Sexagesima Sunday

It is very meet and right that the Sunday after we meditated on the presentation of the Light to the world, who is JESUS the Christ, in the Temple in Jerusalem, that we would meditate upon the Word, the seed of that Light that lightens the path of men back to GOD. — The Scriptures are clear, the lightened path of return to GOD can only be seen through JESUS’ passionate work He has finished, and the Word which He has spoken, made known to us in the Holy Bible.   

Yet, some will say, concerning JESUS’ words (as His disciples did), ‘What do these sayings mean?’ — Christ’s words can be challenging, and we do need to dig for the truth of their mysterious meanings, but JESUS encourages us by saying: “Therefore, take heed how you hear. For whoever has [faith to learn my words], to him more [faith] will be given; and whoever does not have [faith to learn my words], even what he seems to have, will be taken from him” (Luke 8.18). Thus, we are never to turn aside from the pursuit of GOD’s truth in Christ JESUS’ words. — Consider Simeon and Ana, who met the Christ Child in the Temple, forty days after His birth. They knew Him, not because of a mountain-top, tent-revival experience. Rather, because they had spent a lifetime of years in constant attentive study, prayer, and devotion to GOD’s word, not with their eyes or ears, but with their hearts.  

I admit to you, my friends, this is a challenging prescription – to hear and see with one’s heart and not with one’s ears and eyes. It is a directive that requires the constant and attentive perseverance of our faith – faith, that is, realizing things hoped for; having conviction about things not seen. (cf. Heb. 11.1) — As a fifth century theologian of the Church, Maximus of Turin said, “But JESUS appeared not so much for the eyes of human beings as for their salvation through faith. For even though he was first seen by fleshly eyes when he was born of the virgin, still he did not appear for who He was, because their eyes of faith did not as yet recognize his power … and they did not see in His true spiritual Light, [until they believed on Him by faith in their hearts]. (SERMON 101.2.)” ¹  

The curiosity that provokes faith into sight is ours, but the endowment to see and hear by that faith is from GOD. — To receive the holy mysteries of the truth of the Light of Christ, we must read, mark, learn, and experience them with a heart spurned on by a lively, curious, and noble faith. The mind of the heart (as St. Augustine and the eighth-century scholar, Alcuin of York, like to think about it), must be awakened from its long slumber in darkness by the Light of Life. — Think of Simeon at the Presentation of Christ in the Temple: ‘Now my eyes have seen Thy Salvation! — And as you might guess, awakening the mind of the heart involves a process of trust, maturation, and growth. Again, think of Simeon and Ana; years did they spend awaiting, praying for, and reading GOD’s word in earnest, in anticipation of Israel’s consolation.  

The mind of our hearts must be prepared, tilled, fertilized, and watered, so that it will be kept from the hard paths of Satan’s ignorance, the choking, weedy cares of this world, and the shallow, rocky aspect of the lifeless flesh. — The mind of the heart must be flooded with the Light of Christ, and the grace of that Light, will cause a synthesis of transformation – a transformation whereby a new metabolism of truth is empowered in our souls – a metabolism stirred up from death into life – ignorance into enlightenment – fear into joy – guilt into peace. Such a transformation is enhanced or hindered, depending upon the nature our soul’s willingness to respond to the word of GOD with a lively faith or a lackluster one. For this transformational, spiritual metabolism to be enlivened in our souls, the mind of the heart must be open (receptively, longingly, anxiously…), to GOD’s Word of truth and grace, like a holy seed into good soil.  

You might be asking what is at stake in this discussion? Our enlightenment? Orthodoxy over heterodoxy? Spirituality versus non-spirituality? No, I tell you, what is at stake here is the very Kingdom of GOD itself! For if we do not make the soils of our hearts ready, prepared, tilled, fertilized, and watered, then the seed of GOD’s Word will fall off the way onto other paths, and the true Way of Life, who is JESUS Christ, will be missed. And if we miss the true Way where the word of GOD can abide and fruitfully grow, then the Kingdom of GOD – the Kingdom of Heaven – is in jeopardy. — For the Kingdom of GOD is not land with sovereign boundaries or a city with a wall around it, that will one day appear, nor is it a holy building with heavenly architecture, artwork, and tapestries. No, the Kingdom of GOD is GOD’s people, the colony of believers that Christ has planted on earth, that is ever growing, generation by generation. The Kingdom of GOD is the Church, a chosen generation, an holy nation, a peculiar people, having come out of the darkness and into the Light, who show forth GOD’s praises by offering up spiritual sacrifices of thanksgiving, and who are known because of the fruit of their words and the righteous deeds of their saints. (cf. 1 Ptr. 2. 5,9).   

The Kingdom of GOD, JESUS explains, is like a working farm that needs good and faithful husbandmen and women to tend it. These good people see that the Kingdom’s fruit is brought to harvest, each and every season, protecting it from blight, invasion by marauders, and free from overgrowth and neglect. Further, JESUS says, the Kingdom is like a Sower who went out to sow his seed, and as he sowed, some seed fell on the wayside, some on rocky soil, some among the bramble bushes, and some on good soil.   

Note that the Sower (who is Christ) sows the seed (which is the Word of GOD), onto four types of soil, that is, four types of hearts. Now, all the soils received the word from the Sower, such that they inwardly digested it to some degree. But the outcome of the seed’s life in those hearts, those differing types of soil, was very different. — I find it interesting that the Sower did not predetermine what type of soil received His seed, only that His seed went forth into all hearts that would hear His word. The Church is not to be selective about who she shares GOD’s word with. She is to be faithful as the four corners of the wind and spread the Sower’s seed onto every heart, no matter its composition – hard, rocky, weedy, or good.   

Looking closer, we see that the seed first falls, says the Master, onto a hard path – a well-travelled road – a wayside. We note that a wayside is trodden down by many feet – many ideas – many experiences, such that it has become unresponsive to the longing and eager seed pregnant with good news.  “A pathway always is hard and untilled, because it is exposed to everyone’s feet. It does not admit any seed into it; rather, the seed lies upon the surface of the wayside, ready for any birds of prey that will snatch it away. All whose minds are hard and unyielding, and so to speak, compressed together compactly, do not receive the divine seed of GOD, and Satan takes away the hope and opportunity for Light and Life to come in.”² — In the Praetorium, the hard soil of Pontius Pilate’s heart has the Sower’s seed cast directly onto him. The LORD JESUS says, “I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” To this, the Governor of Judea coldly responds without reception, “What is truth?”, and the seed, we clearly see, is snatched away. (John 18.37-38).  

The word of the Eternal Life Giver next falls upon rocky soil. Notice, the seed of the word of the Sower is miraculous, needing only to find residence in the shallowest of soils to begin to grow. Even in a heart intermingled with hardness and inhospitality to it, the seed will still put out roots in an effort to bear light and bring life. The seed’s indiscriminate nature should cause us wonder and awe, for the Sower sows it wide and liberally with the expectation that His word will put forth its roots and bear fruit, even if only for the smallest of returns. — And, when the seed falls onto rocky soil, JESUS says, it is received into a warm cradle, being received gladly, and the joy of the seed’s truth springs forth. Yet, due to the lack of depth of commitment or love for the permeating truths of the seed’s light, the rocky soil resists any shoot of roots to take a deep hold, and for lack of the moisture of faith, the fruit of the seed withers. — Cyril of Alexandria, a Patriarch and Father of the East in the fifth-century, understood the mind of the heart that resembles the rocky soil, describing these souls as men and women whose faith has not been proved. He explains further: “These depend simply on words and do not apply their minds to examine the mystery of the Faith. Their piety is sapless and without root. When they enter the church, they feel a sense of pleasure in seeing so many people assembled. They joyfully receive instruction in the mysteries from him whose business it is to teach and laud him with praise. Yet, when they go out of the church, at once they forget the sacred doctrines and go about their customary course, not having stored up for themselves anything for their future benefit … When persecution troubles them, and the enemies of the truth attack the Church or our Savior, their heart does not love the battle, and their mind throws away the shield, and they flee the field of battle.”³ Without passion for the Faith of JESUS the Christ, even a puff of wind can see the tallest stalk plummet. Such a one “comes forth like a flower and fades away; He flees like a shadow and does not continue” (Job 14.2).   

The attractiveness of hope and transformation of the seed of the word of the Sower is so effectual that, it can also fall onto soil overrun by brambles. It is doubtful that the Sower’s seed would have a springing chance to sprout, enclosed by the thorns of a bramble bush, but nothing is impossible with GOD. And like on the rocky soil, the seed of the word of the Sower sprouts up, but the thorn of the bramble bush springs up along with the seed, and the thorns being more pervasive and widespread, choke the seed and it yields no crop. The soul whose heart’s soil is overrun with thorns and thistles of the bramble is choked with cares and concerns for the riches and pleasures of this life and the kingdom of this world. So concerned is he, that he annuls any of the seed’s fruitful capacity, and resists it from coming to maturity. — Thus, the divine light of truth of the Sower’s seed is choked out.    

The Sower, being benevolent and liberal in the dispersion of His seed, it not only falls on hard ground, stony ground, and thorn-infested ground, but His word also, JESUS says, falls onto good, receptive, and noble soil. This soil, like some of the others, is anxious to receive the word and allow it to spring forth. Yet, as we have seen in the others, reception of the seed, and to have “the fruit of it to be brought forth is not enough – it must be brought to perfection; it must be fully ripened.”⁴ — It is not enough, even when sown in a good heart, for if the seed be not fully ripened, it will bear no fruit. All of the soils that JESUS mentions could resemble the good soil initially. They received the seed, and it sprang forth, but due to ungratefulness, disinterest, and misguided passions, those soils never embraced the truth of the seed, allowing it, through perseverance of faith, to fully come to fruition and bear fruit. But the noble heart, the persevering heart, the good soul’s soil is carefully tended to, protected, turned, cleared, fertilized, and watered. This soul, after hearing the word of GOD, he is sure to keep the hardness of Satan’s counterfeits from trampling his hope – he is prudential and persistent to clear the rocks of flippancy from crowding out his godly virtue – and he invests not in the calling of any unholy appetites for the riches and cares of the world that choke out the remembrance that he has been redeemed and called into the Kingdom of GOD’s marvelous Light to a life of fruit-bearing holiness,    

 “The good soil, [of which we are all called to be], which brings forth good fruit, is an honest and good heart, well-disposed to receive instruction and commandment; a heart free from sinful pollutions and firmly fixed for praise to GOD and duty to man. The good soil is an upright heart, a tender heart, and a heart that trembles at the word … which, having heard the word, understands it, receives it, and keeps it.”⁵ And in keeping it unto perfection, JESUS says, this soul yields a crop for the Kingdom, a hundredfold times more than what was planted in it.   

Today, the good tidings of the Kingdom have come to St. Mark’s. The truth of GOD in Christ is being sown in the hearts of men, women, and children by his word – like seed in soil. And the Sower desires us to bear fruit unto perfection. Fruit that shows us a chosen generation, a peculiar people, and an holy nation. — If we will hear the word of GOD sown in our hearts today, and if we desire to bring forth mature, godly, and virtuous fruit, then we must not hear with our ears, nor see with our eyes, but listen to JESUS with good and noble hearts – good and well-tended soils. The prescription of that vision has now been given to us all in the parable of the Sower and the seed.  

Let us then, brothers and sisters, “give all diligence to add to our faith virtue; to virtue knowledge; to knowledge self-control; to self-control perseverance; to perseverance godliness; to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and they abound [unto perfection, without Satan, or rocks, or thistles keeping the seed to take deep root in your heart by faith], you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge, [admonition, and virtue] of our Lord JESUS Christ” (2 Peter 1.5-8). For he who has a bit of the knowledge of the Light that brings salvation unto the world, with a good and noble heart, more of that Light will be given unto him, that he might shine forth as a lamp of the Kingdom of GOD that lights up and salts historic Waxahachie, with the truth of the historic Christian Faith. Amen.  

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1 Ancient Christian Commentary of Scripture: Old Testament X – Acts 1-39, ed. McKinion, Steven A., Oden, Thomas C. (Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 2004), 56.   

2 Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: NT III – Luke, ed. Just Jr. Arthur J., Oden, Thomas C., (Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 2003) 133.   

3 ACCS – Luke, 134.  

4-5 Henry, Matthew. BlueLetterBible.org. Accessed 6 February 2026. https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/mhc/Luk/Luk_008.cfm?a=981015