“THE FRUIT OF CALVARY BRINGS FORTH THE FRUIT OF HIS VINEYARD”
Saint Luke 8: 4-15
Sexagesima: 20 February Anno Domini 2022
Fr Jay Watson, SSP
“What might this parable be?” asked the 12. What does the story mean you also inquire? And because you are orthodox, evangelical, Catholic, Christians of the West you let The Christ’s answers suffice and satisfy you. You let The Word norm and constrain you in loving God and your neighbor.
The heterodox and sectarians and heretics and social gospel pagans simply construct the truths they want out of their emotions and world-views when interpreting Jesus’ famous parable. Not you.
Like Saint Mary of Bethany, you sit at The Lord’s feet, you kneel at His communion rail, and hear Him!
“And He (says), unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God…”
The Lord’s Kingdom is rife with mysteries that the human mind, the creature, cannot fathom. If the dog or cat cannot understand the power and depth of Shakespeare’s Hamlet or why their master weeps in joy after reading The Christmas Carol, or stands in awe, head lifted up, when gazing at the night sky’s panoply of stars, how can any sinful human “old Adam” creature grasp the mysteries of God’s Kingdom? You can’t. It has to be revealed by God; it has to be given to you as a gift.
The 12 wanted the agricultural metaphor unpacked. You want to know why some are saved and others are not. And you, like the Philippian jailer [Acts 16.30] who pleaded with Paul, you sometimes (maybe daily) ask “what must I do to be saved?” And, because the answer is NOTHING, and because prideful and arrogant man does not like that answer, Jesus explain this great and wonderful mystery—the Mystery of Grace.
“The seed is the word of God.” Yes, of course, that means that the Sacred Hebrew Scriptures (Genesis through Malachi) are God’s very truths, as well as the Greek translation of same—The Septuagint which Christ and His Disciples were conversant with. But in a deeper sense, it means that Jesus Himself is The Very, True, and Real Word of God—of The Blessed and Holy Trinity!
In essence that’s the parable and that’s the truth: Where Jesus is, His Person, there is Jesus’ Work, Salvation. To the soul that Christ saves, that soul is saved.
God wants all, that is God’s desire, His wish, is that all would bring forth fruit “an hundredfold…with patience.” The Seed (Jesus) says so: “…in the sight of God our Savior; Who will have all men to be saved” [1Tim 2. 3-4]. The “good ground” is simply that—the good ground because Jesus Who is the only One Good, has fallen upon it/them/you. The saved are the saved. Or, as Saint Paul so beautifully explained Grace to the Ephesian Christians: “…according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace…in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace…having made known unto us the mystery of his will” [Eph. 1. 4-9].
Satan wants you questioning God’s will and plan, His ways of doing His doing. Jesus wants you to give thanks and praise…and yes, sow some seed; share The Seed/Jesus with all you come into contact with.
Drown your arrogance, your will, your petulance, your popishness, and let The Lord Save His way. He/Jesus the Seed is Savior.
Yes, you will like the sower in the parable toss your invitations to others to come to Church; your own testimonies of what Christ has done for you; your own explications and summaries of Biblical Salvation narratives; and all the rest you can say and show by your actions of love; you will sow all of this on “the way side” the rocky soil, and among thorns. And yes, the “fowls of the air,” Satan’s pigeons from hell, for is he not “prince of the power of the air” as Paul goes on to call him in Ephesians 2? These birds do snatch away the Seed from those who despise it. And, also, without moisture, without the continued preaching, teaching, Baptismal + remembering, and Eucharistic nourishing, those with little root will also lose the seed in time of temptation. Is this not why you pray daily: “…lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil (one)?” And so many, especially here in America and other first-world nations, are so surfeited and marinated in mammon, worldly pleasures, that the thorns of a sinful heart, from a sinful nature, choke out the Word of God, The Seed/Jesus as viciously as did Calvary’s Cross. This IS the way it IS. Get over being mad about it, or offended over it, or angry with God that your special project, loved one, friend, neighbor, prayer target, doesn’t seem to be bringing forth any fruit. The Lord will save His elect.
Those who are not saved have damned themselves. The Seed speaks: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” [Mt. 23. 37]
So, stop being a lazy disciple. Desist in you not talking about Jesus. Be a Johnny Appleseed, a Saint John Appleseed, and broadcast your Savior-Seed to all. And also stop being a flabby, false-teaching/believing “decision” theologian! It’s not your eloquence, persistence, prayers, cleverness, or any action whatsoever on your part that will make The Seed do what YOU want it to do. Trust God! Or, as Saint John the Baptist says: “repent and believe!” [Mk. 1. 15]
The Seed gave Esaias these seeds to proclaim: “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are My ways higher than your ways,
and My thoughts than your thoughts.
For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth:
it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” [Is. 55. 9-11]
Jesus cast forth as The Seed made flesh. Jesus the Seed crushed, bruised, and “dead” planted in the fecund and rich new earth of a hillside tomb; in a garden; to be the First Fruit bursting forth to bear a “hundredfold” on Easter day, on Easter people! Jesus planted in your ears and hearts at Holy + Baptism. Jesus watering you in Bible Stories and Sunday School and Mother teaching you hymns. Jesus snowing upon you in white virginal purity in The Sacrament, watering you with His Sacred Blood, and robing you in every Holy Absolution.
“Good Ground,” He has kept you and thus He has given you Grace to keep Him, and bring forth fruit with patience. “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of The Holy Ghost
Email the webmaster.Contact Augsburg Lutheran Church: (913) 403-6194