Preacher, inked.
  • Read
  • Contact
  • Read
  • Contact

Sexagesima Sunday

2/7/2021

0 Comments

 
When I began to seriously read Holy Scripture, I was very quickly struck by some things. One of the things that struck me (at the time) as very odd and confusing was Jesus’ teaching technique. His use of parables was terribly confusing to me at the time. Like, why don’t you just say what you have to say?! Why beat around the bush with these stories that, at times, seem so obtuse?

What exactly is a parable? The word parable means “putting things side by side.”
“According to Potapov (2000), "a parable is a spiritual lesson of a story developed by comparison to everyday life. The Lord's parables draw memorable details from nature, human, social, economic, or religious life of His time." A parable is similar to an allegory, although the latter usually denotes a more detailed comparison of elements of a tale (Tasker 1962, p. 932).”
In other words, as it relates to Jesus telling parables, He was telling a story to illustrate a point. What’s funny to me is that most of the people who should have “gotten it” did not. The Pharisees and religious leaders, as well as the disciples at times, just couldn’t seem to pick up what He was putting down. The common folk, on the other hand, seemed to have no problem understanding what Jesus was saying.

We should be more like the common folk. Holy Scripture is not really that hard to understand. What Jesus had to say then and now is not that hard to understand, at least on the surface level. Granted, there are layers to Scripture. But, the message of Jesus is not that hard to understand if we are willing to approach with humility and belief.

Our two primary texts today are:
Luke 8:4-15
2 Corinthians 11:19-33, 12:1-9
I invite you to read those texts before proceeding. If you’ve read them, you may look and not see any similarity on the surface. We may look at these two and think, ‘What do they have to do with one another?’ Well, I’m glad you asked, and we will come to that in good time. Let’s look at our gospel text first.
I love it that Jesus tells His disciples and us what this parable is about. On one hand, it’s kinda sad that they didn’t get it and we can be sure the religious leaders of the day didn’t get it either. But Jesus is kind and patient with His disciples (at least on this occasion) and explains it to them.

There are, I think, some obvious things we can look at here and ask ourselves. What kind of soil am I, we may ask? This is a really good question to ask ourselves. And let’s be honest when we consider this question. Take a long hard look at the condition of your own heart and consider what type of soil your own heart is. Ask the Spirit what soil you are and listen to what He has to say. Are our hearts rocky soil, thorny, good ground?
It’s important for us to note some things right off the bat for ourselves. We are not the seed. Nor are we the sower. The sower is Christ Himself and the seed is the Word of God, the gospel, the good news of who Christ Himself is and what He has accomplished on our behalf.

We also need to see that the “soil” has two responsibilities:
Receive what is given.
Bear fruit.

That’s the job of the soil. Receive and bear fruit. It’s not enough just to receive. The soil must also bear fruit from that which is received. We need to hear that. We don’t get to just sit on our laurels and feel good about being the soil. There are warnings built into the story for us to let us know that we need to hear and do something with what we’ve heard.

Don’t be the “wayside” and open to the devil snatching the Word away. Guard the deposit given.
Don’t be the rocky soil that has no roots and falls away during hard times, for surely hard times will come and are even now here.
Don’t be the thorny ground that gets choked by the cares of the world. Stay focused.
Rather, be the good soil, they who “in a good and perfect heart” hear the Word, keep it and bring forth fruit.

Hear the Word. Keep it. Bring forth fruit. We don’t get to just sit on our laurels and assume we’re good soil just because we call ourselves Christian or Catholic or we attend Mass every Sunday. There is work to do, Kingdom work, and we don’t get to just sit around and assume on the grace of God.

Which leads us to our Epistle text. St. Paul says, in 11:30 says,
“If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my infirmity.”
In this direct context, St. Paul goes on in chapter 12 to say more about his “infirmity.” We’ll get to that in a second. If we tie this back to our gospel text, I want to suggest to you that we also have an infirmity. Our infirmity is that we are, at best, rocky soil…but for the grace of God. Let us beg of our Lord more of His grace so that we may, even in our rocky state, be made good soil to hear, keep and bear fruit in keeping with His grace.
St. Paul goes on to say in chapter 12 that he has a “sting of my flesh (DR).” Other translations call it a thorn in the flesh. We’re not really sure what he is referring to here, as there have been many commentators who have theorized what it was. What it was doesn’t matter. Even St. Paul doesn’t seem too concerned about it. His focus is on Christ. He says he asked the Lord three times to let it depart.
We read in verse 9,
“And he said to me: My grace is sufficient for thee; for power is made perfect in infirmity. Gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”
​

My grace is sufficient, Christ tells us, for even the rockiest of soil. My grace is sufficient, Christ says, for the thorny days of temptation. My grace is sufficient, Christ says, for your “infirmities.”
Let us give glory to God that our infirmity, our own infertile soil of a rocky heart, can bring forth the fruit of the gospel by the grace of God to us in the Son, Jesus Christ!
 
Deo gratias!
 
 
 
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016

    Categories

    All
    5 Solas
    Advent
    Anglican
    Ash Wednesday
    Authority
    Baptism
    Beard Balm
    Beard Care
    Beard Oil
    Beards
    Beauty
    Brotherhood
    Catholic
    Christmas
    Church Fathers
    Church Planting
    Comfort
    Community
    Confession
    Courage
    Covenant Theology
    Credobaptism
    CrossFit
    Depression
    Despair
    Discipleship
    Election
    Eucharist
    Faith
    Fear
    Fitness
    Forgiveness
    Freedom
    Free Speech
    Good Friday
    Grace
    Hope
    Humility
    Idolatry
    Jesus
    Joy
    Justice
    Latin Mass
    Law Enforcement
    Lent
    Life
    Love
    Marian Dogma
    Mary
    Mass
    Mercy
    Monks
    Obedience
    Paedobaptism
    Pain
    Presbyterian
    Pride
    Real Presence
    Redemption
    Rest
    Resurrection
    Roman Catholic
    Salvation
    Service
    Sola Scriptura
    St. Meinrad
    Story
    Submission
    Tactical
    Tactics
    Tattoos
    The Bible
    The Blessed Virgin
    The Body Of Christ
    The Church
    The Gospel
    Theology
    The Pope
    The Reformation
    Tolkien
    Tradition
    Worship

    Picture
    Book I wrote.
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.