Sexagesima 2022
Isaiah 55:10-13
February 20, 2022
Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID
This last week there was a story that got all over the news, even many of the secular news outlets. A Roman Catholic priest serving in the Diocese of Phoenix had performed baptisms over the last 20 years saying, “We baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” rather than “I baptize you…” This has caused a lot of consternation in the area, and doubts concerning the validity of the baptism, or if it was really a baptism at all, when the change of the word “I” to “We.” Without getting into the nuances of Roman Catholic thought on the issue, it does raise a question for us as well. What do we with something like this, not just for baptisms, but with the Word of God in general?
Before some of you scoff that it really isn’t that big of a difference or that big of deal, it actually is a big deal. The one who is placed into the Office of the Ministry is not there to change things, to try to make it more communal or acceptable to modern ears or to put a new spin on things, but to speak in the stead and by the command of the Lord Jesus Christ. Words actually mean things. We want to avoid falling into the trap that words don’t really matter, especially in times of confusion. Clarity and precision in the words we use and how we use them are extremely important. That’s not to mention that we aren’t allowed to monkey with the words of the Word, nor free to redefine what things mean. This is God’s Word, not ours, and He has placed His word into our ears, into our hearts, into our mouths to proclaim the truth, and His Word is truth. “The power of the word and its content are inseparable. It is because what God says is the truth that the word will perform exactly what God intends” (Oswalt, Isaiah, 446, fn 61).
At the same time, we have to be careful not to treat the Word of God like a magical formula, either, where if we just say the right things at the right time in the right way that something automatically happens by your own power or simply by going through the motions. There’s an old Latin phrase that describes this misuse of God’s word, ex opere operato, which means, “from working the work”, by doing the act itself, apart from the necessity of faith. Again, this brings up all kinds of questions, but most importantly how do we view God’s Word, the speaking and praying and proclaiming of that Word? This is part of the confusion that entails with some many Roman Catholics and many others, honestly, because one word was different, does the formula fail, is the Word and the Sacrament valid?
In our Old Testament reading for today, from Isaiah 55, we have an answer: “For as the rain and the snow comes down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes out from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11).
Isaiah compares God’s word to the rain and the snow, and the effectiveness of the two. Now, we live in a desert and there’s a lot of farming that goes on around here, so we know well the importance of rain. If the rain doesn’t come, not only is the crop lost, but also the seed for the following year’s crop. It is not the rain that is the source of life, but the word of God, the word that separated the waters above and below, and the word that blesses God’s creation by making the rain fall on the good and evil alike.
And so too God sends His Word into the world, as a recklessly generous sower of the seed of faith. That is what our parable in the Gospel reading is all about. The Word of God goes out to everyone sown through the proclamation of the Gospel. No one is left out of the proclamation that in Christ, God saves sinners. It doesn’t matter whether their hearts are hardened against God, not capable of supporting roots, or whether they are full of weeds or thorns that would choke the seed. The seed of the Word is good, it is effective, and it does only what good seed is capable of doing – brings life where previously there was none.
This whole passage resonates in relation to the beginning of St. John’s Gospel account. The word became flesh and dwelt among us because the Word was God Himself. Through Him all things were made that were made. Here is the full and perfect revelation of the purposes of God, whose Word takes upon human flesh to achieve the purposes of God – to plant and water the seeds of faith, to cause faith to grow, to cause you to be raised imperishable. And to make things even better, Christ does not return empty handed to the Father. The Word that goes out from the mouth of the Lord accomplished that for which it was sent – the forgiveness of your sins, and where there is forgiveness there is life and salvation.
Isaiah is making a case as well for why we ought to turn to God and abandon our self-reliance – the absolute dependability and effectiveness of God’s Word to do what God has sent it to do. Whether or not we understand the ways of the Lord, we can trust that His Word is true and will do what it says. You don’t have to change it so it makes more sense, so it doesn’t offend, or out of fear of being cancelled. If fact, you are not at liberty to do that, for it is God’s Word not yours. God’s Word works what it says and what God intends despite coming out of the mouths of sinful men. God doesn’t need you to fix it, to change it, to make it more agreeable to modern ears. Believe it, believe Him who is the Word. Those who turn from their sinfulness can again and again experience the full pardon and blessing of God. Where the Word is, there is Christ. Where Christ is, there is His Word. The word written, the Word enfleshed, the word proclaimed once more.
Over the questions over this last month that I have heard throughout doing the house blessings is, “did it work?” We go around from room to room reading Scripture and praying, ending with the blessing itself. Did it work? Yes! If God blesses something, it is blessed. If God sanctifies, it is sanctified. If God cleanses, it is cleansed. Is this a magic formula, no? For the Word both requires faith to believe and delivers the faith necessary to believe. Does the word take root and faith grow and blossom? Yes, it does. But when it doesn’t it isn’t the fault of the Word, the seed of faith.
Jesus’ parable drives home this harsh reality. Not all who hear are converted to saving faith. There are hardened sinners who refuse to believe the Word. The devil, the world, and our sinful nature trick people into believing lies; they never rest from their attacks on you. Temptations are real. Your sins are serious. There are real thistles and thorns in your life seeking to choke your faith. Faith can be lost by despising of the Word, the blessing of God – faith, holiness, righteousness, justification – all can rejected and discarded.
Blessed are you, “blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear” (Matthew 13:16). For the Word of God does what it is sent to do, and it has been sent to you. And what it is sent to do is deliver Christ, the word of God in the flesh. The Word incarnate accomplishes what He was sent to do. He goes to the cross to take your sin, and the sin of the world, upon Himself. He returns to His Father at the Ascension with the success of the atonement and defeating death itself. And now He rains down His righteousness upon you. “Let the Word of God dwell in your richly” (Col 3:16a).