your love written on a blank check

wear it around your neck

A sermon on Jesus' perfect parables of holy hiddenness:

Let’s begin with a little participation. Shall we? And this isn’t my question, either. It’s Jesus’. He posed it to us this morning in today’s Scripture. 

As such, you might already be pondering the matter. But just in case you’re not, the question is, “What kind of soil are you?” Start thinking about your answer, too, because I’m going to ask you to participate. What kind of soil are you?

Are you that hardened soil? Does the word of God not have any chance to grow in your life? Are you easy pickings for that old satanic foe? Does the word of God fail to ever take root in your life?

Or are you that shallow soil? Are you receptive to God’s word BUT unable to cultivate it? Does faith run bright and hot for you? Do you burn out just a little too easily and often? Does God’s word never seem to amount to much in your life?

Or are you that weed-infested soil? Are God’s promises in direct competition with all the other demands in your life? Is it tough to carve out time and space for the word of God? Does God’s word always seem to be choked out by everything else in your life?

Or are you that highly sought-after good soil? Is the fruit of the Spirit coming up strong in you? Are you ripe for God’s Word in your life? Are you busy bearing fruit for the Lord?

… Well, what kind of soil are you? This isn’t as easy as it may seem, either. Is it? It’s a loaded question. The question has stakes for us. Doesn’t it? The answer we give matters.

Plus, the answer isn’t so clean-cut, either! Is it? Never mind how significant this question is, it’s also just plain difficult to answer. It’s hard to say exactly what kind of soil we are! Isn’t it?

Nevertheless, we are compelled to make a response. Aren’t we? Apparently, Jesus didn’t give this parable as an abstract exercise. And even more unsettling, Christ seems to have overcome all that would separate us from him to put this question to us TODAY, all over again. Hasn’t he? 

Therefore, I’ve got to ask you, what kind of soil are you? I want you to answer, too. So I’m going to ask you to participate. What I’m going to do is list the four types of soil: hard, shallow, weed-infested, and good. And what I want you to do is raise your hand when I call out the kind of soil you are. 

Before we ask that question, though, I’ve got to ask you another one. Do you want me to ask us all to close our eyes for the exercise?

Now, that may sound silly. But it’s not always easy to put yourself out there. Is it? And I don’t want the sermon to become some occasion where you’re publicly raked through the coals, either. So, I want to offer the option of giving your answer to God alone.

On the other hand, closing our eyes might be a little too cautious. Mightn’t it? After all, it’s just a question. And I’d be willing to bet more of us are in the same boat than we probably think. So it’s not like this is the most intense question. 

…As you can see, I went back and forth. I think there are good reasons to do it either way. Plus, making you vote is a good way to get you playing along. So let’s get started! Shall we? 

*Raise your hand if you want me to ask us all to close our eyes. Ok.

And *raise your hand if you don’t think it’s necessary. 

Alright. There you have it! Thank you all for participating. But now, let’s get to the real action! 

Raise your hand for the kind of soil you are. And just to recap: there’s the hard soil that the seed never sinks into, there’s the shallow soil that the seed never takes root in, there’s the weed-infested soil that the seed is always choked out of, and then there’s the good soil that the seed bears much fruit in. 

Got it? Ok! Let’s go!

*Raise your hand if you’re the hardened soil. Ok.

*Raise your hand if you’re the shallow soil. Ok.

*Raise your hand if you’re the weed-infested soil. Ok.

And now, *raise your hand if you’re the good soil. Ok.

…How was it? Did your answer surprise you? Or was it more of the same old, same old? Did your answer humble you? Did it encourage you? Did it discourage you?

Well, whatever you took away from that exercise, I don’t want you to put too much stock in it! That’s right! I don’t want you to put too much stock in your answer. And I don’t want you to do that because, well, because your answer is just plain wrong! That’s right, it’s wrong!

Now I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, who am I to say I know better about you than you know yourself?!? And fair enough. But I do know enough to know that the answer you gave couldn’t be correct! Sorry. It gives me no pleasure to say that. But it’s true.

Alright, it gave me a little pleasure to say that. Oh, who am I kidding? It gave me loads of pleasure to say that! It gave me so much pleasure, I’ll say it again! Your answer wasn’t correct! Sorry, not sorry.

You know what, though? That’s just the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ! Christ has more in store for you today than a simple diagnosis! No, Christ plans to do nothing less than till up everything you think you know about your so-called life! Christ uttered this parable so that life as you know it might finally cease and the true life he’s literally dying to give you might begin at long last!

Plus, being wrong is right where the romp with the word of God really begins! Christ didn’t give this parable so you could answer it and get on with your life. No, he spoke this parable to stop you dead in your tracks before his life-giving word! And the icing on this cake is the moment you stop to consider you might not know as much about the Bible as you think is when you’re finally ready to learn just how much more rich it is than you ever knew!

…Sounds good. Right? Well then, let’s dig in and get our hands dirty! Shall we? 

First of all, you couldn’t be right about your answer because you can’t be a good judge of your own life. And secondly, consider your own life! I bet it’s not so clear. Is it? In fact, I bet life is always changing on you. And you know what else? YOU’RE always CHANGING, too.

And it’s not like your life is all that uniform, either! Is it? Sure, there may be parts of your life that are hard. But I’d be willing to bet there are also parts of your life that are bountiful, too. Aren’t there? And even more confounding is the way all these different parts of life butt up against each other and even commingle with one another, too!

None of us are ever always just one thing or another. Are we? No, we change over time. And our life is full of various aspects, too. Yes, there may be one type of soil we identify with most, but that’s never the whole story. Is it?

I’m not going rouge here, either! Scripture bears this out. Sure, in today’s Scripture, the disciples are open to God’s word. But that’s not how it always plays out. No, there are also times when the disciples are less than receptive to God’s word. There are times when the soil of their spirit is hard. 

Moreover, that isn’t even how Jesus told the parable himself! Jesus didn’t say, this kind of person over here is this kind of soil, and that kind of person over there is that kind of soil. Did he? No, he said some seed falls into this kind of soil, and other seed falls into that kind of kind of soil. 

And yes, when Jesus breaks down this parable, he does say, “These are the ones on the path where.” But that’s pretty broad! Isn’t it? “These are the ones on the path where?” There’s nothing explicit or definitive in that! 

…And what if that’s the point?!? What if this parable isn’t about the soil at all?!? What if this parable is all about sower? What if the parable is all about the kind of sower who would do something as rash as cast seed in all sorts of soil—regardless of the condition of the soil?!?

Doesn’t that sound more like a parable?!? Think about it! A parable about different kinds of soil reacting differently to seed is hardly a parable at all! Isn’t it? That’s just a straightforward prognosis. What is strange, though, is a farmhand who would do something as haphazard as waste seed and energy on soil with little to no chance of bearing fruit!

And there you have it. Don’t you? When you stop to let it, the word of God starts speaking for itself yet AGAIN! Best of all, though, is the fact that the Word of God says something so GOOD you would never dream to say it to yourself.

Hear this: This parable isn’t about the kind of soil you are. No, it’s about the kind of sower Christ is! And just in case this parable hasn’t already pulled the rug out from under you, allow me to finish the job! Christ is the kind of sower who’s perfectly happy to scatter the seed of his word throughout ALL of your life! 

Listen up! Christ doesn’t size you up before he plants his word in your life! And neither does he look at any time or place of your existence and decide it’s not good enough for him or his word, either! No, as far as Christ is concerned, it’s all part of his most highly favored farmstead! Christ is just a foolhardy farmhand that way! 

Christ is utterly unafraid of your darkest secret and your deepest shame. You stand to receive the seed of his word on account of nothing but HIS relentless and reckless sowing! Absolutely nothing in your past, present, or future is beyond the span of his sowing! His sowing that buries promise in your past. HIS sowing that plants assurance in your present. And his sowing that fills your future with hope, too!

…I can’t rightly say what kind of soil you are today. But then again, neither can you! And anyway, that’s it’s a totally fruitless exercise! You don’t need to know what kind of soil you are. And trying to figure it out is a sure way to poison the aquifers of your spirit!

Plus, it does not matter one whit what kind of soil you are! What does matter, though, is the kind of sower Christ is! And Christ is the kind of sower who refuses to be put off from scattering the seed of his word all throughout all of your life! What’s more, CHRIST, the word of God himself, will not return to the Lord empty-handed, either! 

Fellow seedlings, Christ died and was buried to plant HIMSELF deep in the soil of your life and death! And Christ is raised to RESURRECT you FROM the dirt of Sin of Death, too! Christ is not content to just sow the seed of his word in every last inch of your life. No, Christ is so thoroughgoing that he’s also WORKING the soil of your life, too! 

Furthermore, he’s most active in those places you’re most inclined to think are bad soil. That’s what the cross is. Isn’t it? The cross is that implement CHRIST plies in those places of your life that seem most bleak.

We all have barren and dry stretches of life. Don’t we? And it goes without saying that we don’t like them. Do we? You know who doesn’t mind them, though? Christ! That’s right, the places in your life that are most dusty and desolate are most fertile and lush for Christ! 

Those rough patches are the places where your life most actively resembles Christ’s! The rocky ground is where your life is taking on the topography of Christ’s life-giving cross! And it’s also in those places of life that don’t come out the way you hoped where you truly learn to really rely on Christ, too.

Faith isn’t giving God a self-assured nod at the end of a good crop. No, faith is trusting God at the start of a bad harvest. Those places in life where God’s promises are all you have to hold on to are where belief takes deepest root in you! When you feel like you’re dying, and even when you really are, that’s when the seed of all Christ’s promises comes up most powerfully in and for you! 

When life is hard, because it can be, you become open enough for God’s word to land. When all those other offers of life prove shallow, because they are, YOU become deep enough for God’s word to sink in. When all those other false hopes get choked out, because they do, YOU become free enough for God’s word to blossom! And that, and that alone, makes good soil out of you!

…Christ has been working on you ALL along! Hasn’t he? And yes, there are some places in your life where his work is coming up roses. And there are other places where it’s withering on the vine. And believe me, I know how hard that can be. But, Christ, the Master gardener, isn’t worried in the least! 

The harvest decidedly does not depend upon the soil. Does it? No, it all depends on that sower. It all depends on that sower who, contrary to all common sense, knows exactly what he’s doing.

For now, we take it on faith. And today, that faith may be just a stalk barely poking through the soil. Or maybe it’s starting to sprout for you. But make no mistake, one day, BAM! You WILL bloom! And on that day, Christ, that one Mary took for a gardener that first Easter, will be ready! And what’s more, the prophecy will be fulfilled, too! The wisdom of his cross-shaped foolishness will prove more wise than all our so-called human wisdom!

Sounds like you’re better soil than you knew. Doesn’t it? And that’s the better part of most of the fun! You don’t have to be a fruit inspector anymore! No, now you’re free to be the good fruit God has made out of you ALL along!

And here’s one way to start: sing! Joy is a fruit of the Spirit! And trust me, it’s coming up in you now MORE than you know!

Hymn number 674. Let Us Talents and Tongues Employ. ELW 674. Let’s sing!