Of the holy gospel according to Saint Matthew. On leaving the house, that's when he had cured his Peter's mother-in Jesus sat down by the lakeshore. Such great crowds gathered around him that he went and took his seat in a boat while the crowd stood along the shore. Jesus addressed them at length in parables, speaking in this fashion. One day, a farmer went out sowing.
Part of what he sowed landed on a footpath where birds came and ate it up. Part of it fell on rocky ground where it had little soil. Of course, it sprouted up at once since the soil had no depth. But when the sun came up and scorched it, it began to wither for lack of roots, for lack of depth. Again, part of the seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked it.
At last, finally, part of it landed on good soil and yielded grain a 100 or 60 or thirtyfold, that everyone heed what he hears. And this is the gospel of the lord. The name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. Amen. It's all very well to talk about seed landing on good soil and coming to harvest with thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, a hundredfold.
But any farmer knows that you've got to work on it. You have to cultivate it. And this reminds me of a story I heard some years ago where a minister and his wife on a Sunday afternoon were out taking the air in their automobile. They were driving along a country road when they came upon a very splendid farm. The fences were all in good shape.
That's a great sign, you know, of a good farm. Painted the grass between the road and the fence nicely cut, the gutters all kept, the crops looking just beautiful. It it was a magnificent spread. And as they drove slowly along, enjoying it, appreciating it, they saw a man leaning on the fence, so they stopped. And the minister asked the man, is is this your place?
The fellow says, yes. It's mine. And the minister then went on to say, what a beautiful place it was. How splendid, how magnificent. And then he went on to say, following Daniel chapter three, I suppose, how this shows the goodness of god, how he god takes care of us, how his love surrounds us, and how beautiful nature is in God's hands.
Well, the farmer listened to all this very piously and patiently. And when it was all finished, he turned to the minister and said, well, he didn't know he was a minister, of course. He said, well, he said, you know, everything you've said is very true, and I agree with you. But you should have seen this place when God had it alone. Our Lord forgot to mention that, you know, that the seed can fall on good ground, and unless it's taken care of, kaput.
Of course, this brings up this tremendous question. Who saves me? How am I saved? This was the great this was the great problem of the reformation century, the sixteenth century. It is still an enormous no one has an answer to it.
Who saves me, God or me? The answer is both. Both. On the one hand, I have to admit I cannot save myself. I cannot do all my own cultivation.
I do not I can in no way merit salvation. This was the great thing in the with Luther and Calvin. There is no way that I can earn salvation. We all agree to that. On the other hand, you see, I'm not going to get it without some contribution on my part.
Our lord time and again insists on that. He doesn't take responsibility out of my hands. He doesn't lift the burden off of my shoulders. He says, if you follow me, you must take up your cross daily. I have that choice.
He doesn't force me to take up the cross, his cross. So here we have the one of the greatest conundrums of Christianity, that we have to hold these two things together. We cannot, as we say, let go, let god, absolutely. Now that's a very good little phrase, let go, let god. It's one of the great phrases of Alcoholics Anonymous.
But we cannot do it absolutely. We cannot get out of the driver's seat completely. I cannot we talk about surrender of my life to god. It's one of the basic ideas of the spiritual life, self surrender. Our lord said, without me, you can do nothing, and with me, you can do everything.
We have this story today from Jeremiah. Here, something very mysterious happens to him. Apparently, he gets some kind of a message in some way or other. And Jeremiah said, how? No.
I can't do anything about that. Lord, I can't even talk. I don't know. I I can't do anything about it. The lord says, forget it.
I'll do it. I'll do it. Don't you worry. But remember the farmer. You should have seen this farm when god had it alone.
As I say, this is a very mysterious truth of Christianity. And you see what the reformers of the sixteenth century, and very sincerely, and with a great deal of substance, where are what we're fighting against was this attitude that by doing good works that's how this indulgence business got into it, you know. By doing good works, in some way, I earn or merit salvation. And Luther said, the heck you can. He used stronger language than that.
He said, you can't possibly do it. It's God who saves you. And he quoted Saint Paul ad nauseam and correctly. And Calvin went a step further, you see. Calvin said we are so helpless that that only some are chosen and predestined to be saved, and the other poor devils, they are lost.
And and remember, Calvin was had a brain. Calvin was a very intelligent man. And remember, it was Presbyterianism that dominated, not Lutheranism, for the next hundred years. Now Calvin had an answer to this argument. Well, that's very unfair that god chooses some people.
They're the elect elite. They they are the elect. They are the predestined. They are god's chosen ones. Then on the other hand, here you have those who who are left, and the poor devils don't even have a chance.
That's downright unfair. Galmud said, no. It's not unfair because nobody has a right to salvation. And if god wants to give a group here and knock there, that's his business. It's his business.
So you see, we're all this this is a tremendous a tremendous truth, and it's and you can get all mixed up in it. But I keep coming back, I'm not going to resolve this. I can only put it very simply. God saves me and I have to save myself. I don't know whether this is a good example, but I often think because obviously if you do any thinking about this, you've got to think about it.
How do you put it all together? Sometimes this makes sense to me, that God gives me, let us say, a check, a bank check, a draft. And he says, Here it is. This will give you your substance. This will take care of you for life.
All you have all you have to do is take it to the bank. Okay. I have a choice. I can take it to the bank, or I can say, Oh, I'll take it to the bank tomorrow, and tomorrow never comes. Or I put it in a book, and I forget the book I put it in so I can't find the blooming check.
That happened to a supreme court justice a few years ago. So you see, in other words, god does everything. Remember, the check is complete. I don't contribute to the check at all. All I have to do is to do my part in using the check.
And whether that's a good example or not, I've never seen it, but it it it means something to me. It puts it it it does bring the whole business together for me because this brings out the first thing that without god, I can do nothing. Without the check, I can go to the bank all the time unless I take a gun with me, you know, and invite the cashier to give me a few bucks with a gun. That's one way of doing it, you know. But on the other hand, if god says, here it is.
I give this all to you, but you've gotta do this. This is your part, and you're free to do it or not. Well, when I choose to do it, I'm not creating the check. I'm not creating the funds. I'm not creating the wealth.
I'm only simply making it making it possible for me to enjoy it or to get it. Because certainly, we can't go along with Calvin, although countless thousands have done it. And so when when we come to this this parable of our lord, I always think of the farmer. You should have seen this farm when god had it alone. The name of the father and the son and the holy spirit.
Amen.