{"id":26479,"date":"2026-07-07T21:01:51","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T19:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/?p=26479"},"modified":"2026-07-07T21:01:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T19:01:51","slug":"matthew-131-918-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/matthew-131-918-23\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthew 13:1-9,18-23"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, 12 July 2026 | <\/strong>A Sermon on Matthew 13:1-9,18-23 | by Samuel David Zumwalt |\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Matthew 13:1-9,18-23 <\/strong>Scripture taken from the New King James Version\u00ae. Copyright \u00a9 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the same day Jesus went out of the house\u00a0and sat by the sea.\u00a02\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>And great multitudes were gathered together to Him, so that\u00a0He got into a boat and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. 3\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying:\u00a0\u201cBehold, a sower went out to sow.\u00a04\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>And as he sowed, some\u00a0seed<\/em>\u00a0fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them.\u00a05\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth.\u00a06\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away.\u00a07\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them.\u00a08\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some\u00a0a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.\u00a09\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>He who has ears to hear, let him hear!\u201d … 18\u00a0<\/strong><\/sup>\u201cTherefore hear the parable of the sower:\u00a019\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>When anyone hears the word\u00a0of the kingdom, and does not understand\u00a0it,<\/em>\u00a0then the wicked\u00a0one<\/em>\u00a0comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside.\u00a020\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately\u00a0receives it with joy;\u00a021\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when\u00a0tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately\u00a0he stumbles.\u00a022\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Now\u00a0he who received seed\u00a0among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.\u00a023\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands\u00a0it,<\/em>\u00a0who indeed bears\u00a0fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.\u201d<\/p>\n

HOLY WORSHIP: LET HIM HEAR!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.<\/p>\n

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God\u2019s Word has great, awesome, creative power. St. John declares: \u201cIn the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.\u201d (John 1:1-3). The prophet Isaiah proclaims today: \u201cFor\u00a0as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me\u00a0void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall\u00a0prosper\u00a0in the thing<\/em>\u00a0for which I sent it\u201d (55:10-11).<\/p>\n

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Today, our Lord Jesus, the Word made flesh (John 1:14), describes what happens when the seed falls on good ground, it bears fruit and produces, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.\u201d \u00a0And it is not difficult for the attentive reader or hearer of God\u2019s Word to ask, \u201cIf God\u2019s Word has such great, awesome, creative power, why can\u2019t I see it here among God\u2019s people who listen each week? Why am I not bearing such fruit?\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Bible begins with the one true God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) creating everything in six days and on the seventh resting. He tells His creation to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Moses continues to tell God\u2019s story, the only story at the beginning, by moving from the overture, the 30,000-foot view, to the intricate, intimate molding of Adam from the earth and breathing the breath of life into him. God makes Eve from Adam that the two may become one flesh and be fruitful and multiply: man for woman and woman for man. They have care of all that God has created, and life in Paradise is indeed beautiful. Adam and Eve have perfect intimacy with God and with each other.<\/p>\n

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So, what went wrong? Moses tells us: \u201cNow the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, „Has God indeed said, ‚You shall not eat of every tree of the garden‘?“ (Genesis 3:1). Where there had been only God\u2019s story, now there was the possibility of the lie, the contradiction, literally the \u201cspeaking against\u201d God\u2019s story by carefully twisting and confusing. The man who first heard God\u2019s Word did not correct, did not point out the lie. He did not listen carefully, and the wicked one snatched away what had been sown in his heart (Matthew 13:19). He disobeyed, which is literally not to listen attentively to the authoritative Word of God.<\/p>\n

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Yesterday was a joyous ordination day for Pastor Robert, his mother, and this parish. Pastor Larson preached God\u2019s Word with power, and the ordinand surrendered his life to God with great and difficult promises. Many of us watched Pastor Robert grow up from the age of ten in this parish and saw his maturing into the Christian man he has become. We watched him grow in skill and confidence as a proclaimer of God\u2019s Word, and now he will tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love. With joy, he will see God make new children in Holy Baptism. He will see the light bulb come on in the faces of some as he teaches and preaches. He will handle the Lord\u2019s true Body and most precious Blood and offer this Blessed Sacrament forgiving sins and filling sinners with the power of the Holy Trinity\u2019s endless life and love. He will pronounce the forgiveness of sins both corporately and individually for the consolation of troubled consciences. And Pastor Robert will be responsible and accountable for those who hear God\u2019s Word from his lips. Terrifying!<\/p>\n

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And Pastor Robert will become far too familiar with the old evil foe\u2019s work in his own heart, mind, body, and soul and in the lives of those around him. Martin Luther warned of that unholy trio: the devil, the world, and the sinful self. At other times, Luther spoke of that unholy trio as sin, death, and the devil. Our Lord Jesus contrasts His own life-giving work with the destructive power of the demonic to \u201csteal, kill, and destroy\u201d (John 10:10).\u00a0 St. Peter warns: \u201cBe sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour\u201d (1 Peter 5:8). So, why doesn\u2019t God\u2019s Word properly proclaimed as Law and Gospel accomplish what God pleases and so prosper?\u201d Both preacher and listener, like Adam in the garden, do not listen attentively to God!<\/p>\n

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For fifty years of church work and forty-five as a pastor, I have watched the seed of God\u2019s Word devoured and taken away, scorched and wither away, spring up and choked out. But, now and again, I have seen God\u2019s Word produce fruit in the lives of His people. Oh, the devil loves to confuse us with various improvisations on his original lie: \u201cHas God indeed said?\u201d There is a reason Martin Luther spoke of parenting as the highest estate and of the fourth commandment as the greatest of the second table of the Law, those commandments directed towards love of neighbor. When parents do not read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest God\u2019s Word, they will ineptly teach and model the Christian faith to their children. This is why whom you marry with whom you bring children into the world is the most important life decision you will ever make, dear parents. A pastor, a Sunday School teacher, a youth worker, and the most faithful of Christian godparents and church members only have a brief exposure to the children.<\/p>\n

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Those who raise children have the greatest influence. But, again, as St. Paul warns: \u201c… We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places\u201d (Ephesians 6:12). And so we sing Luther\u2019s words in \u201cA Mighty Fortress\u201d: \u201cNo strength of ours can match his (Satan\u2019s) might, we would be lost, rejected, but now a champion comes to fight whom God Himself elected. You ask who this may be, the Lord of hosts is He! Christ Jesus, mighty Lord, God\u2019s only Son adored. He holds the field victorious\u201d (LBW 229). Only God\u2019s Word made flesh can save and deliver us!<\/p>\n

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St. Paul writes: \u201cBut God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us\u201d (Romans 5:8). He died for your sins, my sins, and those of the whole world. Into deaf ears, into confused minds, into divided hearts, into our mortal flesh, God speaks His Word of forgiveness, life, and salvation to us who know all too well how we have not been good ground for the woman\u2019s Seed (Genesis 3:15) who crushed our ancient foe\u2019s head with His own nail-pierced feet.<\/p>\n

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Many years ago, I knew a pastor who had been raised in an unbelieving ethnically Jewish home. At college, he was invited to worship where he heard the old, old story of Jesus\u2019 love, and the Seed found good ground in that man. Both he and his future wife, who had been raised in an unbelieving Gentile home, were baptized. Eventually, the man heard and answered God\u2019s call to the holy ministry. He said: \u201cIn my first parish, I was often overwhelmed by the weight of sin, death, and the devil. But there was this pious, old man in the parish who would take me fishing. And I would ask him, \u2018Tell me the story.\u2019\u201d And the old man would cast the Seed, the old, old story of Jesus and His love, into that young pastor\u2019s heart. God\u2019s Word found good soil there. The pastor grew in faith and life.<\/p>\n

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Dearest ones, the devil will always whisper and even shout into your ears all his lies, all your failures, and anything he can so that God\u2019s Word will not find good ground in you and so that you will not bear fruit. Parents and everyone, you need to pray daily, worship here weekly, and read and study the Bible, so that you will be able to discern the devil\u2019s lies and to counter them with God\u2019s Word. Adam knew God\u2019s Word, but he failed in temptation\u2019s hour to speak it to Eve and directly to the old evil foe. Hold fast to Jesus Christ and cling to His cross where He won the victory. Yes, you and I are great sinners, but we have a far greater Savior, Jesus Christ, who has taken our sin and our death to His cross and, in Holy Baptism, has given us the eternal life and love the Holy Trinity shares.<\/p>\n

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The surprise is not that the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh disobey God. That\u2019s the temporary state of God\u2019s good creation, but that is not the end of the story. For Jesus has already won the victory, and that is the Good News that makes of us good ground in Holy Baptism and continues to be planted in us week after week in the Word and Sacraments.<\/p>\n

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When that cunning fallen angel says to you each day, \u201cHas God indeed said?\u201d you can answer as Adam should have, \u201cYes, indeed God said, and I will cling to Him, the Word of eternal life!\u201d Where else can we go?\u00a0 To whom shall we turn? God\u2019s Word has power to accomplish in you, in me, and in everyone what He intends: so that we may become all that He created us to be. And, at the end, oh what a fruitful harvest, He will gather in!<\/p>\n

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\u201cBe faithful unto death,\u201d our Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed to the Church at Smyrna through St. John (Revelation 2:10). Hebrews says: \u201cAnd let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.\u201d (Hebrews 10:24-25). Be good ground for the Seed, Jesus Christ, dear pastors and people, who hear the word and understand it, who indeed bear fruit and produce: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.\u201d Whoever has ears, let him hear!<\/p>\n

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In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

\u00a9Samuel David Zumwalt<\/p>\n

szumwalt54@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

St. Matthew\u2019s Evangelical Lutheran Church (AALC)<\/p>\n

Wilmington, North Carolina USA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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