Sexagesima

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The season of Septuagesima continues today as the countdown to Easter goes on. Today is Sexagesima, or sixty, as we are now less than sixty days from the great feast around which our entire liturgical year revolves. During this short season of Septuagesima, as preparation for the great forty days of Lent, we are considering the Christian virtues of faith, hope, and love. Faith, as we said last week, is where all things in the Christian life begin. The benefits of Christ are received by faith. We come to know the love of Christ by faith alone. And likewise, it is only by faith that we have hope for the life to come. Therefore, faith is the starting point for Christian virtue.

On Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of the holy fast of Lent, we will hear these words from the apostle Peter’s second epistle:

[We] have been given…exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust (2 Peter 1:4).

In other words, the Holy Spirit has given you the faith to receive the great and precious promises of the Gospel for a reason—namely that you would be a partaker in the divine nature of our Lord Jesus Christ. Two weeks ago, we were given to see the greatest revelation of Christ’s nature prior to His death and resurrection in the Transfiguration of Our Lord. Through faith, it has been given to you to partake of this same holy, good, and life-giving nature. You have been joined with Christ in Holy Baptism. The Holy Absolution offers you His Word of life. The Holy Communion makes you a partaker of the divine nature in the most intimate of ways. But Saint Peter has more to say. In the very next verse, he continues:

But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue… (2 Peter 1:5a).

So it is that the Christian virtues of faith, hope, and love must always go together on this side of eternity. As we consider today the Christian virtue of hope, we will see that: Christ desires to grant you a living hope through His implanted Word. May God the Holy Spirit grant us to receive this Word and hope today.

Our Lord begins today’s parable with the famous words: “A sower went out to sow his seed” (Luke 8:5a). But the sowing of seed is not an end unto itself. In other words, the planting of seed is not the goal. One plants seed so that it might grow up and bear fruit. So it is that “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matthew 7:19). For the one who plants desires efficiency. By all accounts, it is wasteful to allow a plant to continue taking up space in the garden and nutrients from the soil if it is not producing fruit. Likewise, one who goes out to plant seed would consider it wasteful to cast his seed indiscriminately on the path or among the thorns or on rocky ground. But not so with the sower in our Lord’s parable. For the Lord is showing us that He does not withhold the seed of His Word from anyone. He desires that all would be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (cf. 1 Timothy 2:4). And so, the Lord desires that His Word be preached to all men so that all would have the opportunity to receive the living hope that He alone can offer. Thus, we will sing later in Martin Franzmann’s great hymn:

The sower sows; his reckless love

Scatters abroad the goodly seed,

Intent alone that all may have

The wholesome loaves that all men need.

Though some be snatched and some be scorched

And some be choked and matted flat,

The sower sows; his heart cries out,

“Oh, what of that, and what of that?” (LSB 586:3-4).

Thanks be to God that we have heard the Word and received it. For through that Word, we truly have a living hope, as the apostle Peter says in his first epistle:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you (1 Peter 1:3-4).

It is this living hope which propels us forward every day, giving us a reason to get up in the morning. For the aches and pains and struggles of this life are not the end. We have the hope of the world to come wherein Christ will restore all things and grant us to live in the glory of the new creation. We will be reunited with our loved ones who have died in the faith, and every tear shall be wiped away. No matter what struggles and sufferings you may experience in life, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead gives you this living hope.

And yet there are those who do not have this living hope. There are those who go through life apart from Christ and apart from the hope of eternal life which is granted by faith in Him. Their lives are purposeless and meaningless. It should be no surprise to us Christians that the meteoric rise in depression and anxiety in our world has been preceded by a decrease in the Church. This, of course, is not to say that Christians never struggle with mental health problems—far from it. In fact, Martin Luther himself struggled with depression and anxiety. But this is to say that a lack of faith in Christ exacerbates mental health problems. For where there is no hope beyond the struggles of this life, one cannot expect to find comfort. But where the comfort of the Gospel is present, the struggles of life—including depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues—the struggles of life do not have ultimate power over a Christian.

And so it is that the sower sows his seed. For this seed is the Word of God (Luke 8:11). And the sower is he who stands in the stead and by the command of Christ to preach and teach the Word of God. But unlike in the case of a farmer planting his seed, this seed of God’s Word is not sown only once. It must be heard and received again and again. For our Lord says three verses after the conclusion of our text for today:

“Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him” (Luke 8:18).

And the apostle James also warns in the first chapter of his epistle:

Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls (James 1:21).

And our Lord ends today’s parable with the words:

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” (Luke 8:8).

Regularly hearing the Word of God is a necessity for all Christians. For our Lord warns that just because the Word is heard once it doesn’t mean that one will bring forth fruit to maturity. Satan prowls like a roaring lion (cf. 1 Peter 5:8) seeking to destroy and take away the Word from the hearts of men. Likewise, the temptations of the flesh so often lead one to abandon the living hope of our Christian faith. And the cares, riches, and pleasures of life so easily rob believers of their faith and hope. Therefore, we must heed Scripture’s warning to hear God’s Word regularly that it would become implanted in us. For it is only when the Word of Christ dwells in us richly (cf. Colossians 3:16) that it firmly takes root so that our Christian hope cannot be removed.

And so it is that Christian faith and hope are intimately tied to the Word of God. If we desire to be those who are characterized by these Christian virtues of faith and hope, then we must be lovers of the Word. For through this implanted Word, Christ desires to grant you a living hope which the cares of life, the temptations of the flesh, and the scheming of the devil cannot take away from you. God grant that nothing would prevent us from daily hearing this Word with a noble and good heart so that we might keep it, bear fruit with patience, and faithfully be brought to the fulfillment of our living hope at the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ on the Last Day.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.