SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST July 12, 2026

Prayer of the Day
Almighty God, we thank you for planting in us the seed of your word. By your Holy Spirit help us to receive it with joy, live according to it, and grow in faith and hope and love, through Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord. Amen.

Gospel: Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell on a path, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. 6 But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 If you have ears, hear!”

18 “Hear, then, the parable of the sower. 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet such a person has no root but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. 23 But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

The Sermon
The lead-in to Jesus’ telling the parable of the sower helps us get some of Jesus’ meaning. The lead-in functions like tv programs where scenes from previous episodes are shown to give context to the current episode. So “previously”…..

Jesus is in a house and is told his family is looking for him. Jesus does something nearly unthinkable in his time and culture by redefining his family by saying anybody who does the work of the kingdom is his family. But the work isn’t easy. and the results aren’t always what we hoped. Not even Jesus gets a 100 percent approval rating and the message for the church is that we shouldn’t expect that either. Sometimes our work will be met with polite indifference. Sometimes our work will be systematically undermined. Sometimes, though in unexpected places amazing transforming and life giving things happen.

The nature of our work is to embody what Jesus calls the Kingdom of God. Most of us have lived through kingdoms and regimes that bear little resemblance to God’s realm for a just and peaceable world.

Pastor Daniel Erlander wrote a delightful summary of the Bible titled “Manna and Mercy”—the unfolding story of God’s intention to mend all of creation. Dan drew cartoon illustrations in his book before the graphic novel became “a thing”. One image was a pyramid, like those Pharaoh built. In Dan’s version the people he calls the ‘big deals’ were at the apex…each descending level represented decreasing power, wealth and influence. Nature, and most regular people were underneath the pyramid, being squashed by the more powerful. Meanwhile the gifts of creation and any wealth is quickly channeled upward, making life even more crushing for those at the bottom of the pyramid. The story of Moses and the Exodus and also about the long wilderness experience are about God overturning the pyramid scheme and replacing it with friendship with God, nature, and each other. That there is the kingdom of God in a nutshell.

You can guess that the big deals and those who bask in the power of the big deals aren’t very interested in the pyramid being upended. So there you have the resistance, indifference and adverse conditions Jesus talks about in his parable.

And yet….Jesus speaks about those times when God’s way for the world sneaks in and amazing transformation happens. The hundred and sixty fold yields are really a tall tale. Scholar and theologian Warren Carter says such imaginable growth might remind us of overflowing creation that God pronounces as Good, very good. Such fecundity might also anticipate a point in God’s own good timing where love and life triumph and creation is mended.

Meanwhile, we see little promissory notes of such a glorious reprise. As Luther writes in the Small Catechism, Jesus’ prayer for God’s Kingdom is realized when it takes root in us and shapes how we live. Maybe we see only little bits, or watch in dismay as predators snatch the seed or the weeds choke it out. Yet we pray as Jesus taught…and may the Holy Spirit of the risen Christ empower us to live into that prayer, that we might occupy even a tiny corner of God’s activity to bless and save the world. Amen.