7th Sunday after Pentecost (Prop 10 – A)
July 12, 2026
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The text I have chosen for this morning’s sermon is the Gospel from St. Matthew.
The earth’s current population 8.3 billion, and of those 8.3 billion, there are roughly 2.3 billion Christians. Two billion Christians doesn’t sound too bad, but percentage wise it’s kind of low. The Church belongs to Jesus who directs the spread of the Gospel, and yet the Church is relatively small. Why is that? We have the greatest news in history and it often falls on deaf ears. Why don’t people want to know about the God who loves them, cares for them, and helps them in times of sickness, death, and grief, and offers a blessed eternity? Is it the message or the medium? Who’s responsible for the seventy-five percent of people who’ve rejected Jesus? Surely, someone is to blame.
In case you didn’t catch it, Jesus is the Sower and the seed is the Word of God. God enters our world and the same voice which created the moon and stars out of nothing announces the He has come to set things right between God and man. The voice that thundered on Mount Sinai invites everyone to find rest for their weary souls in His embrace. Because the Sower offers the Word of God to everyone, He casts it willy-nilly. He throws it on both the good ground and the sidewalk. So, if the seed is cast where it isn’t going to take root and grow, whose fault is that? Isn’t the Sower to blame for casting seed on worthless ground. He should’ve known it wasn’t good ground. It sounds like the Sower is to blame.
But can this be true? Jesus is the Son of God, perfect and holy, incapable of sin or stupidity and if He wants to spread His Word over impossible ground, that’s His choice. His action of recklessly casting the seed says so much about Him. Jesus wants all to be saved. He doesn’t want anyone to be left out of Heaven. For that reason, He doesn’t withhold His grace from anyone. He’s generous with life and forgiveness. The seed, infused with His blood, is thrown out and He doesn’t care where it lands because it’s for everyone. Obviously then, it’s not the Sower’s fault, it must be the seed.
Only 55% of cheap vegetable seeds will germinate in perfect growing conditions. The other 45% are flawed in some way. Is it the ground’s fault the seed is bad? Hardly. If the seed doesn’t take root, it’s flawed. The seed is the Word of God, given by God to Moses and Prophets, spoken by the Son of God, and it if it doesn’t take root, isn’t that the seed’s problem? The Bible is the bestselling book of all time, and it’s the bestselling book every year, but the number of Christians is shrinking, Biblical literacy is at its absolute worst, and most Bibles get dusty on the shelves. If God’s Word worked as He says it does, you’d think there would be a bumper crop of Christians.
The raises the same point as before: since God is perfect, His Word is likewise perfect, which means it can’t possibly be the seed’s fault. His Word created, it gives life to the dead, it causes rain to fall, it makes incredible promises, it’s all powerful and cannot be stopped. In the Old Testament reading God says: “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.” His Word brought you to faith. His Word forgives your sin. The seed takes root in you and assures you of God’s love and compassion. The Word works in good times, in bad, and everywhere in between.
The Seed always takes root in good soil, and you, me, we’re good soil. When the Lord cast the seed over you, He caused it to take root in soil that He made good. You can’t make yourself good soil. Your sinful nature renders you denser than any packed soil or concrete pathway. He has sent His Word to you and it accomplished His purpose which was to make you black, nutrient-rich Iowa farmland. The Holy Spirit broke into your hard heart where He picked up rocks, weeded the field, and tended you until you produced a harvest of love – for God and for your neighbors.
Well, we’ve come to the realization that it’s not the Sower’s fault if the seed doesn’t grow, nor is it the seeds fault. We also learn that we don’t get the credit when the seed takes root. Which leaves us with only one place to lay the blame for the lack Christians – the soil!
Jesus says, “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.” The word “understand” is the equivalent of rejecting it. The pathway gets the seed, it’s covered, but it hardens itself and satan comes along and steals it. The people refused to believe that Jesus was who He said He was, to which Jesus says fine then believe in Him on account of His works! Only God can do what He was doing! When they saw the miracles and refused to believe, that wasn’t His fault, and it wasn’t the seed’s fault.
The same thing is going on today – wherever His Word is preached, it’s either believed or rejected. His seed is thrown everywhere for everyone. When I preach the Word of God, if I am doing so faithfully and according to God’s command, it’s not my fault when people reject it. It’s not your fault either when you tell someone about Jesus and they blow you off. All you can be is faithful, throw that seed and entrust its growth to God.
Not all ground is completely resistant to the seed. Jesus says, “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.” Look at that! The seed takes root right away! But what happens? It dies. The faith brought forth by the seed is snuffed out by troubles. The sun gets hot but since it’s roots aren’t deep into the Lord, it’s scorched.
The other problem with some soil is that it’s fertile ground, but it’s also fertile soil for the weeds. Jesus says, “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.” This seed is strangled because the hearer wants to serve both God and material things. The soil is focused on the joys and problems in life, not on the Lord who gives the joys and strength for the problems.
The examples of the shallow soil and the thorny soil serve as warnings to all Christians. You can’t neglect the numerous Bibles you own. You can’t neglect obtaining a Bible if you don’t have one. If you need one, come and see me. You can’t neglect hearing and learning as much about God as humanly possible. If you try to love both the Word and the world, it’s going to end poorly. Not because the world is stronger than the Lord, but when we let our faith take root in material things and worldly thinking we might eventually leave it behind because it’s just in the way.
And when you find yourselves being choked out by the things of this world, repent. When you find yourselves in trouble because you’re not rooted deep enough in Christ, repent. The Sower forgives your sins. The Sower protects you from satan’s scorching heat and He uproots the weeds which threaten to strangle you. And in the forgiveness of your sins, you are fed and fertilized by the death of the Sower who was scorched by satan and strangled by sin. And every day of your life, He will water you in your Baptism so that by His grace you know that you are His good soil.
Amen
Now the peace which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen