A, Pentecost 4 Proper 10 Matthew 13:9; Isaiah 55:10-11 “He who has Ears”
He Who Has Ears Jesus says, "He who has ears let him here!" This is a strange phrase! It sounds as if there were those around the place without ears. Some people are born without ears, some lose the outer ear through accident or skin cancer, and some are born deaf. But this is not what Jesus is talking about here. The deformity was not physical but rather spiritual, as the people had perfectly good ears, but some were not prepared to stop and hear Jesus speak to their hearts; into their personal situation.
One of the teachers at seminary, often remarked, the organ of faith is the ear. Faith enters us through the ear. We believe in many things that grow out of our experience, our education, or our environment, but true faith comes to those whose ears are permitted to hear the word of God.
The reason faith may not come to someone is because the person fails to trust in the word of God. The readings this week focus extra attention on the word of God, calling us to see it is not God nor his word that need to be reviewed, but rather you and me need to render our hearts so we can be returned to the only thing that matters in a mortal's life. In other words if you wish to dwell in the eternal kingdom of heaven, let you who have ears hear!
In Isaiah 55 we're told quite clearly, "For 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." (Isaiah 55:10–11 ESV)
Yet mistrust over things like rain coming are common, and even greater faithlessness in God to provide regardless of feast or famine. So if we can't even trust God's promise in his word to provide seed and bread, the earthly things, how much more is the unbelief in the eternal things promised which are never seen in this life without faith? If you can't trust God for the simple seen things, how do you expect to trust him for the hidden treasures of heaven?
Make no mistake, we stand at the crossroads. It's time you allowed Christ to lead you as he did St Stephen. Is this congregation going to glorify Christ in its members' move towards death? And therefore grow in faith as a congregation in this place. Or, is it going to die not having allowed God to let his word water it and return to heaven having done what he intends it to do?
Jesus tells the parable of the seed scattered in different places; on a path, on rocky ground, amongst thorns, and then in good soil. What is the same for each seed? It dies! Every seed the sower casts, dies, but only the seed sown on good soil brings glory to he who has sown it. Like Saint Stephen it is God's will for you to lay down your lives as living sacrifices bringing glory to God and allowing faith to increase within, rather than continue dying while trying to keep up appearances.
At this point there will be some of you who are shutting down to what God is saying to you. Indeed the hammer of the law has fallen hard, and it needs to! But my prayer and God's will is that a majority of you are struck in the core of your being by the Holy Spirit and want to know, how we might be this "good soil" so God is glorified in our dying and we as individuals are caught up into the bountiful harvest at the Lord's return?
It can all be summed up in the simple words of Jesus – He who has ears let him here! Now one might joke that without ears, someone who needs to wear glasses will not see either. On what does one hang their glasses if they have no ears? But spiritually speaking this is no joke, it’s truth. Without ears to hear, one will not see or eternally experience God’s love, instead only his wrath and separation.
The greatest problem is not that we don’t have ears, but that you with ears are keeping them from hearing God’s word. This is either done practically by not regularly bringing your ears into the hearing of his word, mainly due to hardness of heart. Or, the worries of this world choke you and deafen you to his word. Or, there’s an expectation that the word is a quick fix and when in sinfulness it doesn’t suit you, you let the word within die.
A sermon on Matthew 13:9; Isaiah 55:10-11
Pentecost 4 Proper 10 (Year A)
10/07/11 Pastor Heath Pukallus Katanning-Narrogin Lutheran Parish
But why anyone would have that for themselves by thinking they don't need to hear God is beyond me! Jesus has already bore the wrath of God on the cross and now he seeks to lift us up in glory through his resurrected power over death! St Stephen died full of the Holy Spirit trusting in this resurrection power. In fact he saw the glory of the Father and Jesus at his side as his assailants covered their ears and stoned him to death as he proclaimed the resurrection. God calls you to unblock your ears and hear. He who has ears let him here!
Just about any soil can be made good if it's acted upon. Even good soil not acted upon in the right way can become saline and good for nothing. So while we have ears to hear there is hope. But you who cut yourselves off from hearing God is like soil which refuses to receive water and nutrient becoming more and more a wasteland. Yet it need not be like this at all!
Hearing with ears connected to the heart allows the Holy Spirit to work deep within us, rooting out the darkness of sin, taking the salinity out of the soil. Unlike the saltpans left to produce nothing, showing the dying and dead trees of a bygone era, when God exposes the salinity of sin in you he excavates it leaving rich organic soil worked by the Holy Spirit. And the sin he takes out is heaped on a hill called Calvary.
He who has ears let him here!
But there's a final part to this message. When you allow yourself to hear, you are allowing the community of God to work upon you.
We are not called to read the word of God. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with reading the bible, but it happens in response to hearing it. Hearing however, calls you into community, first with the Trinity, and then with all others who have been called into this triune fellowship.
It takes one to read but it takes a community to hear. God the Father speaks to you, he speaks his Word, and this is Jesus Christ – the "Word made Flesh". And when he speaks the Holy Spirit is the carrier of the Word made Flesh to the ear and the heart. This in turn switches on the eye of faith so we might see the faith community here on earth and those who are in need of hearing the word of God. Others who like us were once dying seed on rocky, hard, thorn strewn ground.
And as the Holy Spirit uses us to enrich others with Jesus' gifts, he also continues his residual effect in us of tilling and fertilising us with forgiveness and faith in the gifts of Jesus' body and blood and written word.
So what is it for us and our congregation? There are worse times just ahead. Strife we Australians have never experienced is coming and it will devastate all who trust in themselves. But for those who have ears to hear, faith will only increase in the midst of suffering, just as St Stephen's faith held fast in his hour of death.
It's more crucial to rend the heart at the moment, than the garment! Now is the time to allow the depths of the heart to be worked with the Word of God, so the salinity of sin deep within can be saturated in forgiveness and salvation. Those who have ears to hear will allow God's word to return to him having done what God sent it to do! Amen.
