READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:
Isaiah 55:10-13
2 Corinthians 11:19-12:9
- St. Luke 8:4-15
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. (Phil 1)
Who speaks to you on this day from His Gospel heard, saying:
“Now the parable
is this: The seed is the word of God.”
Thus far from our Gospel reading, placed in His Word because
Jesus wants us to hear that He has not spread His Word to the winds, but on
earth. He has located His saving Word that we may find it and believe it, on
earth. This has profound implications in our daily lives, one of which is that
we can be sure and certain that the Bible, as it is, is what God wants us and
our neighbor to have.
Two mistakes are immediately made when hearing this verse
from the Gospel Reading. First, Jesus is forgotten as the Word Made Flesh and
second, when they hear Scripture Alone, a famous Reformation cry, they think
“Scripture left naked”. That is, if it’s not in the Bible directly, its not of
God.
For example, Christmas Trees. Though no one would say our
Christmas trees make God save us, they believe that they condemn us. Some verse
in Jeremiah (10:2-4) condemns cutting down trees and decorating them. That’s
good enough to not have them. With this method, they can find anything they
think is a “tradition of man”, prohibited in the Bible and condemn it. The
problem is, you can deny the Trinity this way, among other things.
Both views are wrong. But why the shift to twisting
Scripture? Because, God’s Word is offensive to everyone, not just those with
public sins. Even if we say and believe “Scripture alone”, Jesus doesn’t make
it that simple. He gives us His Word, definitely, but He also gives His Church,
filled with His saints.
It is here, that the serious student of Scripture will have
to ask: where is Scripture Alone, then? In the Word or in His Church? Well, for
the first five books of the Bible, Scripture was in the mouth of Moses. But
he’s dead now, as in not speaking anymore. Likewise with all the prophets. We
are going to get no more words from them to help us find or define Scripture
Alone.
In the New Testament, being a bit closer to our time, we
have the Jesus, Himself, and the apostles. Once again, however, all dead. All
silent. Well, not Jesus, but you know what I mean. Jesus is not speaking today
as He once did.
What the “Scripture left naked” crowd doesn’t get is the
parable today and its where we find actual Scripture alone. Notice: the seed is
the Word of God and the Word is planted in the ground. Notice: the Word of God
comes to Adam and walks with him in the garden. Notice: the Word of God comes
to all the prophets. The one thing all that has in common: they all happen on
earth.
Let me read to you St. Paul’s words from 1 Corinthians and I
want you to tell me what is so offensive about what he says. From 14:37, “If
anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that
the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord.”
You could say the offensive part is St. Paul sounding
arrogant. You could say the offensive part is the Lord commanding like some
sort of dictator; that’s not my Jesus! No. The offensive part is that you have
to find the man, St. Paul, in order to get the commands of the Lord and he is
on earth.
Repent! We believe that Scripture alone simply means that if
we say something that’s in the Bible, its true. That if we just ape God’s words
and then nominally apply it to our lives, but mostly other’s lives, then that
is what it means to be faithful to God’s Word. We turn it into a weapon against
our neighbor and even against God.
And it is not even ours to begin with! Ink and paper have no
soul, so how can we expect them to produce one for us? God is incomprehensible
in the first place. And even if we quote Colossians 1:27 saying, “God willed
to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the
Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory”, we still have no idea
what that means.
In some of his last words before his death, Dr. Luther put
it this way:
“No one can understand Virgil's Poems, unless he has been a
shepherd or a farmer for at least five years. And no one can understand
Cicero's Letters, unless he has busied himself in significant affairs of state
for twenty-plus years.
But no one knows the Holy Scriptures sufficiently, unless he
has governed churches for a hundred years with the Prophets, John the Baptist,
Christ, and the Apostles.
Do not assail the divine Word,
but revere the ground on which it treads.
We are all beggars. That is true.”
At the same time two things must be true. Jesus says in one
place, “…I am in the Father, and the Father [is] in Me…The words that I
speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in
Me does the works” (John 14:10) and also “Most assuredly, I say to you,
he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and
shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life” (John 5:24).
By this we believe that there is the Word of God and there
are words of God, which we call Holy Scripture. And it is the Word of God Who
informs us as to what the words of God are. So, in order to find Scripture, the
words, we must first find the Word of God.
Thankfully, the Lord is Gracious and apparent and has
promised that His Word was made flesh and even dwelt among us. Another name we
use for the Word of God is Jesus. Jesus is the Word and He suffers and is
buried in the soil, only to resurrect three days later.
It would be nice if Jesus were around, as He was during the
disciples’ time, but He has ascended to the Right Hand of the Father. So now it
appears as if we are back where we started. The Word is high above us and we
cannot attain unto it.
Here’s where Jesus gets offensive. After Easter, He teaches,
“Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (Jn 20:21)
and “[He said to His disciples] he who hears you hears Me, he who rejects
you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me” (Lk 10:16).
Not only is the Word on earth, currently, but Jesus chooses
to leave it with men. You must find a man who is preaching, in order to receive
it. The Word is not in a castle. The Word is not at the end of a mountain
staircase. It does not even appear in Transfiguration light, whenever it is
read and heard. It is lacklustre. It is common. It is boring.
But that’s only the half of it! For even if you memorize
every word in the Bible, that guarantees nothing and no promises of God are
made for such an act. Many people have done so, and believe not one word of
what they have memorized.
As Dr. Luther mentioned, it takes lived faith to interpret
Scripture. A life steeped in Word and Sacrament. A devotion to what God’s
Church is doing on Sundays. The other half of memorizing the Bible is living it
in the Divine Service.
Jesus is the Word, Jesus sends men to preach and teach, and
the Holy Spirit works as the Son directs. If you want to find Scripture alone,
you’ve got to find God’s man.
Lutherans are the only ones who teach that the Holy Spirit
works exclusively through the external Word of God and Sacraments to create and
sustain faith and give salvation. No one else does.
From our Confessions:
“That we may obtain this faith, the Ministry of Teaching the
Gospel and administering the Sacraments was instituted [by Christ]. For through
the Word and Sacraments, as through instruments, the Holy Ghost is given, Who
works faith; where and when it pleases God, in them that hear the Gospel, to
wit, that God, not for our own merits, but for Christ’s sake, justifies those
who believe that they are received into grace for Christ’s sake.
They condemn the Anabaptists and others who think that the
Holy Ghost comes to men without the external Word, through their own
preparations and works.” (AC V)
Hopefully, you begin to see that when we say “Scripture
Alone” it is not a limiting term. Once you open up the meaning you find Jesus,
His Church, and His pastor. It does limit the places you can find the Word, but
only at His say-so, for He has made it, so He gets to make the rules.
Sin makes “Scripture Alone” a limiting term, reducing God to
contracts, covenants, and ink and paper. Scripture Alone ultimately means “the
Word on earth”. On earth to preach and teach. On earth to build up and rebuke.
On earth to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, when He brings redemption
to all who hear His Word from those who are Called and ordained to preach Him.
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