The Patience of the Sower: Circuit Pastors

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Our text for today is our Gospel from Matthew 13, which was just read.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

One of my favorite sports movies is Hoosiers. Gene Hackman plays a veteran basketball coach who takes over a small-town Indiana high school team in the 1950s. From the start, everyone in town thinks he’s doing everything wrong. During the first practices, he won’t even let the boys touch a basketball. In early-season games, he requires them to make four passes before taking a shot—even when a good shot seems open. They lose games they should have won. The impatient townspeople question his judgment. Some even want him fired.

But the coach knows something they don’t. He’s not trying merely to win the next game. He’s shaping the team into champions. His players and their fans cannot yet see what he sees. Eventually, everything comes together, and the tiny school wins the state championship.

Sometimes we look at God the same way. We see evil flourishing. We see wicked people prospering. We see false teaching confusing Christians. We see injustice, violence, abuse, and corruption. We look at the world and wonder, “Lord, why don’t You do something? Why don’t You remove the wicked? Why don’t You clean up the field right now?”

Pastors know this impatience, too. You preach, catechize, comfort, admonish, visit, bury, baptize, and still see the same sins, conflicts, temptations, and apathy. Faithful congregations shrink while churches built on entertainment and self-help seem to prosper. We want visible fruit from faithful ministry, yet Christ reminds us that the field, the harvest, and the timing all belong to Him.

Those questions are not new. Those struggles are not unique to pastors, though pastors may feel them sharply. They are the questions of every Christian who has watched evil flourish and wondered why the Lord waits. And they are exactly the questions and struggles Jesus addresses in today’s Gospel.

Jesus tells us about a farmer who sowed good seed in his field. During the night, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat. When the servants noticed the weeds, they immediately asked, “Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?”

The master answered, “An enemy has done this.”

So far, everything makes sense. But then comes the surprising part.

The servants ask, “Then do you want us to go and gather them?”

If we were listening for the first time, we would expect the master to say, “Yes! Get rid of them immediately.” Instead, he says, “No.” “No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest.” That answer seems strange to us. We want immediate justice. We want immediate judgment. We want God to solve every problem right now.

But the Lord sees farther than we do. We see only what we can see, and only over a very short horizon. God sees the invisible and the future, on into eternity—which means God’s ways will often be different, and always wiser, than ours. Which also means we may become impatient with God and jump to conclusions that He knows would be foolish. Like the veteran coach, God knows what is best for our future and everyone’s future. And that is what He will do.

When the disciples ask Jesus to explain the parable, He identifies every part of the story. The Sower is the Son of Man, Jesus Himself. The good seed is the sons of the Kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one. The enemy is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age. The reapers are the angels.

Then Jesus tells us something that changes how we understand the whole parable. The field is the world. This world has become a battlefield. God created it good. But the devil has been busy sowing rebellion, deception, hatred, and unbelief. Ever since Adam's fall, the weeds have multiplied. Everywhere we look, we see evidence of sin. Families are broken. Nations wage war. Children suffer. Lies are celebrated. The truth is despised. Sometimes it appears as though the weeds are winning.

This is a problem even within the outward fellowship of the Church. You, I, and other pastors labor where wheat and weeds often appear side by side. We preach to believers and hypocrites, to the mature and the immature, to the joyful and the hardened. We cannot finally distinguish one from the other. Not having the divine ability to read hearts, we preach the same Law and Gospel to all, trusting the Holy Spirit to accomplish His work. But it’s hard to see much progress.

So why doesn’t Jesus return now and take His people home? Why doesn’t the Lord come back for the Day of Judgment now? Why doesn’t God simply destroy them? Because He is still gathering His harvest. The patience of God is not weakness. The patience of God is mercy. St. Peter writes, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise… but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” That means every day this world continues is another day of grace.

Think about your own life. There was a time when you did not know Christ. There was a time when you were dead in trespasses and sins. There was a time when you, too, belonged to the kingdom of darkness.

If Christ had returned before the Gospel reached you—before you were baptized, before someone spoke His Word to you, before He brought you to faith—where would you be? God delayed the harvest so that you might be gathered into His barn. And He is still delaying because there are others whom He intends to bring into His kingdom. His patience is not weakness; His patience is mercy.

Before we think about “those people” out there, Jesus turns our attention inward. It is easy to condemn the weeds in society while ignoring the weeds in our own hearts: greed, anger, pride, gossip, and the old Adam’s daily fruit. So we gather not first to complain about the world, but to repent, to be exposed by God’s Law, and to hear His Gospel.

The Sower has not abandoned us. The Son of God entered this very field. He came into a world overrun with weeds. He endured rejection, hatred, betrayal, false accusations, and violence. Though perfectly righteous, He allowed Himself to be treated as though He were the most noxious weed. On the cross He bore the judgment that our sins deserved. The fire of God’s wrath fell upon Him so that it would never fall upon those who belong to Him. His resurrection declares that His sacrifice has been accepted.

Now the Sower continues His work. He does not merely wait for the harvest.

The Sower continues His work through His Means of Grace. Through preaching, He plants faith where there was unbelief. In Holy Baptism, He clothes sinners with His righteousness. Through Holy Absolution, He forgives sins. In His Holy Supper, He feeds us with His Body and Blood and strengthens the faith He planted. Every Divine Service is another act of the patient Sower caring for His field.

There is freedom here for pastors. God has not called us to be successful by the world’s standards but faithful by His. We cannot convert sinners, preserve believers by our own wisdom, force repentance, or manufacture faith. Those belong to the Holy Spirit alone. Our stewardship is simple and profound: preach the Word, administer the Sacraments, forgive the penitent, rebuke the impenitent, and leave the harvest to Christ.

Notice what Jesus does not tell His Church and the pastor to do. He does not tell us to become harvesters. He does not tell us to pronounce eternal judgment on people. He does not tell us to uproot everyone whose faith seems insufficient. Instead, He calls us to be patient, to keep sowing His Word. This does not mean ignoring false doctrine or refusing to practice church discipline. Scripture commands both. Love calls sinners to repentance. Love protects the flock from false teaching. But there is a profound difference between calling someone to repentance and assuming the role that belongs only to Christ. Only the Lord knows every heart. Only He knows what His Gospel may yet accomplish. Only He knows when the harvest is ready.

Our task is not to do the sorting. Our task is to sow faithfully, speak truth lovingly, forgive generously, and trust patiently. That is often difficult. We grow weary. We become discouraged. We wonder whether anything is changing.

Some of you have served congregations for many years with little outward growth. Most of us have probably buried more members than we have baptized. At times, you may wonder whether your labor has accomplished anything at all. This parable answers those doubts. Christ has never promised that His field would appear impressive. He promised that His Word would accomplish His purpose.

St. Paul reminds us, “Neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:7). “This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God” (1 Corinthians 4:1). The steward is judged by faithfulness, not by visible success.

The Lord has never lost control of His field. The day of the Harvest will come, because Jesus has promised it. The angels will go out. The weeds will be gathered. Every injustice will end. Every falsehood will be silenced. Every tear will be wiped away. Every enemy of Christ will be judged. And then, Jesus says, “The righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”

Notice where our eyes finally rest. Not on the weeds. Not on the fire. But on the Father’s kingdom. On the glory Christ has prepared for His people.

Until that day comes, we wait. Not with despair. Not with frustration. But patiently, with confidence. The Sower who planted you by His Word has not forgotten you. The Shepherd who laid down His life for His sheep has already claimed you in Holy Baptism. He continues to feed you with His own Body and Blood. He daily forgives your sins. He preserves you by His Holy Spirit. And when the harvest finally comes, not one believer will be overlooked. He will gather you safely into His everlasting barn, where sin, death, weeds, and sorrow shall never trouble you again.

Brothers, some of you will return to congregations that seem small, aging, divided, or weary, carrying burdens your people never fully see. Go back with confidence. The field is Christ’s. The seed is His Word. The harvest is His promise. Continue preaching, baptizing, absolving, and feeding Christ’s people with His Body and Blood. The harvest will come as He promised, and on that Day not one believer and not one faithful labor done in His name will be forgotten.

So when evil seems to flourish, do not lose heart. Trust the wisdom of your Lord. His patience is not purposeless delay. His patience is saving mercy. And He who began His good work in you will surely bring it to completion on the Day of Christ Jesus.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.