A, Post-Pentecost 10 Proper 13 - Psalm 136, Matthew 14:13-21 The Cause and Effect of God's Steadfast Love

God’s love is unrivalled by any other kind of love. It is a love that gives, and continues to give, without exception. Love is the very being of God. In His love, God created all things and continues to sustain all things. Unlike human love, which fluctuates or ceases when situations change, God’s love is steadfast. God’s love is unwavering. It is not dependent on the situation; His love remains the same. It remains loyal, constant, and firm, and in His love, God keeps His promises. Therefore, God’s enduring love is steadfast.

In Psalm one hundred and thirty-six, the phrase “for his steadfast love endures forever” is the response in all twenty-six verses. To our modern ears, it might seem painfully repetitive. But in its repetitiveness, we’re called to ponder why the psalmist would have us repeat it over and over again. What is the cause and effect of repeating the phrase that God’s steadfast love endures forever?

The different types of human love all have their origin in God’s love. Yet our love has become fickle, turned in on the self. Instead of the selfless giving love that God gives, we preface it with the motive, “What’s in it for me?” Our benevolence and charity can run out quickly when we are put under pressure, when we are suffering, and when there is little promise of receiving back even some of the gratitude we have given.

Jesus had just heard about the beheading of John the Baptist. He needed to be alone to absorb John’s senseless death. Herod had ordered John beheaded after making a foolish promise to his niece, and prompted by her mother, she requested John’s head on a platter. Before this, Jesus had been to His hometown, Nazareth, where He was rejected through unbelief.

So, you might understand if Jesus had not reacted with joy when He was confronted by the crowds as He got out of the boat, seeking rest and space to grieve John’s death in a desolate place. Yet we hear, “When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.” (Matthew 14:14 ESV)

Jesus had compassion on them. This was a deep, gut-wrenching feeling toward them and their need. Earlier in Matthew, we hear that when Jesus travelled through the villages and synagogues to teach and proclaim the gospel of the kingdom, He healed the people because, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Matthew 9:36 ESV)

But on this occasion, knowing Jesus’ situation, you might excuse Him if He said, “Friends, I am not in the mood. My friend has died, and My hometown has rejected Me!” But Jesus does not do that. In the spirit of giving, shepherding the sheep, and sending out labourers into the harvest, He says to the disciples, who want to send everyone home from the desolate location, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” (Matthew 14:16 ESV)

The disciples knew both Jesus’ situation and the desolation of the place where the five thousand had gathered. But in this desolate place, His call for the disciples to give to the crowd, rather than get rid of the crowd, reveals the impossibility of human love. That is, except for Jesus’ love!

Jesus provides out of His compassion. This is the same giving compassion that Psalm one hundred and thirty-six announces twenty-six times: God’s steadfast love endures forever! Where all else fails, Jesus’ love is not turned in on Himself, nor does it seek to make a comfortable situation to accommodate the faithlessness of humanity in its desolation.

So, Jesus commands that the five loaves and two fish be brought to Him. He blesses them and distributes them in what can only be described as miraculous. Yet, surprisingly, there is no marvelling over what Jesus has done. Instead, Jesus makes the disciples get into a boat and leave while He dismisses the crowd.

This is not the first feeding of a great crowd. Later, we hear Jesus feeds the four thousand, and His disciples are still none the wiser about how to feed such a gathering.

The impossibility of this situation, the distribution of food to five thousand men, and more when one counts women and children, points to the steadfast love of God in Jesus Christ, His one and only Son.

Although Jesus is God the Son, and although He displays the miraculous distribution of food in a desolate place where the disciples cannot provide, Jesus does provide. We might think He does this out of His divinity as the Son of God, but no. Otherwise, His call for the disciples to give the crowd something to eat would have only dishearten and discourage them. And that would be out of character for Jesus’ compassion to extend only to the crowd and not also to His disciples.

Jesus’ compassion as the Son of God saw Him act in His humanity, with complete faith in the Father, trusting Him to work His will through the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ compassion and power here come from the purity of His humanity, in that He set aside trusting in His own divinity as the Son of God and trusted the work of the Holy Spirit, sent to rest on Him by God the Father at His baptism by John the Baptist, to fulfil all righteousness—for the crowd, for the disciples, for the apostles, and for you and me.

The problem for us, and for the disciples, is that we have too much faith in ourselves: too much faith in what we can and cannot do, too much faith in our misjudgement and misunderstanding, and too much compassion for our own comfort over against comforting and showing compassion toward others.

The disciples could have fed the five thousand. Jesus knew they could; that is why He asked them to do so. Only after His resurrection and ascension did the apostles perform similar miraculous deeds, once they had lost all faith in themselves and trusted as Jesus trusted—not in Himself, but in the Father who sent Him and in the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father to work His will.

This is why the psalmist calls us to look so repetitively to the steadfast love of God. We are no different from the Israelites, who lamented so often despite the steadfast love of God. They were given the psalm to remind them that it is God who provides, spiritually and physically, despite what might seem to be a desolate situation. In the desolateness of human flesh, Jesus looked to the steadfast love of God and shared that love with the crowd, the disciples, and continues to share that love of God amongst us.

When Jesus gave a blessing over the bread and fish, He gave thanks to the Lord, for God is the only true and holy good, because our Father is the God of gods and the Lord of lords. Jesus knew and lived in the twenty-six repetitions of God’s steadfast love. In fact, He is the personification of God’s twenty-sixfold steadfast love, whose cause and effect make the compassion of God’s love work its cause and effect in us.

Jesus’ compassion finds its fulfilment in His passion, in the giving of Himself for us, having been given to us by God the Father, whose love for humanity is jealous and just. We can say this repetitive psalm with joy, knowing that its repetition works the cause of God within us, as the Holy Spirit causes God’s Word within us to have its effect. The compassion of Christ is carried by all who remain in the passion of Jesus’ death and resurrection, which is the unwavering, faithful, enduring love of God that keeps us from the desolation of death and the devil.

Let the effects of God the Father’s steadfast love in Jesus Christ cause you to give Him thanks. Let your being be moved and motivated by the Holy Spirit in God’s compassion, God’s power, and God’s mercy, to know God’s steadfast love, share it, and endure in it unto eternity. Amen.

*****

Sermon Summary - The Cause and Effect of God's Steadfast Love 

The sermon centres on the unchanging, steadfast love of God, revealed most fully in Jesus Christ. Unlike human love, which often depends on circumstances, emotions, or personal benefit, God's love is constant, faithful, and enduring. It is God's very nature to love, to give, and to sustain His creation.

Psalm 136 repeatedly declares, "His steadfast love endures forever," reminding God's people that His faithfulness never changes despite changing circumstances. This repetition is intentional, teaching us to remember God's faithfulness when we are tempted to rely on ourselves or despair in difficult situations.

This truth is vividly demonstrated in Jesus' feeding of the five thousand. Although Jesus had just experienced profound grief following the death of John the Baptist and rejection in His hometown, He did not withdraw into Himself. Instead, He was moved with deep compassion for the crowds, healing the sick and providing food for them in a desolate place.

When Jesus told His disciples, "You give them something to eat," He exposed the limits of human thinking. The disciples saw only scarcity and impossibility, while Jesus trusted completely in the Father's provision through the work of the Holy Spirit. His compassion was not merely an emotional response but active, self-giving love that reflected the steadfast love of God.

The sermon challenges us to recognise that our greatest obstacle is often our confidence in ourselves. Like the disciples, we measure our resources and conclude that God's calling is impossible. Jesus instead calls His followers to trust God's provision rather than their own abilities.

Ultimately, Jesus' compassion reaches its fulfilment in His Passion. His sacrificial death and victorious resurrection are the supreme demonstration of God's steadfast love, rescuing humanity from sin, death, and the devil. As we receive this enduring love, the Holy Spirit transforms us to reflect Christ's compassion, trusting God in every circumstance and sharing His steadfast love with others.

Reflection

God's steadfast love is not simply an attribute of God; it is the foundation of the Christian life. In a world where love is often conditional and temporary, God remains faithful even when we are weak, fearful, or uncertain.

Jesus' response to the crowds is particularly challenging. At a time when He had every reason to seek solitude and comfort, He chose compassion. His example reminds us that genuine Christian love is not determined by convenience but by God's grace working within us.

The disciples' struggle also reflects our own. We often focus on what we lack instead of trusting the God who provides abundantly. We calculate our limitations, while God invites us to participate in His work through faith. The miracle of the feeding teaches us that God's provision begins when we place what little we have into Christ's hands.

The repeated refrain of Psalm 136—"His steadfast love endures forever"—calls us to continually remember God's faithfulness. As we remember His love shown most perfectly in Jesus' death and resurrection, we are strengthened to trust Him in our own "desolate places" and to extend His compassion to those around us.

Questions for Personal Reflection

Where am I relying on my own strength rather than trusting God's provision?

How has God shown His steadfast love to me during difficult seasons?

Who is God calling me to serve with Christ-like compassion, even when it is inconvenient?

How can I intentionally remind myself each day that God's steadfast love endures forever?

A, Post Pentecost 9 Proper 12 - Romans 8:37, Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 Treasured Conquerors

Romans 8:37 (ESV) “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

In the Lord’s Prayer we pray, “Your kingdom come”. What hinders God’s kingdom from coming? The answer is also in the Lord’s Prayer. We ask God to “lead us not into temptation”. In other words, we pray for ourselves and for one another. We ask God to protect us from being led into temptation — by ourselves, by someone else, or by something else — to seek other kingdoms.

Luther tells us in his explanation to the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer that, “God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy word and live a godly life on earth now and in heaven for ever.”  (Luther’s Small Catechism: Lord’s Prayer, 2^nd Petition)

Luther also demonstrates in his explanation of the sixth petition that temptations shut out God’s kingdom from coming, saying, “God tempts no one to sin, but we ask in this prayer that God would watch over us and keep us so that the devil, the world, and our sinful self may not deceive us and draw us into false belief, despair, and other great and shameful sins. And we pray that even though we are so tempted we may still win the final victory.” (Luther’s Small Catechism: Lord’s Prayer, 6^th Petition)

The kingdom of heaven comes when God gives us His Holy Spirit.  So that the devil, the world, and our sinful selves, do not lead us to faith in ourselves. Faith in the self ends in death. It ends in vanity — in vainglory or vain despair! Those who live without the Holy Spirit, for whatever reason, are not led to Jesus Christ. They live without peace with God the Father. And that can only end in despair and eternal death.

The devil is the master of this deception. He deceives people into believing they are either too good to need help, or too bad to deserve help. The devil, the world, and the sinful self, tempt people into isolation from God and into opposition against God.

Throughout Matthew’s Gospel, the parables of the kingdom of heaven call for careful listening. They call us to listen in the light of all God’s Word. Jesus’ parables of the kingdom lead you to pray and ponder what He is saying about eternal life!

The parables call you to take time in the Word of God!

In Romans chapter ten we are told, “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17 ESV) So, to those who have ears to hear, let the Holy Spirit enlighten them within. Let Jesus’ teaching in the parables give faith.

Over the last couple of weeks, we have heard parables about sowing seed from Matthew chapter thirteen. Today we hear the last five shorter parables from that chapter. In the first, the parable of the mustard seed, Jesus paints an exaggerated picture. He does this to get the hearers’ attention.

“The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.  It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”  (Matthew 13:31–32 ESV)

Jesus uses exaggeration to shake the hearer’s expectation. These seeds are tiny. They come from the same family as canola or broccoli. We do not expect them to grow into trees, nor do we expect birds to live in them. In the same way, the kingdom of heaven seems small, even hidden. But once the cross is planted and Jesus is lifted up, what seems likely to fizzle out after His death does not die. It is raised. And it continues to grow greater than anyone would expect. Even today, the kingdom of heaven is still the same!

Soon after hearing this parable, the disciples saw Jesus feed the five thousand, leaving twelve baskets of leftovers. They collected more after everyone had eaten than they had found at the start. We believe because the Holy Spirit works faith within us. And, like birds in the branches of the mustard tree, we trust that we will be nested and rest in the kingdom of heaven eternally — with God, in peace — even though we see neither Him nor His kingdom!

The parable of the leaven is next.  “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”  (Matthew 13:33 ESV)

Leaven is what we would call yeast. It is the raising agent in bread! Once, people kept back some leavened dough to put into the bread mixture the next day. Here we get a picture of succession. Every loaf of bread is born from the dough from the day before.

Elsewhere, leaven is used negatively, but not here! The leaven is added to three dry measures of flour. That is three measures of thirteen litres — thirty-nine litres of flour — made into dough, yet to rise! That much bread dough overwhelms the mind. It also helps the hearer realise Jesus is not just talking about making bread. He is raising an eternal point.

Like the mustard seed that grows into a tree, the leaven also points to something greater. Elsewhere it may be bad, but here it’s good leaven. It points to Jesus’ resurrection and the growth of God’s church into eternity.

The mustard seed and the leaven seem insignificant and hidden. Yet both become something great. One is not expected to grow into a tree. The other is expected to rise out of the kneading bowl and overwhelm everything!

Such is the kingdom of heaven! What we would expect to end in death after the crucifixion flowers and flourishes into eternal fruit. And it raises up those who believe.

This leads us to the next two parables.

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.  “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”  (Matthew 13:44-46 ESV)

Many times, we have probably been told these parables are about what we should “do as disciples”. But the cost of discipleship is not our cost. We cannot buy the kingdom of heaven. Rather, these two parables are about being discipled by Jesus.

What do I mean by this? Jesus pays the cost. He does so because you and I are the treasure and the pearl. We cost Jesus His Sonship, so that He might make us sons of heaven, sons of God. It cost Him His human life. In complete selflessness He served, suffered, and died to save you from everything sinful in yourself. You are so treasured by Him. You are the pinnacle of God’s creation! He became weak so that, despite your weakness, you would become more than conquerors.

To that end, God treasures us so much that He sends the Holy Spirit to help us in our weakness and in our discipleship. Even today, the Spirit intercedes for us with groans that straighten out our prayers. And our prayers are presented to Jesus, “who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” (Romans 8:34b ESV)

Jesus Christ treasures you so much that, through Him, with Him, and in Him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, our prayers are joined with all His treasured people, in every time and every place. They are united with the eternal petitions of Jesus, our great high priest. He intercedes for us at the right hand of God, until He comes as the victorious merchantman to unveil you and me, His treasured possessions!

The parable of the dragnet is possibly the easiest of these parables to understand. 

“The kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 13:47-50 ESV)

This parallels the parable of the weeds that come up among the wheat. They too will be burned in the eternal furnace. It paints a picture of suffering, mentally and physically, in hell without God. This simple parable warns that the unbelieving hearer will be removed and will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Finally, Jesus asked the disciples if they understood what He was saying. They said, “Yes”. But their desertion at the cross shows they still had much to learn.

Yet they were Jesus’ Apostles — His twelve baskets of treasured leftovers! Even Judas was treasured, though in unbelief he would turn and betray Him. Jesus said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” (Matthew 13:52 ESV)

God trained His Apostles to be the scribes of the kingdom of heaven. They were sent so that you might believe the old and new treasures of His Word, to be his treasured ones in heaven.

Having received these treasures of the kingdom of heaven, we who are treasured are given the Holy Spirit. He gives us relief as He leads us to repent. And He gives us faith to know we are loved by God.

The kingdom of heaven is Jesus’ victory for you. He treasures you so much that He makes you more than conquerors! Those who have ears, let them hear! Amen.

Sermon Summary

This sermon proclaims that the kingdom of heaven comes not by human strength, achievement, or self-confidence, but through the gracious work of God. As we pray, “Your kingdom come” and “lead us not into temptation”, we ask the Father to give us His Holy Spirit, guard us from the devil, the world, and our sinful selves, and keep us in true faith in Jesus Christ.

Through the parables in Matthew chapter thirteen, Jesus shows that the kingdom often appears small, hidden, and unexpected. Like the mustard seed and the leaven, it begins in what seems insignificant, yet it grows and fills all things according to God’s promise. The cross itself appears weak and defeated, yet through Christ’s death and resurrection the kingdom flowers and flourishes into eternal life.

The hidden treasure and the pearl of great value are heard not first as a demand that we purchase the kingdom, but as good news that Christ has purchased us. Jesus treasures sinners so deeply that He gives His own life to make us sons of God. In Him, the weak become more than conquerors, not through their own power, but through Him who loved them.

The parable of the dragnet brings a sober warning. The kingdom will be revealed fully at the end of the age, when evil is separated from righteousness. Yet the sermon ends in comfort: those who are treasured by Christ are given the Holy Spirit, led to repentance, strengthened in faith, and assured that they are loved by God.

Reflection

This sermon invites hearers to listen carefully to Jesus’ parables and to receive the kingdom as gift. It challenges the temptation to trust in the self, whether through pride or despair, and turns the hearer instead to Christ, who has borne the cost of salvation.

The sermon helps the hearer move from fear of judgement to confidence in the One who intercedes for us. From Jesus’ prayer petition on the coming kingdom, and temptation to build our own kingdoms, to the hidden growth of the kingdom, to Christ’s costly love, and finally to judgement and comfort. The repeated language of being “treasured” calls us to hear and believe the grace of God in Jesus Christ.

A helpful point for personal reflection is this: where am I tempted to seek another kingdom? The sermon answers by directing us back to the Lord’s Prayer, the Word of Christ, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Luther’s Small Catechism teaches us that God’s kingdom comes to us through Christ’s victory as the Holy Spirit keeps us in repentance, faith, and the peace of Christ.

The final word is gospel comfort: Jesus Christ treasures His people. He has bought them not with silver or gold, but with His holy and precious life. Therefore, even in weakness, temptation, and suffering, believers may hear again the promise of Romans 8:37: “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

A, Post Pentecost 8 Proper 11 - Romans 8:22-27, Psalm 119:57-64 The Battle of the Heart: Our Weedy Addiction

Today we hear Jesus speak another parable about sowing seed.  Last week the seed was sown in four places: on a path, on rocky ground, amongst thorns, and in good soil.  Jesus is the Good Seed sown in Good Soil!  

Mysteriously, He is not only the Word or the Seed; He was also made Flesh, the Soil. The Son of God was sown into the flesh of humanity, the dirt—or Adamah—of Adam. Jesus is the Son of God, the Word made flesh, and the Seed sown in soil to be the Son of Man. Jesus is also the Good Soil who removes the hardness of humanity’s paths, the rockiness that causes us to stumble, and the thorniness that gives rise to our doubts and desires.

In today’s Gospel reading Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also.” (Matthew 13:24–26 ESV)

In the parable the man’s servants want to pull the weeds from the crop but the owner stops them from doing so.

Last week we heard Jesus explain the parable to his disciples and He does the same again here with this parable.  Jesus works to till the hearts of His hearers with His Word to make good seed of them as He does us now.

Like the disciples in Jesus’ day, we are in a battle—a battle of the heart. Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to continue that battle after His ascension. We now have One who battles for us within the earthly temple of our human body, and One in heaven who intercedes for us before our Heavenly Father.

This battle is one in which the devil, the world, and our sinful self allow all sorts of weeds to grow amongst the crop of good seed sown within us. Left unattended, this weediness will see us thrown into the fires of hell. Therefore, the battle continues within each of us individually, and it also occurs corporately in the church as a whole, making us sons of righteousness through God the Son, who fulfilled all righteousness.

It might surprise us that God allows weediness to continue within us and within the church, just as He allowed Paul’s thorn in the flesh. He does not pull the weeds now because the good crop, grown from the good seed, might also be uprooted in its immaturity. Any gardener knows how hard it is to tell what is a weed and what is not. Even when the weeds can be identified, pulling them out from amongst the crop can easily bring the good plants out too.

Similarly, God does not pull the weeds from within us or from within His church. If He commanded the weeds to be pulled now, we, in our spiritual immaturity and with weeds still growing within us, might find ourselves pulled from the Kingdom of God. Instead, God allows the struggle and battle to continue within us and within His church so that the Holy Spirit might bring us out of ourselves and into the glorious forgiveness given by God’s grace at the cross through the repentance He works in each of us and in His church.

As this occurs, we groan—but not only us; the whole creation groans. Saint Paul says this in Romans chapter eight, the Holy Spirit chapter of Romans. Here, Paul reports on the victory of the Holy Spirit over the desires of our fleshy dirtiness.

In our patient suffering he says, “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”  (Romans 8:22–27 ESV)

Just as the disciples struggled and Jesus battled the evil within each of them, overcoming their deeds, understanding, and feelings, He continues that battle within us and within His church. Having sent the Holy Spirit, He wrestles the human spirit of our Old Adam into daily repentance by daily drowning our sinful nature in our Holy Baptism into Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Jesus, as the New Adam, restores the flesh of the Old Adam. He rips up the hardened paths of our works, removes the rocks that trip up true understanding of God, and revokes the feelings and desires that take the place of true faith and trust in Him.

When we deeply ponder our deeds, our understanding, and our feelings in the light of God’s Word, our weedy groan comes to the fore. This is especially true in the case of the Psalm we heard and spoke responsively today, Psalm 119:57–64.

Seriously pondering ourselves against what this Psalm says is a good example of the groaning Paul describes. As the weeds within us are exposed by the Psalm’s own words, we hear what its verses say you and I do—or, perhaps more honestly, what we always should do but rarely ever do.

When we see Jesus as the speaker of Psalm 119, we can all breathe a sigh of eternal relief knowing that it’s not about what we do but that God’s own Son has done it for us and the Holy Spirit now calls, gathers, enlightens, and makes us holy in what Jesus has done.

It’s as if Jesus replaces our addictions of the flesh with His addiction to follow our Heavenly Father in the weakness of our human flesh! 

And in His addiction to please the Father, He has sent the Holy Spirit to help us in our weakness or addiction, to weed out the addictive weeds and throw them into the fiery furnace through repentance.  So, through the work of the Holy Spirit, we will shine like the sun in the kingdom of our Father, right now!  Yes!  Right now!  Despite the groaning, caused by our addiction to work our way into God’s good books, despite our addiction to hang onto human understanding that trips us up, and despite our addictions to our desires and feelings that feed on the worries and riches of this world!

Jesus understands your weedy addiction!  In your flesh he remains addicted to the ways, the truth, and the life of God the Father.

Psalm 119 is a one hundred and seventy-six verse Psalm glorifying God’s Word.  Jesus bears the flesh that fulfilled this Psalm and all of God’s Word. 

The Lord is Jesus’ portion; through Jesus’ promise we are kept in God’s Word!  (Ps 119:57)

Jesus entreated God’s favour with all of His heart, so God is gracious to you according to His promise.  (Ps 119:58)

When Jesus thought of His way to the cross, death, and descent into hell, He turned and remained faithful to God’s testimonies. (Ps 119:59)

Jesus hastened and did not delay in keeping God’s commandments for you and me! (Ps 119:60)

When Jesus was ensnared by the cords and weeds of worldly wickedness, He did not forget God’s Laws. (Ps 119:61)

Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, in God’s creation, Jesus upheld God’s righteous rule and was the first to be raised into the new week without the weeds of our addiction, sin and death!  (Ps 119:62)

Jesus is the companion of those who hang their weedy addictions on His cross and allow the Holy Spirit to produce the petitions and precepts of our Father, dispelling the darkness of our hearts and the world. (Ps 119:63)

Because Jesus hung on the cross, O Lord, the earth is full of Your steadfast love, therefore teach and till us with Your Word and keep us holy in it. (Ps 119:64)

Send us your Holy Spirit! Amen.  

Dear Heavenly Father, as we groan inwardly because of our weedy hearts, send Your Holy Spirit to defeat all our deadly addictions. Place in us the enduring devotion that Jesus had towards Your will and work, our God and Father. Amen.

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Sermon Summary and Reflection

Today we’re led to reflect on Jesus’ parable of the wheat and the weeds, showing that the battle of faith takes place within the human heart and within the church. Jesus, the Good Seed and the Good Soil, enters the flesh of humanity to overcome the hardness, stumbling, and thorniness caused by sin. Rather than immediately tearing out the weeds, God patiently allows the struggle to continue so that the good crop is not uprooted in its immaturity. Through the Holy Spirit, Christ continues to work repentance, forgiveness, and growth in His people.

The sermon connects this struggle with Saint Paul’s words in Romans 8, where both creation and believers groan as they wait for redemption. This groaning is not hopeless despair but the sound of faith longing for fulfilment. In weakness, the Holy Spirit intercedes for the saints and brings them again and again to the cross of Christ. Jesus, the New Adam, restores what the Old Adam corrupted and gives His people true faith, trust, and hope in God’s promises.

The reflection from Psalm 119 deepens this comfort by inviting us to hear Jesus as the faithful speaker of the Psalm. What we fail to do perfectly, Christ has fulfilled for us. He kept God’s Word, sought the Father’s favour, remained faithful through suffering, and bore our sin on the cross. Therefore, Christian repentance is not a work by which we make ourselves acceptable to God; it is the Spirit’s work of exposing our weeds and returning us to the forgiveness already won by Jesus.

In reflection you’re called to consider where and how the weeds still grow in your heart: in your works, your understanding, your desires, and your feelings.  You’re also called to trust God’s patience. The Lord does not abandon His crop; He tends it. He sends the Holy Spirit to battle within you, drown the Old Adam through daily repentance, and keep you holy in Christ. Even while you groan, you do so as a child who belong to the Father’s kingdom and who will shine like the sun through the righteousness of His Son.  You are a son of God’s kingdom through Jesus’ Sonship! 

A, Post Pentecost 7 Proper 10 - Matthew 13:3–9, 18-23 Good Dirt Gospel

Matthew 13:3–9, 18-23 (ESV) And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.” …“Hear then the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

When farmers go out to plant a crop these days they plant broad acreages of land.  It’s ironic that they plant broad acreages but the way in which they cast the seed into the ground is done in the narrowest of ways.   The implements may be still large, pulled behind large tractors, but each seed is sent from a bin of seed down a relatively small pipe into the earth that has been opened and then closed by combine or air-seeder feet and press wheels.

Jesus’ parable of the sower speaks of sowing seed by broadcasting seed widely over a smaller area.  It seems contradictory that we plant on a large scale with large implements via such a precise narrow casting system, where once the opposite occurred with seeming reckless abandon.  They planted a smaller number of seed over a relatively small area with a less accurate broadcasting of the seed, a handful at a time, with a wide cast of the arm.

But that’s how it was done once!  It wasn’t mechanical but rather it was more hands-on and personal.  Thankfully how Jesus acts with humanity is not impersonal and mechanical, but organic and hands-on with each person!  And the parable of the sower, is a parable where the Word of God is not piped into perfectly prepared places but is cast far and wide into the hearts of all types of people.

Jesus paints a picture of the sower casting seed, and it falls into four places.  A path, a rocky patch, thorn and weed infested ground, and good soil.  One might be quick to criticise the sower for his seemingly careless casting of seed.  But anyone who has cast seed or fertiliser by hand, knows that to cover every part of what you have to cover, there will be over castings that don’t end up where they’re meant to land.  Nevertheless, we will come to see why it’s good that the Word of God is cast in less than perfect places, for the benefit of you and me.

Jesus sits to teach the crowd telling them the parable. Afterwards the disciples ask Jesus why He spoke in parables, He says, “I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.” (Matthew 13:13 ESV) The irony continues in that Jesus explains the parable to His disciples.  It almost suggests that Jesus knew the real reason why the disciples asked Him why He speaks to people in parables.  Although they were blessed in hearing what they heard did they really understand what Jesus was saying?

We know the Apostles only saw, heard, and understood what Jesus was saying in parables or plainly about His forthcoming crucifixion only after the Holy Spirit chose to reveal it to them after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension.

We know one of the twelve apostles chosen from the wider group of disciples was Judas Iscariot.  He received Jesus’ teaching of this parable, yet he went on to charter a path not unlike the seed scattered on the path, of which we hear, “the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart.” (Matthew 13:19b ESV) Why would Jesus give of Himself and His time knowing that Judas would betray Him?

Peter “the Rock” on which Jesus says the church would be built along with all the other apostles and disciples hear and receive Jesus with joy. But when Jesus speaks of His crucifixion their understanding of Jesus’ Word is tested. Jesus rebuffs Peter’s refusal to hear the truth, saying, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” (Matthew 16:23 ESV) Later on Peter scatters after the rooster crows, along with all others, leaving Jesus alone to bear the burden of sin and death on the cross. 

So again, why would Jesus give of Himself to anyone like them knowing they were so shallowly rooted in themselves and their own understanding? They didn’t even endure for a minute without Him and fell away like seed cast on rocky ground the moment He walked the narrow rocky way of the cross?

And thirdly, after Jesus was crucified where were the eleven apostles found?  On account of hearing God’s purpose and plan for Jesus’ crucifixion through parables and prophecy they didn’t continue the proclamation of Jesus’ promise made through parables and His prophetic Word!  No! They were hiding in fear of the Jews, choked by fear and the loss of riches in themselves that they too would be crucified like Jesus.

It appears Jesus’ three years of ministry was for nothing since even His disciples didn’t understand as they hid in the upper room on the evening of His resurrection. Nor did the two disciples recognise Him walking with them on the road to Emmaus because they were so worried and distracted like seeds choked by thorns—thorns that crowned Jesus’ head on the cross!  

Why would Jesus die for His disciples knowing that the riches of their understanding would fail in misunderstanding and be what saw them stricken with poverty over the death of their leader on a cross for criminals?

The reason is because Jesus Christ was sent by God the Father as the Word made Flesh, and being the very Son of God, He was sent by God whose Holy Word is powerful and is given for a purpose.   We hear from Isaiah, “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)

Jesus is the Word of the kingdom sent to accomplish and succeed for God’s purpose, in the face of our loss of understanding of God. Yet mysteriously He is not just the Word, but the Word made Flesh.  What is that flesh?   

His flesh is the flesh of humanity, the same flesh as you and me, the same flesh of the disciples and apostles, yet His flesh understood who the Father is and He lived in that flesh without the dirtiness that was man after Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  Ironically when they ate the fruit of the tree the knowledge what resulted was not knowledge of good and evil but a loss of knowledge of themselves and God, so that they neither feared God as the Creator, nor trusted Him.

Before the fall, Adam was created from the earth. God gathered the dust of the ground and breathed His breath, or spirit of life, into him. We hear in Genesis two, “…the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” (Genesis 2:7 ESV) Literally He moulded man from the dust of the dirt.  In Hebrew Adam is moulded from the dust of the Adamah!  Adam was created by God moulding and breathing life into powdered dirt—Adam from the Adamah—dirt became a living creature in the image of God!

This dirt was not dirty but was the holy pinnacle of God’s creation.  The dirt of Adam and Eve’s flesh became dirty, after the fall into sin. 

Jesus did not fall into sin but was sent down into the dirt that humanity’s flesh had become.  Jesus experienced the paths and ways of humanity but was never led down the garden path into sin as was Adam, you, me, or His disciples.  He understood what it is to have perfect hearing and understanding.  He was never plucked from His path by Satan!

Jesus was not rocked by what God sent Him to do, nor did He turn stones into bread when He was tempted by the devil to do so!  Rather, “for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2 ESV)

Jesus was never deceived by riches or tempted by the cares or worries of this world. But He continually looked to the Father despite being sent by Him to die for those who could not understand or misunderstood what He was sent to do!

That is why Jesus became our flesh, the cleanest of dirt, to cleanse us of our dirtiness.  Jesus is the Good Soil­—Good Dirt.  The seed of God’s Word is sown in the good flesh of Jesus.  The mystery is this: Jesus is both the Seed and the Soil, broadcast by God the Father into all the nooks and crannies of humanity to save us from ourselves.  To save us from our hardened ways!  To save us from our rocky hearts with no depth of soil! To save us from the deceptions of this world that cause us to look away from Him to our desires and cares caused by our deadly knowledge of good and evil. 

Better than any farmer, Jesus Christ seeks to till us with His Word, to make us good soil like Him, producing yields of a hundredfold, or sixty, or thirty, by the Holy horsepower of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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Sermon Summary and Reflection

Sermon Summary

This sermon reflects on Jesus’ parable of the sower in Matthew 13, showing that the Word of God is not distributed narrowly or mechanically, but cast widely and personally into the hearts of all people. The four soils describe the different conditions of the human heart: hardened by unbelief, shallow through lack of root, choked by worldly cares, or made fruitful by hearing and understanding the Word.

The sermon then turns from the soils to Christ Himself. The disciples, including Judas and Peter, reveal how easily human hearts can resemble the path, rocky ground, or thorny soil. Yet Jesus still gives Himself for such people. He is the Word made flesh, sent by the Father to accomplish God’s saving purpose. Unlike fallen humanity, Jesus remains faithful, undefiled, and fully obedient, even through temptation, suffering, and the cross.

The central gospel comfort is that Jesus is both the Seed and the Good Soil. He enters the dirt of human flesh to cleanse what sin has made dirty. By His Word and Spirit, He tills hardened, shallow, and distracted hearts, making them fruitful in Him. The sermon ends with the promise that Christ continues to work in His people, producing fruit by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Reflection

This sermon invites hearers to examine the condition of their own hearts before God’s Word. At different times, each person may recognise hardness, shallowness, fear, distraction, or attachment to worldly cares. The parable is not merely a warning about others; it is a mirror that reveals our need for Christ to break, deepen, clear, and renew us.

The sermon’s strongest comfort is that fruitfulness does not begin with our own spiritual strength. It begins with Jesus, who is faithful where we are faithless, rooted where we are shallow, and fruitful where we are barren. He does not abandon imperfect soil but comes into it with His Word, His cross, and His Spirit.

A faithful response is therefore not self-reliance, but repentance and trust. We pray that Christ would keep sowing His Word into us, protect it from being snatched away, root it deeply in faith, free it from the choking power of worry and desire, and make our lives bear the fruit He promises.

Questions for Personal or Group Reflection

• Where do I see hardened, shallow, or thorny places in my own heart?
• What cares or desires most often compete with God’s Word in my life?
• How does it comfort me that Jesus is both the Seed and the Good Soil?
• What fruit might Christ be seeking to grow in me through His Word and Spirit?
• How can I make space this week to hear, receive, and dwell in God’s Word?