July 12, 2026
Seventh Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 10 A)
Trinity Lutheran Church – Wyandotte, MI
Sermon Text: Matthew 13:1 – 9, 18 – 23
Hear And Understand
“He who has ears, let him hear.” (Matthew 13:9)
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
How many of you know about farming practices during the Biblical times? I imagine not many of you. And at first glance the first half of out Gospel ready seems like an explaining of how planting was done. And in fact, that was how farmers planted their seeds in the field back then. The farmer would walk the field and grip a handful of seeds from his pouch and spread it around himself as he walked. There were no neat and pretty rows of wheat or barley; the growing field looked chaotic, haphazard, and it was. But there is more to this parable than just how planting seeds were done.
Let us first understand what a parable is. Now if you look up the definition of the word ‘parable’ you will find something to the effect of a short story that illustrates a moral point. Parables in the Bible are far more than a simple story, they are the Word of God, given by Christ to reveal the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. In other words, parables are an earthly story that teaches a heavenly truth. One of the most well-known parables is The Parable of the Sower, which is our Gospel reading for today.
And what is the heavenly truth that Christ is explaining in this parable? It is not about the best practice for planting grain seeds. And it is not the best way to toss the grain seed for optimal distribution and cover in the field. Christ is explaining how the word of God is spread. Like a farmer who spread his seed all around him in the field. God’s message – the message of God’s love for us, the forgiveness of our sins and our salvation, through the death and resurrection of His son, our Lord, Christ Jesus – is to be spread to all people in all places.
This parable of the Sower illustrates a problem. Not a problem in the spreading of the Gospel. But the problem is how we hear and respond to the Gospel. Just as the Gospel changes our lives, so does the way we live our lives effect how we hear and respond to Christ and His saving grace, mercy and love for us.
Christ explains that one way we respond to the Gospel message like “… A sower went out to sow. 4And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.” (Matthew 13:3–4) Before the seed is covered by the soil, there is a moment when it lies exposed on the hard, packed ground. During that time, the birds can quickly swoop down and devour it. Jesus uses this image to describe how some people respond to the Gospel. They hear God's Word, but they do not truly listen to it or take it to heart. Before the message can sink in and take root, the evil one comes and snatches it away, leaving the hearer unchanged.
You may think that only unbelieving people are like that. But you and I are also like. How many times have you convinced yourself that what you are doing or saying was the right thing even though you were sinning in the process? It could not be helped. Time and again people point out that what you were doing was a sin, but their warnings fell on deaf ears.
A good example of this is King David who committed adultery with Bathsheba and then had her husband killed while he was military campaign. David was convinced that he had the right to take what he wanted from his subjects, even their very life. David was convened that he did no wrong. The prophet Nathan had to trick King David on passing judgment on his actions and showing his own guilt. David confesses his sin and the prophet Nathan assured him of God’s forgiveness.
This is how God is. Even today, God warns us from closing our heart and ears to God Word. But if we admit our sins and confess them before God; we will find a loving and gracious God who is faithful and forgiving.
Not all people receive God message of salvation with a harden hart. Some people receive the Gospel with immediate joyful hart. And this is a great thing. The problem is that some will think they know all that they need to know. Their understand of Christ is shallow, only surface level. Christ explains it as seed falling on rocky ground where there is little soil and little to no room for the roots to grow and hold.
Is this not how people who just came to faith are like? They are overjoyed that they have found salvation. But they do not know the fullness of Christ and His love for use. Their understanding of the Kingdom of God is just surface level, and they can be easily persuaded with out of context explanation of the Gospel and what it means.
This is why people new to faith need to be nurtured. They need the pastor and the congregation to guide and feed them the truth of God Word, to teach them about the Kingdom of God, and what it means. And we need to pray for them. We need to demonstrate to them what Christian love is. And most importantly we keep point them to the cross, the love of God manifest in Christ Jesus who took away our sins. Through Him we have a new life with a new purpose, to know Christ more and to spread the Good News about the Kingdom of God.
Nurturing is not just for new Christians. Even those long in the faith, who are strong and faithful Christians, can fall from faith. And it is uncomfortable when this truth is pointed out in such a vivid picture. “Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them” (Matthew 13:7). And our Lord explains it plainly: “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” (Matthew 13:22).
This is not about those who never hear the Word. This is about those who do hear it. They receive it. For a time, it is there. But something else grows alongside it—something persistent, invasive, and deadly. The thorns are not merely external persecutions; they are internal entanglements. They are the anxieties that occupy the mind, the constant pressure of daily needs, the quiet but powerful lure of security through wealth, success, or control.
And here is the hard truth: thorns do not ask permission. They grow naturally in fallen soil. Left unattended, they will dominate. So also in us. Our sinful nature does not remain neutral. It clings to worry, feeds on comparison, and trusts in what can be seen and measured rather than in the promises of God.
Notice what Jesus says the thorns do: they choke the Word. The Word is still there, but it is suffocated. It cannot bear fruit. This is the danger, not outright rejection, but slow suffocation. The heart begins to be crowded and leaves a smaller and smaller room for faith.
This is the Law, and it cuts deeply. Because it reveals that the problem is not simply “out there” in the world. The problem is that the world has taken root within us. Our anxieties and misplaced trusts expose how easily we allow something else to take precedence over Christ and His Word.
But the parable does not leave us in despair, because the Sower has not stopped sowing. Christ Himself is the Sower, and His Word is not weak. Even when choked, even when resisted, it is living and active. And more than that, the same Lord who warns about thorns has entered into a thorn-filled world to redeem it.
Consider this: when our Lord went to the cross, He wore a crown of thorns. The very image of the curse, the thorns that came forth from the ground after the fall, was pressed upon His head. He bore the sign of our choking, our anxiety, our misdirected trust, our sins. He took onto Himself the full weight of sin that strangles faith.
And in His death, He did not merely endure the thorns, He overcame them. By His resurrection, He brings life where there was only entanglement and suffocation. He forgives our divided heart. He restores what has been choked. He gives us His Spirit, who clears and cultivates, who returns us again and again to the Word.
This means your hope does not rest in how well you have managed the thorns. If it did, there would be no hope. Your hope rests in the Sower, who does not abandon His field. He continues to speak. He continues to forgive. He continues to tend what is His.
And so, as those who hear this Word, we are called to recognize the thorns for what they are—not harmless distractions, but real dangers. We bring our anxieties to Christ, rather than letting them grow unchecked. We resist the deceitfulness of riches by clinging instead to the true treasure of the Gospel. We return, again and again, to the Word that gives life.
For where Christ’s Word is not choked, it bears fruit, faith toward God and love toward neighbor. Not because the soil is perfect, but because the Sower is faithful.
Christ now turns our attention to the good soil: “Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” (Matthew 13:8). And He explains, “As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields” (Matthew 13:23).
At first glance, this sounds like a description of the “better” Christian—the one who gets it right, who finally becomes the kind of soil God can work with. But if we hear it that way, we will either fall into pride or despair. For who among us can claim to be consistently good soil? Left to ourselves, we are no different than the path, the rocky ground, or the thorn-infested field. By nature, our hearts are not fertile for God’s Word.
So where does this good soil come from? Not from within us, but from the work of God Himself. The same Lord who sows the seed is also the One who prepares the soil. Through His Word and Spirit, He breaks up hardened hearts, removes stones, and clears away thorns. What He commands, He also creates.
To “hear and understand” the Word, then, is not merely an intellectual exercise. It is faith. It is the Spirit-given trust that clings to Christ and His promises. This understanding is not our achievement—it is God’s gift, worked in us through the very Word that is sown in us.
And notice the result: fruit. Not uniform, not identical, but abundant and varied, “some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” The focus is not on measuring output, but on the certainty of growth. Where the Word takes root in faith, it does what God intends. It bears fruit.
This fruit is not a condition for salvation; it is the result. It is seen in love for neighbor, in acts of mercy, in faithfulness in one’s calling, in endurance under trial. Often it is quiet, unnoticed, even hidden. Yet God sees it, and He delights in it.
And still, even as good soil, we know the struggle remains. Stones and thorns threaten to return. The old Adam resists. But the comfort is this: the Sower has not ceased His work. Christ continues to sow His Word into our heart. He continues to forgive, to renew, to cultivate.
For this Sower gave Himself for the field. He was buried and from His death has come a harvest that cannot fail. In His resurrection, He guarantees that His Word will bear fruit, even in you.
So do not look inward to measure the quality of your soil. Look to the Word that is sown. Hear it. Receive it. For in that Word, Christ Himself is present, creating what He promises.
And where He is at work, there will be fruit—abundant, enduring, and by His grace alone.
Now “He who has ears, let him hear.” (Matthew 13:9) and understand God abundant love for us. Though we live in a world full of rocks, stones, and weeds, Christ continually cares for us and give us His peace. Amen.