It's not me who can't keep a secret, it's the people I tell that can't.
‹anonymous›
Atlantis: the domain of the Stingray
3Feb
2013
Sun
17:13
author: Stingray
category: Sermons
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Sexagesima

Luke 8:4-15

Sexagesima 2013 Wordle
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Would it surprise you to know that the reason Jesus spoke in parables was to keep the hidden things of God hidden from unbelievers? Would it surprise you to learn that the reason Jesus wanted to keep the hidden things of God hidden from unbelievers is so that they would not become believers? This is a very hard saying, and one which should give you pause, even as you contemplate how it is that God is merciful and gracious. It would seem to go against the very notion that God desires all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (cf. 1 Timothy 2:4)—to come to understand the hidden things of God.

However, that is exactly what Jesus says in today’s text: “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that ‘Seeing they may not see, And hearing they may not understand.’”

Here is the ultimate statement of grace: “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God.” To you it has been given.... You did not grasp at any knowledge, nor did you arrive at any kind of decision or understanding by your own volition or work. On the contrary, you are completely ignorant of the mysteries of God, and you would remain so unless it were given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. So, God in His infinite wisdom, grace, and mercy, granted you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God—in short, He has given you faith, and by faith, an understanding of His mysteries.

All the letters in the world that you can put after your name wouldn’t give you a means to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. Stack Ph.D. upon Ph.D. in one subject or specialty or another, and you would be no closer to knowing the mysteries of God. Even, dare I say it, an M.Div., STM, or D.Min. would be of no use to you in knowing the mysteries of God. Your knowledge of the mysteries of God does not depend on your degree or pedigree, but solely on the grace of God—sola gratia!

Therefore, Jesus speaks of these mysteries in parables, so that seeing and hearing, they may not see nor understand. You cannot come at the mysteries of God with worldly knowledge, even when such knowledge is a gift from God! The mysteries of God are revealed to you on God’s terms, a knowledge which rests secure in the faith He gives. In His infinite wisdom, grace, and mercy, He is most generous with His faith-creating Word.

Think of it this way: the Word of God is cast like seed to the ground, and it produces that thing for which God sent it (cf. Isaiah 55:11), namely faith in the hearer: “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17) It always does so in the soil into which it takes root. But the soil is not always conducive to good growth, even as the earth was cursed in the beginning, following the fall of Adam: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you...” (Genesis 3:17b-18a); quite a sharp contrast to the cypress and myrtle we heard about in today’s Old Testament reading. (cf. Isaiah 55:13) And Jesus illustrates this point for us in the parable He tells.

Generously, the seed that is the Word of God is cast—carelessly, you could say. God as sower of the Word does not care where the seed lands, only that it take root, grow, and produce fruit where it lands. It pains Him where this does not happen, and where this does not happen, it is the result of sin:

  • First, some seed lands in the place where Satan comes and snatches it away. You might say these are the people to whom the Word of God falls on deaf ears. Perhaps they’re too caught up in thinking on the things of God analytically (because they trust in their Ph.D. Or worldly knowledge), or they are convinced that God’s Word is superstition and hocus-pocus nonsense. If the devil did not have these people, certainly the seed of God’s Word would take root and produce faith, but that Old Serpent comes and takes it away, out of their hearts, so they do not believe and are not saved.
  • Second, some seed lands on the rocks. It springs up, appearing to take root. These people receive the Word with joy and believe for a while, until those temptations come alluring. These reject God-given patience and endurance in temptation, instead expecting that God would make all temptations cease. If this is you, I would invite you to review the Sixth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer in the Small Catechism, where we are taught to pray that we be led not into temptation—that is, succumb to it—but that we would, by God’s grace, overcome temptation and win the victory.
  • Third, some seed lands in the thorny soil. Here, the seed certainly takes root and produces faith, but that faith is soon choked out by the cares and pleasures of this world. The riches and pleasures of life are too much for these people. Perhaps they expect that riches and pleasures are supposed to accompany God-given faith, and are disappointed and leave when these do not come. Or, perhaps the riches and pleasures become their desire to the detriment and death of their faith.

It is interesting to note here that in all three cases, the people of these soil types would grasp at the mysteries of God according to their knowledge and understanding of the ways of the world. They would be the ones who have eyes and do not see, ears and do not understand—they see the work of God and hear His Word, but, in the end, reject the gift He gives in His means.

But there is that fourth soil type. In these people, the Word of God takes root and produce faith. These people, by faith, keep the Word and by it bear fruit with patience. Fascinating phrase there: with patience: these people bear the attacks of the devil, the world, and the sinful flesh which all seek to rip them away from God and His grace. To them is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, and the patience to endure to the end and win the crown of life. (cf. James 1:12, Revelation 2:10)

To speak of faith like this is to speak of it in terms of knowledge. However, faith is not merely the things you know—even if those things are godly things. It’s not that you cracked open a book or sat in a class or studied evidence, learned these things, and, therefore, knew them, but they were, as mentioned before, given to you to know. And, if you know these things by faith, then you know of them beyond any typical evidence: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) This is a knowledge that comes with the confidence that it is true, no matter what you see or hear or experience, because God said it was so. It is a mystery!

And that is a great term that Jesus used. Again, it describes the hidden things of God that you, by grace through faith, are granted to know. According to the flesh, you will not understand them—they will make no sense—but you know them to be true because God said it was so.

And so, among the mysteries of the kingdom of God is that the Son of God took on human flesh and blood in the womb of the blessed virgin Mary. The Son of God is the Son of Man, real human like you and me, born of a woman, born under the law, “to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” (cf. Galatians 4:4-5) And it was to a cross outside of Jerusalem that Jesus, the Son of God and Son of Mary, was crucified. There, He shed His blood and gave His life as the ransom for sin, dying the death that sin demanded of all of us, and giving to us His life. It is a mystery that God became man in Christ Jesus and died, and a wonderfully glorious mystery that He rose again on the third day.

So it is, that Jesus, who is the Word of God, is cast to the ground. The Word of God dies in the flesh of man so that it may take root and produce faith. (cf. John 12:24) Yet another mystery! And it does you well to note, dear listeners, that you are not simply one soil type, but are at times one or another or all four. To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, that the Son of God deigned to take on flesh like yours and die your death and gave you faith to believe this. But you are under constant barrage from the devil, the world, and your Old, sinful nature:

  • You will and do, from time to time, reject the Word of God as superstitious, false, hocus-pocus, or whatever else you may wish to call it—at times there will be a hard saying, and you will not believe it.
  • You will and do, from time to time, succumb to temptation and give in to ways of the world.
  • You will and do, from time to time, become consumed with the cares and concerns of this life, with the riches and pleasures of life, and give in to your fleshy lusts and desires.

In other words, you sin. But the Word of God does still have its way with you. You hear the Law of God call your sin a sin, and though you may not like it or understand it, by God-given faith you confess it, and you know again the mystery of the kingdom of God—that the words of Holy Absolution are spoken into your ears and you have exactly what they say: the forgiveness of your sins.

You don’t understand it, but you know it to be true because God has said it. That’s the way of the Word, which is higher than your ways and thoughts! (cf. Isaiah 55:8-9)

This all was given to you to know when you were washed clean and regenerated in the mystery that is Holy Baptism. “How can water do such great things,” we are wont to ask? “Certainly not just water,” we are taught, “but the word of God in and with the water does these things...For without God’s word the water is plain water and no Baptism. But with the word of God it is a Baptism, that is, a life-giving water, rich in grace, and a washing of the new birth in the Holy Spirit.” You don’t understand it, but God says it is so, and since you have been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, you believe it.

Furthermore, you are preserved in this faith and knowledge through the mystery that is the Lord’s Supper, wherein Jesus gives you His body to eat and blood to drink under bread and wine. Here is an interesting contrast: in the parable, Jesus says that the plant that springs on the rock withers because it lacked moisture. In contrast to this, as a branch grafted to the Vine (cf. John 15:1-10), you are always supplied with the sacramental juices which He first poured out for you at the cross, which you most manifestly receive in the Lord’s Supper. How God does this is beyond your comprehension, but God says it is so, and since you have been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, you believe it.

You are given to know the mysteries of God. What grace! Despite your lack of understanding, you know these things to be true, because God has declared it so, and He doesn’t lie. To you has been cast the Word of God, as the farmer may carelessly scatter seed on the ground, and He has accomplished in you and for you the task for which He was cast to you. The Word has taken root in you—the mysteries of the kingdom of God—so that you trust in Him, by way of His Son, Jesus Christ, in whom He has given you faith, a faith which receives this incomprehensible, yet gracious and inviolable mystery: you are forgiven for all of your sins.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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