Sermon for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

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Jesu Juva

“Hidden Treasures”

Text: Matthew 13:44-52; Deuteronomy 7:6-9; Romans 8:28-39

 

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

I spent this past week with 700 or so buried treasures. 700 or so pearls of great value. That’s what the Lord calls them. The world calls them Mary, Randy, Caden, Justin, Paige. Joanna, Caleb, Eli. But the Lord calls them His. His children. His treasures. His pearls. As He calls you.

But they don’t look like treasures! Not by the world’s standards. In the parable we heard from Jesus today, didn’t you ever wonder . . . why was that treasure there in the first place? How many people over the years walked right over that buried treasure without even knowing it? Or, how many farmers plowed that field and left it? Or, how many, perhaps, found that . . . thing, saw it, but put it back - thinking it just a worthless piece of junk? Until a certain man saw it. Who saw a treasure. Long buried, long ignored, long thought junk. But not to Him! So He bought that field. Gave all He had for it. 

The same with the merchant in search of fine pearls. How many saw that one pearl and just kept right on looking? Threw it in with the others? Nothing special to see here. Until our man saw it. Who saw what no one else could see. A pearl of great value. That He had to have. So He gave all He had for it.

But what do we see? When we look around in the world? When we look at others? When we look in the mirror? Or when others look at you? We see people buried. Buried in sin. Sometimes a mountain of sin! Buried by troubles and problems, covered with dirt. Folks overlooked by others; nothing special here, nothing to see here. People we wouldn’t even take for free, let alone sell all we have for them and purchase them. People we drive right past, thinking them worthless, not worth my time or attention. And you’ve been treated that way by others; I know you have. So have I. And worse . . . by those who not only won’t give anything to you or for you, but want to take from you by hook or by crook. Bury you even farther. Out of sight, out of mind.

But then our man comes along. And He does something no one else would do. He does what everyone else thinks foolish and stupid, in fact! He buys that piece of junk. He buys that pearl. Because they’re treasures to Him. He sees what no one else can see. But He doesn’t just buy them, as extraordinary as that is. He goes even father - He gives all He has for them. Everything. For you, that would be to sell your house, empty your bank account, pawn your possessions, and go to the purchase with nothing but the clothes on your back - or maybe not even with those! And you hand it all over. Every penny. Joyfully. To buy something everyone else thinks is junk!

If that makes no sense to you, you are beginning to understand! To understand how differently God sees things, how differently God values things. How vast and unimaginable His mercy and love. Maybe no one else in this world thinks you’re worth anything at all, even you! Won’t even give you the time of day. And yet the Son of God, our Saviour, Jesus, looks at you and gives all He has for you, His treasure and pearl. And He really did give all. He even gave the clothes off His back, poured out his Blood, and gave His life. Joyfully! For He could not imagine life without you.

And if that makes no sense to you, you are beginning to understand that we cannot understand such love. And yet, it’s true.

Already in the Old Testament we hear of this. As we heard in the reading from Deuteronomy, God calls Israel His treasured possession. And trust me, no one else considered Israel that way! Israel - the children of Jacob, that is - weren’t royalty, weren’t rich, weren’t even particularly good people! Jacob was a heel and a con man. His sons sold one of their brothers into slavery. One of Jacob’s sons committed adultery with one of his wives! They were slaves in Egypt. And after God brought them out of Egypt and out of their slavery, dividing the Red Sea and defeating the Egyptians for them, all they did was grumble and complain. By all and every worldly standard, they were most certainly not treasures or pearls! And yet they were to God.

And you - who are you? What have you done? How have you lived? My guess: not so different than Jacob and his family. And those 700 or so I spent this past week with? The same. And this guy in the pulpit? Yeah. And yet your Saviour, the very Son of God Himself, Jesus, came down from heaven and gave everything He had for you on the cross. And He’s still coming for you. Here is His forgiveness, for you. Here is His Word, for you. Here is His life, for you. Here is His Body and Blood, for you. That I, that you, may be His own, and live under Him in His kingdom (Small Catechism). Not only that we rejoice, but to do so gives Him joy as well!

And purchased by Him and with His gifts, treated and regarded as treasures and pearls, that changes us. It changes how we look at others. That the mercy and love of Jesus that enables Him to look at us like that, now with that same mercy and love given to us and living in us, we begin to see others the same way. As people worth our time and attention. As people worth giving ourselves for. As people we don’t want to live without. Imagine if everyone actually did that. This would be a pretty awesome world to live in, don’t you think?

For now, though, those treasures remain hidden. The net of the Gospel gathers fish of every kind, as Jesus said. We can’t tell the difference. But our Father in heaven knows, and at the end of the age the separation will take place. But until then, as Jesus died for one and all, lives for one and all, and gives to one and all, so will we. Joyfully. Not because we have to, but because Jesus lives in us. Because we cannot do otherwise. Because as St. Paul said, in Jesus, we are more than conquerers. We are His sons and daughters.

Have you understood all these things? Jesus asked His disciples. Not just regarding these parables we heard today, but also the ones we heard the past two weeks: the Parable of the Sower and the miraculous harvest the seed of God’s Word produces despite hard hearts, rocky hearts, satanic birds, and the heat of persecution that try to prevent it from growing in us. It still does. There is still a harvest. And the Parable of the Weeds and the miraculous harvest the seed of God’s Word produces despite the bad seed - the non-truths, half-truths, and lies satan is sowing in the world. There is still a harvest. Jesus is going to send out His twelve to sow that seed, preach the Word. And He would do the rest. And then the parables we heard today. Do you think they understood all these things?

And how about you? Have you understood all these things? You do, and you don’t. You do, and that’s why you’re here. You are here to receive His gifts - the gifts Christ gives to you and for you to be His treasure. But you also don’t, for you understand that you cannot understand such love of a perfect, holy God for us wretched sinners. That the Lord of Glory bought us with His lifeblood as the price (LSB #851 v. 1). It shouldn’t be! And yet it is. Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways (Gradual)! And not just unsearchable and inscrutable, but wondrous and amazing.

That’s what 700 or so buried treasures and pearls of great value and I rejoiced in this past week, including a number of our youth. That our Lord dug us up out of the grave our sins put us in, washed us off in the waters of Holy Baptism, continues to care for us with His words of forgiveness, life, and salvation, and feeds us with His Body and Blood in the Sacrament. We heard it, rejoiced in it, sang it, and lived in it all week. And that joy now continues here with all of you, even when the devil, the world, and our sinful nature heap dirt and stones upon us and try to bury us again. Trying to convince us that we’re no treasures, no pearls of great value - it’s all a myth, a fairy tale, wishful thinking. Except it’s not! Because they once did that to Jesus - rejected Him, killed Him, and buried Him. But He rose. And a grave that is empty means hearts that are full. Full of Jesus. And so full of life and hope. So that when you are buried in a field - literally buried under six feet of dirt, stone cold dead because of your sin, with just a stone with your name etched on it marking the spot where they buried you, folks remembering you for a while, but then generations to come, people walking by and asking, who was that? And the answer is: ah, nobody. Just another dead body. Jesus, who bought, or redeemed, the dirt of that field, in fact, the dirt of this whole planet with His own blood, will dig you up and raise you to life again. Because when you ask Him: who is that? His answer is: ah, yes! My treasure!

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sermon for the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

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Jesu Juva

“Deep in the Weeds?”

Text: Matthew 13:24–30, 36–43; Romans 8:18-27

 

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

If Jesus were to tell this parable today, I think He might get accused of being a conspiracy theorist! C’mon, Jesus! Really? An enemy? An enemy came and intentionally sowed weed seeds in your field. Weeds just grow, Jesus! Everywhere! Everybody knows that. You’ve been spending too much time in the Galilean sun. It’s starting to get to you! Lighten up! Don’t be so paranoid.

But Jesus wasn’t being paranoid; this was happening to Him. The Pharisees were actively sowing seeds of opposition and doubt wherever He went. They accused Him of being a law breaker. They accused Him of blasphemy. They accused Him of being demon-possessed. They tried asking Him trick questions to discredit Him with the people. They tried to get Him in trouble with the local authorities. And with all this, they didn’t just want to discredit Him or shame Him, they wanted Him GONE. In fact, in the chapter in Matthew right before this one that contains the parable we heard today, we read this verse: But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him (Matthew 12:14).

And there are those doing the same thing to the church today. (At least, to the church that remains orthodox and Scriptural and hasn’t caved to the latest cultural fads.) There are those who do not just believe and teach differently than the church and the Scriptures, but who want the church GONE; who want to destroy it. And so, it is said, the church and her teachings - on things like marriage, and sexuality, and the sanctity of life - aren’t just quaint, old fashioned, and irrelevant, to those who now know better, they are evil, dangerous, and violent. These teaching cannot just be ignored any longer; they must be silenced, stopped, destroyed. 

But . . . maybe I’m just a conspiracy theorist, too.

And government is not the answer. It isn’t just a matter of getting the right people elected or appointed to guarantee free speech. Because the problem is bigger than that. It transcends countries and governments - it is, as Jesus said, the evil one, sowing his evil seed, seeking to destroy Christ and His church. An effort he began in the Garden with Adam and Eve, through the Old Testament to Jesus in the wilderness, and then through the New Testament down to our day and age today. And he’s not going to stop.

And so these weeds of false teaching, of untruths and half-truths, are still being relentlessly sown today - in schools, in the media, in movies, just about everywhere you look. And not by accident. Intentionally. To counteract the Word of God. That what God calls good, the world call evil. What God says to avoid, the world chases after. What God says is truth, the world says is stupid and foolish at best, and hurtful and dangerous at worst. And these seeds are growing. Causing even Christians to doubt the truth of God’s Word. Christians beginning to themselves ask satan’s original question: Did God really say . . .

That’s how dangerous these weeds are. Weeds sown to choke the good plants of God and the Gospel. Or, to use phrases popular today: to suck all the oxygen out of the church. To dominate the news cycle. That the lie told often enough become the truth. 

This is why the Higher Things conferences that some of our youth attended this past week and others are attending this coming week are focused on this very thing: doubt. Is this the truth? Can you be sure? Because satan isn’t going to stop sowing and attacking. A tough world is going to stay tough and maybe get tougher. The weeds aren’t going away.

That’s what Jesus said today. Which maybe sounds counter-intuitive. Because wouldn’t it be better to just yank all those weeds? That’s what the workers in the parable thought. And they were probably very gung-ho about about it! We’ll go pull ‘em all up! But no, the master says. No, Jesus says. . . . Huh? But aren’t they hurting the good plants? Yes, but to pull them out would do even more damage. So leave them be. For now. And when the time comes for the harvest, then when everything is gathered up, then the separation will take place. But not now. And maybe the workers are disappointed. Maybe we are disappointed. We want an easier life. One without weeds.

But this is the way with Jesus. When, for example, Jesus was teaching His disciples about the cross, Peter said: No! This shall never happen to you! We’ll yank those weeds! And Jesus rebuked him (Matthew 16:21-23). Another time when people were opposing Jesus, James and John suggested they call fire down from heaven on them! Yank ‘em up! And Jesus rebuked them (Luke 9:53-54). When they came to arrest Jesus and Peter drew his sword to cut down those weeds, Jesus rebuked him (John 18:10-11). Jesus’ way is not the easy way. Jesus’ way is not to cut down the weeds, but be cut down Himself. Not to avoid the cross but go to the cross. Not to live but to die. Victory by dying.

Now, we’re used to hearing that. You’re used to hearing that. But you’re going to live it, too. For the evil one and his weeds weren’t just after Jesus, they’re after you, too. And the victory won’t be gained by pulling up the weeds, but by dying. Dying with Jesus. Dying to live. Because the victory isn’t ultimately a life here and now, but a life that is eternal.

This is what Paul was talking about in the reading from Romans today, when he talked about we and all of creation groaning, waiting, to be released from our bondage to decay. Waiting for the day of the harvest to come. Waiting for when the weeds will finally be separated out and burned. That day will come. But until that day, it will be a struggle - for us, for our children, and for their children. The weeds will be plentiful, the weeds will be big, and the weeds will be strong.

But Paul offers words of hope for us, too. He says that as bad as it may get, the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. And this, too: the Spirit helps us in our weakness. You do not live or fight alone. And the Spirit is interceding for you, praying for you, bringing you and your need before your Father in heaven. So Christians never get lost in the weeds! If your heavenly Father knows how many hairs are on your head (Matthew 10:30), He also sees and knows each and every good plant growing among the weeds.

So God doesn’t just leave you among the weeds and wish you the best! Not pulling the weeds doesn’t mean ignoring the good plants. He gives you His Spirit to strengthen you and help you, to grow you among and in spite of the weeds. He waters you in baptism. He lifts you up with His Absolution, His forgiveness. He strengthens you with His Word. And He feeds you with the Body and Blood of Jesus. He doesn’t leave the weeds because He doesn’t care about you - He leaves the weeds because He does! He doesn’t want to hurt you in the process. But He’s far from a hands off God. He came in the flesh for you, to save you, to provide all you need. And He still is.

So the good news here is not that God is going to pull all the weeds in this world and in your life, but just like we heard last week, that despite all that seeks to hinder the kingdom of God - satan and all his weeds - there is still a harvest! Satan will ultimately fail. Jesus rose and so will we. God will have His harvest. 

So we prayed in the Collect of the Day earlier: O God, so rule and govern our hearts and minds by Your Holy Spirit that, ever mindful of Your final judgment, we may be stirred up to holiness of living here and dwell with You in perfect joy hereafter. Ever mindful of Your final judgment. That is, focusing not on the weeds here and now, but looking to the future, knowing that judgment and salvation are coming . . . Ever mindful of Your final judgment, we be stirred up to holiness of living here and now. Stirred up to holiness of living not because we don’t know what’s going to happen in the end and so I better be good now! No! It’s the exact opposite of that. That because I know the end and how it’s all going to turn out . . . because I know Jesus’ tomb is empty and He is risen from the dead . . . because I hear the verdict that I am forgiven and so not guilty here every Sunday . . . because I am baptized and so a child of God . . . because God has given me His Spirit . . . because feeds me with his own Body and Blood . . . therefore I can live NOW. I can live among the weeds. I do not have to be afraid. The victory has already been won and given to me. The joy we will have is the joy that is already ours, to live now in joyful and loving service to others. Even to the weeds and those who persecute us.

Now, you may not be happy about that. Probably won’t be. But you can still be joyful. I ran across this explanation of that when preparing for one of our Wednesday night Bible Studies recently. So those of you who attend that have heard this. But I thought it hit the nail on the head, the difference between happiness and joy. It said: Happiness is determined by what is going on around us. Joy is determined by what is going on inside us. What’s going on around us is the weeds! Which doesn’t make us very happy. But what’s going on inside us is Jesus and His Spirit, which brings us joy. Joy even in the midst of unhappy, challenging, weeds.

So what to do? Stay in the Word. You need His strength. Speak the truth. Sow good seeds. Teach your children. Young tender sprouts are more susceptible to being choked by the weeds. Hear how much God loves you! And not just a little . . .  how much He loves you AND how much you need to hear that. Be here faithfully. Hear the Absolution, hear the Gospel, feed on Jesus’ Body and Blood, grow in His grace. And be patient. Which is hard! But no matter how many weeds are growing around you, and no matter how strong they look, know that the victory - your victory! - has already been won. The future for the weeds is the fire. Your future is life. 

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sermon for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

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Jesu Juva

“Abundant and Joyful Sowers”

Text: Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23; Isaiah 55:10-13

 

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Last week I told you about the blueberry plants we have growing in our yard. If you weren’t able to make it to church last week, you’ll have to go listen to that sermon - either in the recording of our livestream on our YouTube channel, or on our church website or blog. 

This week I want to tell you about another plant in our yard, but this one, one that we did not plant. It just grew by itself. A tomato plant in our front yard. Now, we do plant tomato plants - in the gardens in our backyard. So we were surprised to find this one growing where it was. We think that either a squirrel or a chipmunk picked a tomato off one of the plants we planted in the backyard (‘cuz they do that!), carried it around front, and after eating what they wanted, left the rest on the ground. And there it stayed - through the Fall and Winter and into the Spring - and then all by itself, it started to grow. And that plant we did not plant, I think produced more tomatoes for us than the ones we did! The seed just grew, and produced an abundant harvest.

The parable Jesus told today was about sowing seeds like that. Seeds that are sown that produce an abundant harvest. But this is not a lesson in agriculture. Obviously, the sower in this parable, who is throwing seed all over the place, abundantly, recklessly, carelessly, isn’t doing this in the most effective or precise way. He’s just throwing it out and letting the seed do the rest. 

Now I imagine the farmers who hear this parable have a hard time with it! For them, seed is expensive and valuable. They spend a lot of time selecting the right seed for their conditions, and try not to waste any of it. They try to maximize their return on investment. Like we do with the tomatoes we plant in our backyard. But the sower in the parable doesn’t seem to care about that. He’s just throwin’ it out - in the field, on the rock, on the path . . . sowing his seed! Sowing.

Maybe because he just wants to get the task over with. He doesn’t really want to be there, doesn’t really want to be doing that, so get it done as fast as he can. We all do that. And then he can go back and tell his master that he did his job. Maybe not the best he could have, but he did it. 

But there’s another way to look at this as well . . . Maybe the sower is filled with joy! He loves being out there in his field, and, looking forward to the harvest this seed will produce, he just starts throwing it out. He’s happy to be doing so, even though he knows some will not produce. Some will be snatched, and some will be scorched, and some will be choked. But some will produce a harvest, too. And that gives him joy.

I think this is something to think about because one thing that we didn’t hear today - that was contained in the chunk of verses that were omitted in the Gospel we heard - is that Jesus explains this parable only to His disciples. The great crowds that gathered about Him by the Sea of Galilee all heard the parable, but only to his disciples did Jesus unpack its meaning. Because they were the ones He was going to send out to be sowers. They were the ones who were going to be scattering the seed of His Word, and Jesus wanted them to be joyful, He wanted them to be abundant, and He wanted them to be realistic. 

Jesus wanted the disciples to know that there would be a harvest. That the words of the prophet Isaiah that we heard today would be fulfilled. That

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.

So they should be joyful in their work, knowing that their labor would not be in vain. And they should also be abundant - don’t be stingy with the seed, but sow it everywhere! They have an unlimited supply. So throw it out joyfully! And also realize that while there will be a harvest, some will also not produce. Some will be snatched, some will be scorched, and some will be choked. For we live in a sinful and difficult world. A hard and stony world.  A world where the evil one is lurking and seeking to snatch the seed whenever and however he can. 

So don’t sow the seed of God’s Word according to some scientific method. So it joyfully, sow it abundantly, and realize that it may produce a harvest in places you don’t expect . . . like a rogue tomato plant in my front yard. God’s Word will accomplish the purpose for which God sent it. 

But this teaching to the disciples should also be applied to us. In this way . . . I think most of us, when we hear this parable, think about it scientifically. We try to figure out what kind of soil we are and how we can make ourselves better soil. How can I keep the weeds out of my life? How can I make my heart a little less rocky? How can I keep satan away? And we try to do those things. And we’re sincere and maybe you try really hard. And it doesn’t work, right? 

Because like those persistent birds I talked about last week, who keep coming back and stealing my blueberries, satan doesn’t give up, but keeps coming back. He doesn’t care how hard you try! He’ll match your effort and raise you! And he doesn’t need sleep or rest, and he doesn’t take a break. He’s not going to leave you alone. And no matter how hard you try not to worry, you do. No matter how hard you try to not let the ridicule or persecution of the world get to you, it does. No matter how many hard rocks you try to remove from your heart and life, there’s always more. And note that Jesus was telling this parable in one of the most rocky places on planet earth - they knew you couldn’t get rid of all the rocks!

The point of this parable - for the disciples then, and for you and me today - is that despite all this, despite all this still there is a harvest! Still there are seeds that are not snatched, are not scorched, and are not choked, and which grow and produce a harvest. In you and your life. In your heart. And that’s not you - that’s the power of the seed, the power of the Word of God, and the Spirit working through that Word. Despite the devil, the world, and your own sinful nature, God is miraculously growing His Word in you. And producing a harvest - 30, 60, or a hundredfold.

Now, it’s not wrong to try harder to hear the Word and keep the weeds of worry and the heat of persecution and the temptations of the devil from preventing its growth. That’s good, in fact. But the point of this parable is not what you do or can accomplish, but what the Word does and accomplishes in you. The miraculous work of Jesus and His Spirit in you. 

And so His Word is joyfully and abundantly sown here - in the Divine Service, in Bible Study, in Catechesis, and in your homes in your own reading and studying and discussion. It is poured on you in Baptism, it is sown into your ears and through your eyes, it is fed into your mouths in the Supper. And while sometimes the devil is right there to snatch it away, and sometimes the cares of life choke it, and sometimes the troubles you are going through scorch it, it also lands on good soil. For you’re not one soil or the other or the other - you’re all of the above. 

But despite everything in the world and everything in your life, here you are. Which means the Word has done its work and brought you here. The Word is doing its work and working in you. And as you leave this place the Word is producing a harvest of good fruit in your life as you do those things God has given you to do. Good works in your vocations as a father, mother, son, daughter, husband, wife, or worker. Caring, serving, helping, teaching, comforting, and joyfully sowing the Word yourself as you speak to others. And God’s Word works . . . maybe even in places you didn’t expect. And maybe that seed sits dormant for a while, for a season or two, and then grows at a time you didn’t expect. That’s on God. It’s His Seed. For the disciples, and for you and I, the instruction is just to sow it abundantly and joyfully. 

And it will accomplish that for which God sends it. We know because the Seed is God’s Word, and God’s Word was made flesh, and that Word made flesh was once crucified, died, and planted in a tomb of pure rock where nothing can grow. And yet grow it did. On the third day rising from the dead and producing a harvest of souls that, as we hear in the book of Revelation (7:9), is a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages. That’s what this Word can do, and will do.

So if you’ve been sitting here today only half-heartedly listening to the Word, thinking about other things, worrying about stuff, being distracted, repent. If you haven’t been spending time in the Word during the week, or not trying to live according to the Word, repent of that, too. If the troubles of life have been burning you up, return to your Baptism and let those waters of grace and forgiveness quench those flames. Jesus’ forgiveness is here for you, always. And that forgiveness that you then hear, that is spoken to you, is the Seed of the Word as well, sown into your ears and heart, to grow in your life. To give you faith and joy. To produce a harvest in your life. 

So if you don’t see that harvest, what do you do? Get more Seed! More Word. More Jesus! Go to the Word. Come be forgiven, come be fed, come and have God’s Word thrown into you. And rejoice that you have a God and Saviour who so generously, abundantly, lavishly, freely, graciously, and joyfully sows His Seed. For you. And for the life of the world. 

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.