes and throws His seed, and a sinner hears that though he has nothing, yet he has been given everything with this Word of God.
Jesus said to the Pharisees, who saw and
did not see, and heard and did not understand,
You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For
what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.
And so the inverse is true. What is an abomination in the sight of men is highly esteemed by God. The Lord delights in those who fear Him, in those who hope for His mercy.
Do you hope for His mercy? Have you seen the devil snatch the word out of your heart, so that you have gone through spans of life not caring what God says? Do you see how hard your heart can be?
Do you hope for His mercy? Have you seen your heart fear the world and its reaction more than your heart loves the Word that gives you peace with God? Have you chosen peace with the world instead of peace with God, but you know what happens to a seed in such ground. It withers. It has no root. What is in your heart?
Do you hope for His mercy? Have you seen your own flesh and mind desire what the heathen do, and tell you that the Word isn’t as important as you caring about this or that, that the Seed isn’t as important as getting a job and money, that the Gospel of Jesus Christ isn’t worth as much as pleasures you want to feel? Have you seen thorns choking this word out of your heart, so that you don’t even fell that you have what you used to feel you have?
Listen. Listen to the word that is still sown in your heart today. Repent of ignoring God’s Word. Repent of caring more about the world than the word of God. Repent of loving pleasure and defending worry more than embracing and keeping the Word of God when it is spoken to you. Listen. It may hurt. It may drive deep into your soul, but it will the only life there is that lasts when those thought they had so much will find at the last an empty road, a bunch of rocks, and thorns that stick and bite.
Listen to the one who knows your heart before you confess what is in it. Listen to Him whom God sent into the world to save sinners – this is a faithful saying. Listen and keep it in your heart, and do not let it go out of your ear, but let it come out of your mouth in a confession of praise to God that He has mercy on sinners whose hearts have been hard, but Christ’s blood has softened them with the mystery that God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. Listen and keep this word in your heart. Cherish it for the eternal life it gives, and pray upon it against the hard rocks that seem so strong and immovable from your life, but Jesus says, “Fear not. I have overcome the world.” And He has. The seed He plants is the Word that contains His victory over the sin of the world, over the death that veils the entire world, over the despair that claims a world chasing after happiness that ends. But this Word has joy that does not end, so listen to it. Keep it. Have it and hold it, and it will not depart from you in death. Listen to the one who assumed your flesh and blood that you have wrapped around your soul. His is without sin, and yet find in and on that pure flesh the sin of the world, the thorns that tempt you crowned His very head.
This is the Word that comes to you as a mystery and foolishness to those who are perishing, but to the broken and contrite spirit, it is the salvation of God, the glory of God, the peace of your conscience, the love of your life, the joy that remains not only in the short trials we must face on this earth, but in death, and on that last day when we must all appear before Christ, who will ask us what we have.
I have you, dear Jesus. I have your Word, which you cannot deny, and I do not deny it. I claim it as my highest joy. It is my only light, my only comfort, my only guide away from every sin I have committed, through every suffering I must endure, and to the sight of Your face which I long to see. Give me more. Give me more of Your Word. Rachel said, “Give me children or I will die!” to Jacob. Jacob said, “Am I God to open the womb?” Dear Jesus, give me your Word, or I will die. You are God who opened my heart to hear Your Word. Give me more, and I will live forever. Amen.