Jesus brought grace and truth into the world, but the world didn’t know what to do with Him or His announcement that God forgives your sins and reckons the gift of faith as righteousness.  They were used to the misunderstanding that the law saves those who keep it and the misconception that one can actually keep the law!  Many opposed the Gospel of salvation that Jesus preached.  Eventually they had Jesus crucified on a tree outside the city gates.  Wherever the Gospel is preached the Seed is sowed, and it stirs up opposition from the world, the devil, and our “old Adam” (the “ex-me” drown in baptism).

Like the disciples, we run into our own hard paths, thorny ground, and rocky dirt in the course of life.  Often the enemies of the Gospel want you to think that you can save yourself or at least do enough to deserve it, if not demand it from God as your due for keeping His commandments.  That kind of thinking leaves you mired in arrogance and false pride.  Then, once you’ve gotten a taste of the Gospel, they try to make you think that it is all a nice story that isn’t real, or that it isn’t for you.  That kind of thinking leaves you mired in despair.

God knew that these formidable opponents of His Gospel were keeping His people in bondage to sin and death, so He sent His Son to save the world.  Christ came “sowing the seed” to set His people free from the devil, the world, and their own sinful self.  He went out to sow God’s seed–the Word–in the world to reveal the depths of the Father’s love and mercy for you.  He sowed that seed all the way to the cross, where He hung and died for you.

Christ died on the cross to break through to you, and the world, with the most powerful seed in the world–the Living Word that never returns to Him empty.  His Word (seed) always obtains the purpose for which it is sent–it calls you and gathers you and enlightens you in Christ, and the truth of the Gospel.

The Sower went out to sow and make you His own.  And He has.  It is accomplished once and for all, and no one can snatch you from Him.  Amen.

Rev. Lenae Rasmussen