Sexagesima Snowpocalypse

Isaiah 55:10-13; 2 Corinthians 11:19—12:9; St. Luke 8:4-15

It is a happy coincidence that today’s OT reading begins by mentioning the snow that comes down from heaven. When we have a heavy snowfall like this, it forces everything to slow down, and makes the world quiet for a time. A prayer for the end of the day makes reference to the end of our life, when the fever of life is over and the busy world is hushed. When everything (except Divine Service, of course!) is cancelled, it gives us a taste of that hushing of the busy world. When that final hushing comes, only one thing will matter, holding on to the Word. And only one division will be made: those who put their trust in the Word’s promises, and those who put their trust instead in the empty promises of devil, world, and flesh.

Isaiah compares the snowfall to the Word of God which comes down. The snow comes down from heaven to moisten the earth so that when spring comes, the earth may grow; and the Word comes down from heaven to likewise give growth. The Word comes to call us to repentance for our sins, to forgive us those sins, to create in us saving faith, i.e., trust in Jesus as our Redeemer, to bring forth the fruit of good works in us, and finally to keep us steadfast in the faith until our life’s end and bring us to the resurrection of the body and life in God’s kingdom.

And arrayed against this are the things alluded to in the Parable of the Sower: the devil; testing and affliction; and cares and riches and pleasures. The first challenge is the crafts and assaults of the devil. The devil seeks to prevent man’s salvation by “lifting up the Word from the heart,” as a bird snatches seed from the ground. The devil’s main object of attack is always the Word of God, because man is saved by believing the Word, i.e., believing the threats and promises of God. The devil’s aim is to prevent that: “So that not believing, they are not saved.”

The second challenge is in testing, trials. This is likened to the seed that feel on rocky soil. It didn’t have roots, so it died from lack of moisture. Trials test our roots – are we rooted in the promises of God? Our English translation calls this a “time of temptation,” implying the devil’s work of seeking to lead a person into sin. However, it can also mean God’s work of testing to reveal our true quality, and to improve and perfect the believer. Coming through the test, the believer develops a stronger trust in God.

The Lord tests His servants, or allows them to endure afflictions, in order to assess our quality. When we are tested, we find out whether or faith is sincere. It is also a means to spiritual improvement, as the hoped-for outcome is that we would emerge from the trial purified and more convinced than ever to serve our Lord. In a pre-New Testament writing, the believer is urged to give thanks to the Lord for allowing us to be put to test like our fathers. It is a paradox: if He allows us to be tested, it must mean He cares about us. The Hebrew book of Wisdom says that those whom “God has put to the test, he has found worthy of himself” (Wis 3:5). The Jewish wisdom writings say that God takes His sons on difficult paths, so that they learn through experience what is good or bad for their souls (Sir 37:27; 39:4). Hopefully this is the conclusion that life is drawing us all to: we once thought we could find happiness in the joys of this world, but now we recognize that those pleasures are empty (Eccl 2:1).

This is why St. James says, “Always reckon it as joy, brethren, to be exposed to trials of all sorts, knowing that the trial of your faith produces patience” (1.2). Amazingly, James continues, “Happy is the person who endures trial, for after being proved he will receive the crown of life that [God] has promised to those who love him” (Jas 1:12).

A profound example of testing is recorded in today’s Epistle. St. Paul says, “A thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’”

Paul’s example helps answer the question, Why do afflictions come to us? He was given a “thorn,” a messenger of Satan to keep him weak. He longed for it to be taken away, he prayed repeatedly for his affliction to be removed. But Paul was given a direct Word from God that is meant also for us: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” When the Lord allows us to be weakened, then we have nothing left but God’s grace. Emptied of our own strength, we have God’s strength. And that alone is the strength, grace, and power that will make us able to keep the Word with patience and bring forth the pleasing fruit of good works.

The third challenge to keeping the Word and enduring to the end is found in the seed that feel among thorns. Our Lord likens this to being choked by the cares, riches, and pleasures of this life. Cares, riches, and pleasures all pertain to the sinful lusts for the things of this world. It deals especially with the Ninth and Tenth Commandments, the failure to be content, the desire for another man’s house, another person’s spouse, the idea that by a new gadget, a new job, new people around you, then you will find happiness. These things come in and choke out the Word of God, the Word that tells you to be content with what you have, the Word that commands you to love the people God has given you to love. When we are overwhelmed with cares and anxieties, the desire for riches and pleasures, we no longer trust God to do for us what is best; instead, we have determined to seize for ourselves what we want.

So think about how all of this fits in with today’s prayer. We asked our Lord that we would be defended against all adversity. The adversity from which we seek protection is not chiefly the adversity of everyday life, but the kind of adversity that would cause us to not be the good soil, to fail to keep the Word and bear fruit with patience. We need to be defended from the adversity of the devil, who would snatch away the Word from us. We need to be defended from the adversity of testing, which would cause us to lose hope. We pray for this every day in the Lord’s Prayer: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” And we need to be defended from letting our cares and anxieties, the covetous desire for riches, choke out the Word and prevent us from keeping the Word to the end.

So what does it mean to “keep the Word”? To keep the Word and bear fruit with patience is to put one’s trust in God. The essence of patience in the New Testament is waiting, specifically, waiting upon God. “They shall not be ashamed who wait for Me” (Is. 49.23), says the LORD. “Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say on the LORD!” (Ps. 27.14). Don’t look for the world’s adulation. “You will be hated by all for My name’s sake,” says our Lord Jesus. “But he who endures to the end will be saved” (Mt. 10.22).

The ultimate show of patience, of waiting on the LORD and enduring, is Christ Jesus, “who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12.2). He was patient with us and for us, which is what now enables us to begin to be patient likewise in our trials and anxieties and temptations.

So the conclusion of the parable is not a moralistic command to be better about reading the Bible and coming to church, although those are very good things. The conclusion of the parable is to abide in Jesus and never let go of what He has promised you. Remember that all the promises of this world are empty. The pleasures of this life will not really make you happy. The worries that you have are not worth comparing to the joys of the Lord’s kingdom. The trials and testing you endure are not greater than you can bear; the Lord who allows them to come upon you will also provide a way of escape. And the way of escape is this Eucharist, by which all your sins are absolved and everything you need is given to you.

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