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 from the 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?