Proper 10
Preaching
PREACHING MATTHEW'S GOSPEL
A Narrative Approach
We come to our text for this week noting that the lectionary has entirely omitted Matthew 12. This is a critical omission because it appears that the material in Matthew 13:1-23, the Parable of the Sower along with its explanations, is Jesus' response to the events that have taken place in chapter 12. We need, therefore, to undertake a summary of the events that lead up to Jesus' Parable of the Sower.
We have given the label to this section of Matthew (4:17--16:20) as follows: "The Ministry of Jesus to Israel and Israel's Repudiation of Jesus." Matthew 12 highlights both of these issues. Jesus' ministry is set forth in this chapter in terms of his healing on the Sabbath (vv. 9-14), his healing ministry in general (vv. 15-21), and his healing of a dumb and blind demoniac (v. 22). Jesus' deeds are front and center.
The repudiation of God's healer by Israel is just as clearly drawn. Matthew 12 is full of terrible conflicts: opposition to Jesus intensifies as Pharisees begin to debate with Jesus directly (12:1-8). Previously, scribes and Pharisees have criticized Jesus among themselves (9:3-4), questioned Jesus' disciples (9:10-11), or rebuked the crowds (9:32-34). Now they speak to Jesus directly and begin to rebuke him for offending their convictions about the will of God, and they depart to plot his death (12:14). By the end of the chapter they are painted as representatives of "this evil generation" (vv. 39, 41, 42, 45).1
Jack Kingsbury also notes that "the religious leaders clash with Jesus, and the level of tension in Matthew's story increases perceptibly" in Matthew 12. He cites the "frontal attack against Jesus because of a deed he himself will perform (12:9-13) [as that which] marks the place where the conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders reaches a new level of intensity."2 For the first time, the religious leaders actually take counsel about how they might destroy Jesus! (12:14) Things are heating up!
Matthew 12 begins with a dispute between Jesus and the Pharisees over the fact that Jesus and his disciples had plucked ears of grain on the Sabbath. Jesus tells the Pharisees in no uncertain terms that he is even greater than the temple in Jerusalem. In this chapter Jesus will also claim to be greater than Jonah (v. 41) and greater than Solomon (v. 42). No wonder the Pharisees were angry. So angry that they lay in waiting for Jesus in their synagogue on the Sabbath to see just what he might do (vv. 9-14). Sure enough, Jesus healed a man with a withered hand right before their eyes. That's when they decided that Jesus had to be destroyed!
There follows next a note about Jesus' healing along with the longest quotation that Matthew ever uses from the Old Testament: 12:15-21. Jesus healed, says Matthew, to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah. The reference is to Isaiah 42:1-4. (In a previous section on Jesus' healings Matthew quoted from Isaiah 53:4; see 8:17.) This quotation from Isaiah has wide-ranging implications. There are references in the quotation to Jesus' birth and baptism by the power of the Spirit. This is a reference to the past tense of the Jesus story (v. 18). There is also a reference to the future. In Jesus lies hope for the Gentiles. Isaiah's words help us turn our attention to the future, to the end of the Gospel with its commission to all nations, i.e. to the Gentiles. There is clearly an implication here that Jesus' ministry to Israel has failed.
Next Jesus heals a blind and dumb demoniac, which propels the Pharisees to claim that Jesus casts out such spirits by Beelzebul (vv. 22-32). Jesus, that is, is not in league with God. He is in league with the Devil. The Pharisees deny that Jesus' source of power is in God and in God's Spirit. This is the sin against the Holy Spirit as Matthew tells the story.
The Pharisees claim Jesus is in league with Beelzebul. Jesus claims he is in league with the kingdom of God. "But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you" (12:28). Jesus is Emmanuel. In Jesus, God is with us. In Jesus, the kingdom of God is present--now. The Pharisees were scandalized by such talk.
Jesus said of the Pharisees that they were bad trees who produced bad fruit. "You brood of vipers! How can you speak good things, when you are evil?" (12:34) Jesus repeats his charge that the Pharisees are evil several times: vv. 35, 39, 45. The battle is cosmic: The kingdom of evil vs. the kingdom of God, the kingdom of Beelzebul vs. the kingdom present in Jesus. The stakes are very high.
In 12:38-42 the Pharisees demand a sign from Jesus. Perhaps they are asking him to prove that he is not the evil one. Jesus gives no sign but the sign of Jonah. "The sign is either Jesus' passion and weakness, bringing him down to the grave, or perhaps the mute and ambiguous evidence of his empty tomb. In any case, Jesus will not provide the kind of powerful and overwhelming signal which skeptics demand."3
In perhaps the strongest language of all, Jesus compares the Pharisees to a house from which an evil spirit has fled. The spirit brings other spirits more evil than itself to enter the house. That's who the Pharisees are! (12:43-45)
The final verses of Matthew 12 deal with Jesus' family. Jesus indicates that his disciples are his true family (12:46-50). The implication is clear. Only the disciples are left on Jesus' side. Everyone else has forsaken him. Repudiation is complete. But how can this be? How can God's Son meet such a fate? Why do people not believe? What is going on here? (We ask the same questions today when we encounter unbelief.)
Is there any explanation for the fate we have arrived at by the end of Matthew 12? The answer is: Yes. The explanation begins with simple words: "A Sower went out to sow." "The parable is thus a response to the misunderstanding and plain rejection Jesus has been suffering at the hands of the crowds (11:12, 16-19), Galilean cities (11:20-24), and religious leaders (12:24)."4
Homiletical Directions
We begin our homiletical directions without having discussed the text for the week. We felt it was important to get the context straight. The Parable of the Sower is somewhat self-explanatory in its context.
Matthew 13:1-23 intends to be Jesus' basic response to the repudiation of his ministry by the people of Israel depicted in Matthew 12. We need to tell this parable whole to our hearers!
We propose that the first task of this sermon be to tell the story of the repudiation of Jesus' ministry as we have reviewed it in Matthew 12. You needn't tell all the stories. Tell those that best help you build the case that Jesus has been utterly repudiated--even by his own family. Only the disciples remain.
The hinge of the sermon is the question "Why?" Why has Jesus been repudiated? Why has the kingdom been rejected? Why doesn't Israel repent? You can use language here that bespeaks the questions of why people in our day still repudiate this Son of God. The second task of the sermon, therefore, is simply to raise this "Why?" question.
The third task of our proposed sermon is to tell in our own words or from memory the parable of Jesus and its explanation: 13:1-23. The parable is the answer to the "Why?" question. Let it speak for itself! You can include some words of explanation as you tell the story, but let the story be the frame of any explanations. This is preferable to sticking the story in a corner and organizing your thoughts around your own way of explaining the parable.
We will make just a few notes here. 13:1-9 simply relates the parable. Then the disciples, the only followers left to Jesus, ask him why he speaks in parables. "To you it is given to know," Jesus says (11:27). To the disciples, secrets are revealed. "And what are the secrets? That the kingdom comes with such meekness and weakness, that Jesus who breaks the Law is an agent of God's ruling, that Gentiles and outcasts are included."5
Jesus, however, speaks to them only in parables. "Them" is probably a reference to Israel. Matthew again uses a quotation from Isaiah to help tell his story: Matthew 13:14 (Isaiah 6:9-10). Israel's eyes are blind. Their ears are heavy of hearing. They do not understand with their hearts. On the other hand, the eyes of the disciples are blessed. Their eyes see and their ears hear because of the One who reveals the secrets to the hearts of humankind. The whole point, of course, is to elucidate the problem with Israel. Hardness of heart also comes in fulfillment of scripture!
The most important part of this lengthy explanation of Israel's hardness of heart is Jesus' explanation of the parable in vv. 18-23. It begins with an admonition: "Hear then the parable of the sower." This word appears to be addressed not only to the disciples but to the reader/hearer of Matthew's Gospel.
We have been chosen for this revelation! See 11:25-27; 13:11. We who hear these words are insiders as were the disciples. It is not too late for us.
This section needs to be told forth to our listeners with great care. The very first kind of soil is composed of those who hear but do not understand. The evil One snatches the word away from them. Remember the many instances in Matthew 12 where Jesus referred to the Pharisees and others as evil: 12:34, 35, 39, 45. Others hear and endure only until trials and tribulation come. Still others hear and have the word choked out of them by the cares of the world and the delight in wealth. And still others are the good soil. These are those who hear and understand.
They bear fruit. (On bearing fruit in Matthew see 3:10-12; 7:15-20; 12:33-34.)
This story of the Sower told in juxtaposition to the repudiation of Jesus in Matthew 12 can end in proclamation. Our hearers need to hear the story of the Sower told over them and their unbelief. They need to hear the story as promise! The final proclamation can go something like this:
"I am the Sower," Jesus is saying to us this day. "I am the Sower and some of the seed I sow falls on ears that fail to understand.
"I am the Sower and some of the seed that I sow falls on ears that understand and endure until trials and tribulation come.
"I am the Sower and some of the seed that I sow falls on ears that hear, but then the cares of the world and the lures of wealth choke it out.
"I am the Sower and some of the seed that I sow falls on good soil and bears fruit in abundance.
"I choose this day to sow my seed upon your heart. I am here to give you to know the secrets of the kingdom of God. I am here because I have chosen you to know my God in heaven. I am here to claim your life for the kingdom of heaven.
"Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear."
Amen.
A closing prayer for responsive eyes and ears might be prayed. An appropriate hymn could be sung. We recommend "Lord, Let My Heart Be Good Soil" (With One Voice #713).
____________
1. Robert H. Smith, Matthew: Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament (Minneapolis: Augsburg Press, 1989), p. 160.
2. Jack Dean Kingsbury, Matthew As Story (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1988), p. 73.
3. Smith, op. cit., p. 167.
4. Ibid., p. 170.
5. Ibid., p. 171.
We have given the label to this section of Matthew (4:17--16:20) as follows: "The Ministry of Jesus to Israel and Israel's Repudiation of Jesus." Matthew 12 highlights both of these issues. Jesus' ministry is set forth in this chapter in terms of his healing on the Sabbath (vv. 9-14), his healing ministry in general (vv. 15-21), and his healing of a dumb and blind demoniac (v. 22). Jesus' deeds are front and center.
The repudiation of God's healer by Israel is just as clearly drawn. Matthew 12 is full of terrible conflicts: opposition to Jesus intensifies as Pharisees begin to debate with Jesus directly (12:1-8). Previously, scribes and Pharisees have criticized Jesus among themselves (9:3-4), questioned Jesus' disciples (9:10-11), or rebuked the crowds (9:32-34). Now they speak to Jesus directly and begin to rebuke him for offending their convictions about the will of God, and they depart to plot his death (12:14). By the end of the chapter they are painted as representatives of "this evil generation" (vv. 39, 41, 42, 45).1
Jack Kingsbury also notes that "the religious leaders clash with Jesus, and the level of tension in Matthew's story increases perceptibly" in Matthew 12. He cites the "frontal attack against Jesus because of a deed he himself will perform (12:9-13) [as that which] marks the place where the conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders reaches a new level of intensity."2 For the first time, the religious leaders actually take counsel about how they might destroy Jesus! (12:14) Things are heating up!
Matthew 12 begins with a dispute between Jesus and the Pharisees over the fact that Jesus and his disciples had plucked ears of grain on the Sabbath. Jesus tells the Pharisees in no uncertain terms that he is even greater than the temple in Jerusalem. In this chapter Jesus will also claim to be greater than Jonah (v. 41) and greater than Solomon (v. 42). No wonder the Pharisees were angry. So angry that they lay in waiting for Jesus in their synagogue on the Sabbath to see just what he might do (vv. 9-14). Sure enough, Jesus healed a man with a withered hand right before their eyes. That's when they decided that Jesus had to be destroyed!
There follows next a note about Jesus' healing along with the longest quotation that Matthew ever uses from the Old Testament: 12:15-21. Jesus healed, says Matthew, to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah. The reference is to Isaiah 42:1-4. (In a previous section on Jesus' healings Matthew quoted from Isaiah 53:4; see 8:17.) This quotation from Isaiah has wide-ranging implications. There are references in the quotation to Jesus' birth and baptism by the power of the Spirit. This is a reference to the past tense of the Jesus story (v. 18). There is also a reference to the future. In Jesus lies hope for the Gentiles. Isaiah's words help us turn our attention to the future, to the end of the Gospel with its commission to all nations, i.e. to the Gentiles. There is clearly an implication here that Jesus' ministry to Israel has failed.
Next Jesus heals a blind and dumb demoniac, which propels the Pharisees to claim that Jesus casts out such spirits by Beelzebul (vv. 22-32). Jesus, that is, is not in league with God. He is in league with the Devil. The Pharisees deny that Jesus' source of power is in God and in God's Spirit. This is the sin against the Holy Spirit as Matthew tells the story.
The Pharisees claim Jesus is in league with Beelzebul. Jesus claims he is in league with the kingdom of God. "But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you" (12:28). Jesus is Emmanuel. In Jesus, God is with us. In Jesus, the kingdom of God is present--now. The Pharisees were scandalized by such talk.
Jesus said of the Pharisees that they were bad trees who produced bad fruit. "You brood of vipers! How can you speak good things, when you are evil?" (12:34) Jesus repeats his charge that the Pharisees are evil several times: vv. 35, 39, 45. The battle is cosmic: The kingdom of evil vs. the kingdom of God, the kingdom of Beelzebul vs. the kingdom present in Jesus. The stakes are very high.
In 12:38-42 the Pharisees demand a sign from Jesus. Perhaps they are asking him to prove that he is not the evil one. Jesus gives no sign but the sign of Jonah. "The sign is either Jesus' passion and weakness, bringing him down to the grave, or perhaps the mute and ambiguous evidence of his empty tomb. In any case, Jesus will not provide the kind of powerful and overwhelming signal which skeptics demand."3
In perhaps the strongest language of all, Jesus compares the Pharisees to a house from which an evil spirit has fled. The spirit brings other spirits more evil than itself to enter the house. That's who the Pharisees are! (12:43-45)
The final verses of Matthew 12 deal with Jesus' family. Jesus indicates that his disciples are his true family (12:46-50). The implication is clear. Only the disciples are left on Jesus' side. Everyone else has forsaken him. Repudiation is complete. But how can this be? How can God's Son meet such a fate? Why do people not believe? What is going on here? (We ask the same questions today when we encounter unbelief.)
Is there any explanation for the fate we have arrived at by the end of Matthew 12? The answer is: Yes. The explanation begins with simple words: "A Sower went out to sow." "The parable is thus a response to the misunderstanding and plain rejection Jesus has been suffering at the hands of the crowds (11:12, 16-19), Galilean cities (11:20-24), and religious leaders (12:24)."4
Homiletical Directions
We begin our homiletical directions without having discussed the text for the week. We felt it was important to get the context straight. The Parable of the Sower is somewhat self-explanatory in its context.
Matthew 13:1-23 intends to be Jesus' basic response to the repudiation of his ministry by the people of Israel depicted in Matthew 12. We need to tell this parable whole to our hearers!
We propose that the first task of this sermon be to tell the story of the repudiation of Jesus' ministry as we have reviewed it in Matthew 12. You needn't tell all the stories. Tell those that best help you build the case that Jesus has been utterly repudiated--even by his own family. Only the disciples remain.
The hinge of the sermon is the question "Why?" Why has Jesus been repudiated? Why has the kingdom been rejected? Why doesn't Israel repent? You can use language here that bespeaks the questions of why people in our day still repudiate this Son of God. The second task of the sermon, therefore, is simply to raise this "Why?" question.
The third task of our proposed sermon is to tell in our own words or from memory the parable of Jesus and its explanation: 13:1-23. The parable is the answer to the "Why?" question. Let it speak for itself! You can include some words of explanation as you tell the story, but let the story be the frame of any explanations. This is preferable to sticking the story in a corner and organizing your thoughts around your own way of explaining the parable.
We will make just a few notes here. 13:1-9 simply relates the parable. Then the disciples, the only followers left to Jesus, ask him why he speaks in parables. "To you it is given to know," Jesus says (11:27). To the disciples, secrets are revealed. "And what are the secrets? That the kingdom comes with such meekness and weakness, that Jesus who breaks the Law is an agent of God's ruling, that Gentiles and outcasts are included."5
Jesus, however, speaks to them only in parables. "Them" is probably a reference to Israel. Matthew again uses a quotation from Isaiah to help tell his story: Matthew 13:14 (Isaiah 6:9-10). Israel's eyes are blind. Their ears are heavy of hearing. They do not understand with their hearts. On the other hand, the eyes of the disciples are blessed. Their eyes see and their ears hear because of the One who reveals the secrets to the hearts of humankind. The whole point, of course, is to elucidate the problem with Israel. Hardness of heart also comes in fulfillment of scripture!
The most important part of this lengthy explanation of Israel's hardness of heart is Jesus' explanation of the parable in vv. 18-23. It begins with an admonition: "Hear then the parable of the sower." This word appears to be addressed not only to the disciples but to the reader/hearer of Matthew's Gospel.
We have been chosen for this revelation! See 11:25-27; 13:11. We who hear these words are insiders as were the disciples. It is not too late for us.
This section needs to be told forth to our listeners with great care. The very first kind of soil is composed of those who hear but do not understand. The evil One snatches the word away from them. Remember the many instances in Matthew 12 where Jesus referred to the Pharisees and others as evil: 12:34, 35, 39, 45. Others hear and endure only until trials and tribulation come. Still others hear and have the word choked out of them by the cares of the world and the delight in wealth. And still others are the good soil. These are those who hear and understand.
They bear fruit. (On bearing fruit in Matthew see 3:10-12; 7:15-20; 12:33-34.)
This story of the Sower told in juxtaposition to the repudiation of Jesus in Matthew 12 can end in proclamation. Our hearers need to hear the story of the Sower told over them and their unbelief. They need to hear the story as promise! The final proclamation can go something like this:
"I am the Sower," Jesus is saying to us this day. "I am the Sower and some of the seed I sow falls on ears that fail to understand.
"I am the Sower and some of the seed that I sow falls on ears that understand and endure until trials and tribulation come.
"I am the Sower and some of the seed that I sow falls on ears that hear, but then the cares of the world and the lures of wealth choke it out.
"I am the Sower and some of the seed that I sow falls on good soil and bears fruit in abundance.
"I choose this day to sow my seed upon your heart. I am here to give you to know the secrets of the kingdom of God. I am here because I have chosen you to know my God in heaven. I am here to claim your life for the kingdom of heaven.
"Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear."
Amen.
A closing prayer for responsive eyes and ears might be prayed. An appropriate hymn could be sung. We recommend "Lord, Let My Heart Be Good Soil" (With One Voice #713).
____________
1. Robert H. Smith, Matthew: Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament (Minneapolis: Augsburg Press, 1989), p. 160.
2. Jack Dean Kingsbury, Matthew As Story (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1988), p. 73.
3. Smith, op. cit., p. 167.
4. Ibid., p. 170.
5. Ibid., p. 171.
