Isaiah 55: 10–13 / Psalm 65 / Romans 8: 1–11 / Matthew 13: 1–9, 18–23
This is the written version of the
homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in McKnightstown,
Pennsylvania on Sunday, July 12, 2026, by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.
“GOD, THE MASTER GARDENER”
(Homily text: Matthew 13: 1–9, 18-23)
Why do
some people get the truths of God, and the intensity of God’s love, while
others don’t? Why is it that some people seem to respond wholeheartedly to
God’s workings in their lives, only to grow cold to the things of God? Why is
it that some people seem hard-hearted and totally unable/unwilling to hear
God’s voice and God’s truths? And – for that matter – why do some people hear
and receive the Word of God, and grow into living strong and fruitful lives in
God?
Perhaps
those questions occur to us from time to time, as we experience the varying
responses that people have to the truth of the Good News (Gospel).
It’s
entirely possible that those same questions also occurred to Jesus’ first
hearers, as some seemed eager to hear and receive what He had to say, while
others seemed oblivious to those things.
And,
it’s entirely possible that the early Christian community among whom Matthew
was working also asked those same questions.
In a
sense, these questions, each of them having to do with the various responses
and reactions that we human beings have to God’s initiatives and God’s love,
are timeless truths. For I think we can safely say that the human heart is
composed of the same sort of raw material that that heart has been made of
since time immemorial. Absent God’s working and God’s intervention, the human
heart will respond to God’s voice in much the same ways, down through time.
But
God is the master gardener, whose wisdom has the ability to overcome the
hardness of heart that our Lord Jesus describes in “The Parable of the Sower”.
God’s Holy Spirit can loosen the soil of a hardened human heart, in order that
the seed of divine truth can find root.
But
perhaps we’ve getting ahead of ourselves a bit. We’d do well to take a few
moments to look at the parable itself.
We’ve
already noted that the questions that the parable seeks to address were
probably very much on the minds of the early Christian community among whom
Matthew was laboring. They may have asked why their family members didn’t
respond to the truths of God as they are known in Jesus Christ. Or why some
seemed eager to hear the Good News, but then didn’t continue to hear it.
The
next thing we might notice is that our Lord provides a detailed explanation of the
meaning and the application of the parable. (Such explanations aren’t always
provided. But perhaps Jesus wanted His followers, down through time, to
understand clearly the importance and the applicability of this parable.)[1]
Now
then, let’s consider some of the aspects of the interaction of God’s working
and the human heart, lessons that our Lord wants us to understand.
We
might begin with soil in general, and with the soil of the human heart: Soil,
all of it, must be prepared in order for seeds to find root. (Of course, we’re
excluding from this comment concerns about weeds, which seem to grow in just
about any soil condition we can imagine. But weeds aren’t useful, from the
standpoint of being able to provide food for people.) But the truth is that the
default condition of the human heart is to be opposed to the things of God.
Moreover, the human heart has an inability to hear and receive those things,
absent God’s intervention.
Fruitful,
spiritual growth requires God’s preparatory work in order for good growth to
take place. The Holy Spirit is the means by which the human heart is made ready
to receive the Word of God. And, it’s important to notice that the work of the
Spirit often takes place before we are aware of it. The technical term for the
Holy Spirit’s advance work is Prevenient Grace.[2]
This
wonderful parable contains some important implications for us, as Christian
believers, and for those we come into contact with, as we live out the Gospel
truths, and as we seek to show by our lives what a difference that a lively and
loving relationship of the heart can mean to each and every person.
The
first thing we might notice is that God, the One who is sowing the seed, is
exceedingly generous in throwing the seed here and there. What farmer would do
that? Sowing seed where there is little expectation of growth and a harvest?
But God’s economy[3] isn’t like ours. God is quite willing to offer His love to each and every
person.
Now,
notice that there is an element of freedom of choice in God’s activity. We
human beings can continue to spurn God’s workings. We can choose to allow our
hearts to become hardened by the cares of life. This is, of course, a mystery:
Why would God allow us to have the ability to choose, or to reject, His love?
That’s as much a mystery as the truth that God is exceedingly generous in
showering His love on people in every age and in every place.
Finally,
the ability to hear and receive God’s workings is a gift of God. Here we come
to yet another mystery: Why is it that the ability to hear, receive, understand
and incorporate God’s truths is a gift, pure and simple?
Yet
God’s moving in our lives and in our hearts is, ultimately, God’s initiative,
which is intended to prompt a response in the human heart.
Come
then, Holy Spirit, and enlighten with spiritual fire the inner longings of the
human heart, that we may hear, receive and inwardly mark your truths, allowing
them to be deeply implanted in our innermost being.
AMEN.
[1] It would be good for us to notice that the chosen verses for our
lectionary readings omit some verses in chapter thirteen of Matthew’s Gospel
account. In those verses, Jesus’ disciples ask Him about the parable, and He
responds by saying that not everyone is given the truths of the kingdom of heaven,
but those original disciples have been gifted with the truths of God.
[2] Prevenient Grace takes as its title the word “prevent”, whose original
meaning was to “come before”.
[3] Here I am using the term “economy” in the sense of assigning values to things (and people).
