Angaston retreat – the New Testament and mission

Greg Lockwood, 1 October 2007

The Word of the Lord grows

Mark 4:26-29

And he was saying: ‘The kingdom of God is like a man [who] cast the seed on the soil, and he keeps going to bed and getting up night and day, and the seed keeps sprouting and growing long in a way he himself doesn’t understand. By itself the soil keeps bearing fruit, first a stalk, then a head, then fully developed grain in the head. And when the state of the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle because harvest time has come’.

The setting in our time and culture

This parable calls to mind the Lord’s assurance in Psalm 126:

Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.

He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow,

Will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him (Ps 126:5,6).

Lutherans and other faithful Christians are in sore need of such encouragement at this time. Lutherans are not alone in our concerns about declining numbers and church attendance, the aging of many congregations, rural depopulation and now the threat to whole rural communities because of the drought, the difficulties in recruiting students for the pastoral and educational ministry, and the antagonism of our secular culture. Sometimes, in the face of the adversities it seems God is subjecting his churches in Australia to severe judgments. We feel like crying out with the prophet Amos: ‘Lord, forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small’. And again: ‘Lord, I beg you, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is so small’ (Amos 7:2,5). Then we hear demoralising voices who claim the fault for our smallness must be laid at the doorstep of our Lutheran theology, or our traditional worship, or our lack of mission vision. We know these analyses are simplistic; indeed, we are certain the fault does not lie with Lutheran theology, Lutheran worship or Lutheran missiology in themselves, though we confess we are often ‘sluggish, thoughtless, cold’ in our practice. We know there is a multitude of reasons for the great apostasy from the Christian faith in Australia today. The devil has a thousand ways of drawing Christians away from faith and worship, as Luther writes in the Preface to the Large Catechism: ‘The devil is called a master of a thousand arts’.

So we sow in tears. We sow the good seed of the word in tears while the wily devil uses every art at his disposal to sow his seductive weeds. But what’s new? In The Book of Revelation Christ tells St John: ‘I will give my power to my …witnesses, and they will prophesy…, clothed in sackcloth’ (Rev 11:3). We too give our witness ‘clothed in sackcloth’, in humble repentance for our sluggishness and carelessness and sin. And we pray with the psalmist: ‘Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like streams in the Negev’. And with the same psalmist we pray in confident hope: ‘Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy’ (Ps 126:4-6).

We can go forward as confident ambassadors for Christ. Luther may have said that the devil is a master of a thousand arts. If we focus too much on that we can become depressed and demoralised. But how does Luther go on in the very next sentence: ‘What then can we call God’s Word that routs and destroys such a master of a thousand arts along with all his cunning and power? Indeed, [the Word] must be master of more than a hundred thousand arts’. A little later in the Large Catechism, in his explanation of the third commandment, Luther elaborates on the artistry of the divine Word:

When we seriously ponder the Word, hear it, and put it to use, such is its power that it never departs without fruit. It always awakens new understanding, pleasure, and devotion, and it constantly creates clean hearts and minds. For this Word is not idle or dead, but effective and living. Even if no other benefit or need drove us to the Word, yet everyone should be motivated by the realization that through the Word the devil is cast out and put to flight, this commandment is fulfilled, and God is more pleased than by any hypocrisy, however brilliant. (LC I 3 101-2).

And don’t we all know that?! Even though we experience disappointment and discouragement, even though we seem to be living in ‘the day of small things’ (Zech 4:10), God in his grace gives us glimpses of how fruitful his word can be: as good sermons awaken ‘new understanding, pleasure and devotion’; as holy absolution and Holy Communion bring forgiveness and peaceful hearts; as KYB groups and other Bible study groups find delight in ‘Bible mining’; as all of us find spiritual joy and nourishment in our private and family devotions; as ALC students become keener and keener students of theology; as teachers and children in Lutheran schools find joy in the word; as pastors apply pastoral care in the home and at the hospital bedside, and see sick and dying people eagerly lapping up the word of the gospel and the Holy Supper, and their lives coming to a blessed end.

The parable’s setting in the New Testament

This short parable on the miraculous growth of the seed must be understood in the wider context of Jesus’ promises to keep building and growing his church and making it more and more fruitful until the end of time (Matt 16:18). So we must distinguish between faith and sight. While we see the difficulties that beset the church and hinder its growth, and these often loom large before us, we believe that Christ is going about his work and accomplishing his purposes.

The parable of the seed that grows mysteriously belongs to a group of parables about the kingdom of God, illustrated by Jesus’ observations of everyday experience of the germination and growth of seeds. Before we focus on these parables, let’s take a broader look at what the NT says about God’s mission from this one perspective, the amazing growth of the divine word.

Paul begins his letter to the Colossians with thanks to God for their faith in Christ Jesus, their love for all the saints, and their hope of heaven. All this is the fruit of ‘the word of truth, the gospel’. Paul goes on: ‘All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth’ (Col 1:3-6). The word of truth, the gospel, bears fruit and grows. As the seed of the gospel strikes root and bears fruit among us, we grow and become fruitful. Paul prays that the Colossians will continue to bear fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God (Col 1:10).

So God fulfils his mission among us and the church grows as we hear and believe the word of the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. For the gospel is nothing else but the gospel of the Son of God (Romans 1:1-3). As Paul writes in various places, we grow in Christian maturity and the church, the body of Christ, grows insofar as – and only insofar as – we cling to Christ and hold on to him and grow up into him. Paul warns the Colossians against legalists and people puffed up by their purported visions, people who have ‘lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow’ (Col 2:19; see Eph 4:16). By speaking the truth in love, by speaking the truth of the gospel in love, ‘we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is Christ’ (Eph 4:15). As we stay in connection with Christ through the humble reception of his word and sacraments, God promotes his church’s health, growth, maturity and unity.

The Book of Acts charts the amazing spread of the gospel during the thirty years after Pentecost. At various stages of the story St Luke gives us little summaries. These summaries alternate between two themes: ‘The word of the Lord grew’ (Acts 6:7; 12:24; 19:20) and ‘the church was strengthened and built up’ (Acts 9:31; 16:5). Acts ends with another summary statement about the word growing as Paul preaches the gospel in Rome: ‘He stayed there two whole years in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things about the Lord Jesus Christ boldly and unhindered’ (Acts 28:30,31).

As the word grows, the church grows. And only as the word of the Lord grows and is treasured and used among us, does the church experience real growth and bear quality fruit rather than bad grapes (Isa 5:1-7) or a mass of weeds. Jesus underlines this in a beautiful illustration in John’s gospel, where he calls himself the true vine. As branches in the vine, we can accomplish nothing apart from him, apart from the rootstock that supports and nourishes us. But if we abide in him by word and prayer, and his word abides in us, he promises that we will bear much fruit (John 15:1-8).

The parable’s setting in Mark 4

Now we come back to that little gem of a parable unique to Mark’s Gospel, the parable of the seed growing secretly (Mark 4:26-29). It follows the greatest and best known of the seed parables, the parable of the sower (Mark 4:1-20). The parable of the sower takes first place among the parables recorded in all three of the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke. Before the three-year lectionary was introduced, we used to hear that parable read in our churches every year. I believe it’s a pity we only hear it now once every three years, for that parable explains powerfully how it always goes with the word of God as it is sown in various kinds of human hearts – the stony heart, the superficial heart, the distracted heart, and the honest and good heart.

After the parable of the sower, Mark records a statement about Jesus himself, the light of the world, a light that must be made manifest and not hidden under a bowl or a bed (Mark 4:21-23). By sowing the word, the glory of Jesus is revealed.

Then there follow the two short seed parables, the parable of the seed growing secretly and the parable of the mustard seed. Each of the parables in the seed trilogy has its own emphasis: the parable of the sower emphasises the different kinds of soils and the bountiful crop borne by the good soil; the parable of the seed growing secretly emphasises the enormous power of the seed (cf Acts 19:20…quote); the parable of the mustard seed contrasts the seed’s insignificant beginnings with its mighty endings.

Each parable explains an aspect of the kingdom of God. Jesus’ words in the middle of the parable of the sower apply to the whole trilogy, indeed to all the parables: ‘To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is said in parables’ (Mark 4:11). Behind Jesus’ words about ‘the mystery of the kingdom of God’ lie the words of Daniel: ‘There is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries’ (Dan 2:28). Daniel says this in response to Nebuchadnezzar’s demand for an interpretation of his vision, the vision of a rock, cut out by no human hand which smashes an impressive statue representing human kingdoms. This divinely-cut rock grows into a huge mountain that fills the whole earth. It represents the kingdom set up by the God of heaven, ‘a kingdom that will never be destroyed’ (Dan 2:44). Despite all the failure and weakness we see – despite unresponsive soils, despite insignificant beginnings – God is at work; God is working out his mighty purposes in establishing the eternal kingdom of his Son, and he will not be thwarted.

Mark 4 ends with the story of Jesus’ calming the storm with his word: ‘Quiet! Be still!’. The disciples respond: ‘Who is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!’ (Mark 4:41). So Jesus demonstrates the power inherent in the word of the great sower of the seed, the word that is at work establishing God’s unshakable kingdom.

Mark 4:26-29

After this long preamble we come now to the second seed parable in Mark 4, the seed growing secretly. Jesus gives us this parable, as many commentators observe, for the sake of our morale. Francis Moloney comments: ‘There is no cause for discouragement, despite apparent failure and insignificance. God will have the last word’. Martin Scharlemann suggests to pastors preparing to preach on this sermon: ‘The malady to which we might … address ourselves in the homiletical treatment of this parable could well be the tendency to become disappointed with life in the church’. Jesus is encouraging us, the way St Paul encourages the Corinthians: ‘Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.’ (1 Cor 15:58).

Title

Commentators have suggested various titles for the parable. The KJV gives these headings for the whole of Mark 4 in tiny print:

1 The parable of the sower, 14 and the meaning thereof. 21 We must communicate the light of our knowledge to others. 26 The parable of the seed growing secretly, 30 and of the mustard seed. 35 Christ stilleth the tempest on the sea.

The KJV’s title has been influential, and I believe it is appropriate. No title can capture every facet of the parable. The United Bible Society’s edition of the Greek New Testament gives the title, ‘The Parable of the Growing Seed’. Archbishop Trench in his Notes on the Parables (1841) called it ‘The Seed Growing Spontaneously’, which nicely captures the word automate (‘of itself’) in verse 28. Joachim Jeremias thinks it would be more accurately titled ‘the parable of the patient husbandman’. This has its merits, too, as the parable certainly calls for patience. But it may be better to stick with the traditional emphasis on the power and the mysterious, spontaneous growth of the seed.

Over the centuries the parable has been interpreted in various ways. In the nineteenth century it was generally understood to mean that this world would gradually become a better and better place. One commentator lists three interpretations of the parable and claims they exclude one another. He points out that some take the kingdom of God to be like the seed; others take it to be like the whole process of growth; still others like the harvest. But these three views are not incompatible with each other. They can all be brought together, as the parable brings them together, under one title ‘The seed that spontaneously grows towards the harvest’.

Verse 26 – the broadcasting

This verse compares God’s kingdom to a man broadcasting seed on the soil. Luke tells us ‘the seed (Greek sporos, from which we derive the word spore) is the Word of God’ (8:11). Martin Franzmann comments:

The word of the Lord is a power and is active; it ‘prevails mightily’, as Luke puts it in …Acts 19:20. Paul speaks of the Gospel as ‘bearing fruit and growing’ (Col 1:6), and Peter speaks of the ‘living and abiding word of God’ as an ‘imperishable seed’ (1 Peter 1:23). This ‘living and active’ word (Heb. 4:12) is therefore a force in history; it ‘speeds on’ [literally, ‘it runs’] in the world and ‘triumphs’ [literally, ‘it is glorified’] there (2 Thess 3:1), in time and place and among [people]. – The Word of the Lord Grows, 1.

Verse 27 – the growth

Verse 27 brings a striking change in the tenses of the Greek verbs. The man’s action of sowing the seed is described by the Greek aorist tense, the simple past tense which often describes a single ‘once off’ action in the past and (at the risk of over-simplifying) may be illustrated as a single dot. But in verse 27 the verbs all become present tense which may be illustrated as a line or as a line of dots. It is used to describe continuous ongoing action: day after day the man keeps going to bed and sleeping and waking and getting up, and the seed keeps sprouting and growing (literally, getting longer or taller). A once-off action in the past introduces an ongoing rhythm in nature, the day by day rhythms of human sleeping and waking and the natural growth of the seed which goes on whether he’s there to observe it or whether he’s fast asleep. The single act of sowing sets in motion these powerful processes, mysterious processes he cannot understand.

We see St Paul making the same point with the same dramatic change of tense in 1 Corinthians 3:6: ‘I planted, Apollos watered [‘planted’ and ‘watered’ are both simple past tenses], but God kept making it grow’ [imperfect tense, representing God’s continuous action]. And, to make sure we don’t get puffed up on behalf of any human planter or waterer, Paul draws the conclusion: ‘So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but [only] God who keeps making things grow’ (1 Cor 3:7).

In our parable, Jesus uses an interesting word order. Whereas we tend to think of a new day beginning at sunrise (or, technically, from midnight), Jesus says the man keeps sleeping and rising night and day. This may reflect the refrain in Genesis 1: ‘There was evening and there was morning, the first day’, etc. To the present day the Jewish people see the new day as beginning in the evening with the sunset. There is wisdom in this, as some have pointed out: by going to bed and taking our rest we are recharging our batteries for the new day, so our sleeping time is really when our new day takes its beginning and derives its energy.

More importantly, by speaking first of the man’s sleeping Jesus draws attention to the man’s passivity. While the man who sowed the seed spends a good part of every 24 hours in bed doing nothing, ‘the heavenly Sower’ who ‘never sleeps or slumbers’ (Ps 121:4) goes about his work. As Jesus says elsewhere, ‘My Father is working still, and I also am working’ (John 5:17).

Verse 28 – ‘all by itself’

The first word in the Greek text of verse 28 is automate, from which we derive the word ‘automatic’. NIV picks this up nicely by beginning its translation of the verse, ‘All by itself – All by itself the soil produces grain’. The word ‘automate’ is found only one other time in the New Testament, and that is in Acts 12, that wonderful story of the apostle Peter’s escape from a prison in Jerusalem where he’d been guarded by sixteen soldiers. In the middle of the night he’s fast asleep with two chains chaining him to two of these soldiers. Suddenly an angel of the Lord wakes him up and escorts him out of the prison. Peter has no idea what’s going on; he thinks he’s seeing a vision. When they come to the iron gate leading from the prison to the city, the gate opens for them ‘automatically’ – all by itself (Acts 12:10). Behind that word ‘automatically’ we see a testimony to the almighty power of God who directs all things for his gracious purposes and never slumbers or sleeps.

While the seed grows spontaneously, ‘this does not mean that the sower abandons his work, nor that he is uninterested in what takes place’ (William Lane). Coming back into the parish ministry at Bendigo after years of teaching, I was impressed by the lively interest my fellow pastors took in how things were going with individuals and families in parishes where they used to serve. They were true pastors, genuinely interested in God’s people (like St Timothy - Phil 2:20). In one of his hymns, Martin Franzmann writes: ‘The sower sows; his heart cries out, ‘O what of that, and what of that?’ Jesus is not advocating a lack of interest in the welfare of the seed. He means that ‘the seed must be allowed its appointed course’ (Lane).

While the parable does not call for a lack of interest in the seed’s progress, on the other hand it certainly speaks against an excessive and over-anxious surveillance of the seed. The nineteenth century Anglican scholar, Henry Alford, has some sharp words on this subject:

No trouble of ours can accelerate the growth, or shorten the stages through which each seed must pass. It is the mistake of modern Methodism, for instance, to be always working at the seed, taking it up to see whether it is growing, instead of leaving it to God’s own good time, and meanwhile diligently doing God’s work elsewhere. Wesley, to favour his system, strangely explains ‘he sleeps and wakes night and day’ exactly contrary to the meaning of the parable – “that is, has it continually in his thoughts.” (italics Alford’s)

Sharp words, indeed. They remind me of Charles Wesley’s diaries, which record how Charles was constantly taking his own spiritual temperature: ‘Today I was warm in the Spirit, yesterday I was cold and lifeless’, etc. Like its spiritual child, Pentecostalism, there’s a tendency to be always looking for signs of great spiritual excitement and exuberance. National Church Life surveys are constantly checking on our statistics, our levels of growth, liveliness and excitement.

But Jesus calls for a quiet and faithful sowing of the word and quiet believing reception of the word, the word which is so powerful it does its work ‘automatically’. Martin Luther picks up this expression ‘automatically’, ‘by itself’, in the Small Catechism. In his explanation of the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer, ‘Your kingdom come’, he writes: ‘The kingdom of God certainly comes by itself [von sich selbst] without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may come to us also’. No doubt Luther, with his marvellous grasp of scripture, had in mind Jesus’ parable of the seed growingly secretly.

A number of commentators on the parable contrast Jesus’ teaching on the kingdom coming all by itself with the ideas common among his contemporaries that human efforts and activism would bring on the kingdom. Whereas Jesus taught that the kingdom was already present in his person and his teaching,

the Jews spoke of taking on the yoke of the ‘malkuth’ (kingdom). This was done by saying the ‘shemah’ (the creed in Deuteronomy 6:4, ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one’) daily. They took on the yoke by submitting themselves to the Law….By keeping every jot and tittle of the Law they sought to compel the coming of the kingdom. They sought to do so ‘by a system of conduct refined and methodically regulated to the last detail, a regime which as such was a work of one’s own decision, will, doing and capability’ (citing Otto, Son of Man). The Zealots even went so far as to believe that open revolt [against the Roman occupation] would force the hand of God (Martin Scharlemann, Proclaiming the Parables, 52,53).

In response to all zealots of ancient and modern times, Jesus taught that the kingdom is ‘self-developing…[It] is not brought in by the efforts of men’. (Scharlemann, 53). As Luther taught, the kingdom does not advance ‘by our own powers, merits or works’, but simply by the proclamation of the all-powerful Word.

Jesus tells us in our parable that all by itself the soil keeps bearing fruit. We still have the parable of the sower ringing in our ears, where Jesus says the good soil bears fruit thirty-fold, sixty-fold and one hundred-fold. Whenever the good seed of the word is sown in receptive hearts, there will be more abundant fruit than we could ever ask or think (Eph 3:20) – faith, love, joy, peace…(Gal 5:22).

Jesus speaks of a gradual process of growth in three stages: first a stalk (literally, ‘first grass’, referring to stalks of grain in their early, grass-like stages, like our wheat paddocks now, or the American cornfields in early July – ‘knee high on the fourth of July’); then a head (or an ear); then fully developed grain in the head. Waiting for these stages to take their course requires patience. You’ll remember Jeremias’ title for this parable, ‘the parable of the patient husbandman’ (‘the patient farmer’). James urges us to be patient like good farmers:

Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near (James 5:7,8).

In the divine husbandry of the heavenly kingdom, we need an extra measure of patience. We never know when the word planted years ago in someone’s childhood or planted yesterday or today is going to take fruit. It may take years and years. It may be only in the person’s old age that it comes to fruition. We may never see it ourselves. But we can be confident that the powerful word planted in an honest and good heart keeps doing its work and growing there, progressing from stage to stage until it finally ripens and is ready for harvest.

Verse 29 – the harvest

At last, when the condition of the crop permits, when the grain is ripe and the moisture level isn’t too high, the farmer immediately swings his sickle. Harvest time has come. Harvest time is the Bible’s picture for the final judgment, the final assessment of the crop. Jesus is using the words of the prophet Joel, where the Lord says:

I will sit to judge all the nations on every side.

Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.

Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full and the vats overflow –

So great is their wickedness! (Joel 3:12,13)

In our parable, Jesus focuses above all on the wheat harvest, the gathering in of God’s faithful people on the last day. The parable is full of encouragement that God’s mission through the sowing of the word will bear tremendous fruit. But there is a dark side, too, a note of warning and urgency as God’s kingdom moves inexorably towards harvest time. You can use a sickle not only to harvest wheat but also to gather in ‘the grapes of wrath’, the vintage representing God’s bloody judgment on unbelievers. Listen to how St John speaks of the sickle’s dual roles in the book of Revelation:

I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one ‘like a son of man’ with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, ‘Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe. So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth and the earth was harvested.

Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, ‘Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe’. The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia (Rev 14:14-20).

Many commentators are uncomfortable with this dark side of the parable. But we need to be reminded that the all-powerful Son of Man will indeed come to judge the living and the dead. He will one day wield his sickle to gather the wheat into his granary and consign the grapes of wrath to their judgment. Our parable encourages us in God’s mission, assuring us the planting of the word will bear amazing fruit. But it also impresses on us the urgency of the mission to seek and save the lost. We dare not hide the light of Christ under a bushel.

Some years ago at a South Australian pastors’ conference, I remember one of our hospital chaplains expressing his joy in being a hospital chaplain. He said: ‘You parish pastors sow the seed, we chaplains reap the harvest’. Ministering to God’s seasoned saints with their humble faith and their glad anticipation of being with the Lord he found most rewarding.

Others have said one of the greatest harvest fields in Australia is among older people. The seed sown in their hearts during their childhood or youth may have lain dormant for years but in old age, on mature reflection, it becomes precious to them again and they return to worship and finally die in the Lord. I had the joy of seeing that happen with a couple of older people in Bendigo, one in his early sixties, the other about 70. Both were dying of cancer and in their distress they sought out the church of their childhood, became regular worshippers and eager receivers of the sacrament, and died in the faith.

Of course we are concerned for all age groups, confident that the Word does its work wherever it is planted.

Sad to say, as we heard in a powerful chapel sermon at ALC a few weeks ago, when spiritual harvest time comes for many Australians, all we hear at funeral services are eulogies about what a good guy he or she was and what a privilege it is for God to have that person up in heaven. What a task we have ahead of us in prayerfully sowing the message of sin and grace as widely as we can!

Conclusion

Let’s go about the Lord’s mission full of confidence that the Word will do its work – all by itself. As Eduard Schweizer said, ‘[This parable] with its assurance that the harvest will come stands in opposition to any form of doubt or care which, instead of waiting for God to fulfil his promise, endeavours to force the coming of the kingdom or to build it’. Arnold Schabert writes:

This parable calls us to confident faith: God is at work!...It warns us against unbelieving activism. In times like ours, when everything is breaking down and we often have the impression that something extraordinary must be done for the cause of Jesus, it is not appropriate to do something special but rather to disseminate the Word of God and leave everything else to God. And finally this parable wants to wake us out of a false sense of security. Don’t say there’s still plenty of time. If you only knew how high the seed is now standing and how the ears are filling up!

I would like to give the last word to Martin Luther. In 1522 he preached a series of eight sermons in Wittenberg in response to the disturbances led by his colleague, Andreas Karlstadt. Some of the Wittenberg students had become virulently anti-Catholic and were smashing anything that smacked of Roman Catholic tradition, like images and altars. Luther preached against this iconoclasm:

We should preach the Word, but the results must be left solely to God’s good pleasure… We must win the hearts of the people. But that is done when I teach only the Word of God, [and] preach the gospel….God will accomplish more with his Word than if you and I were to merge all our power into one heap. .. I have simply allowed the Word to act and prayed for [the people]. For the Word created heaven and earth and all things [Ps 33:6]; the Word must do this thing, and not we poor sinners.

In short, I will preach it, teach it, write it, but I will constrain no man by force, for faith must come freely without compulsion. Take myself as an example. I opposed indulgences and all the papists, but never with force. I simply taught, preached, and wrote God’s word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept [cf. Mark 4:26-29], or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends Philip [Melanchthon] and [Nicholas] Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince of emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it. I did nothing; the Word did everything (Luther’s Works 44:76,77).

Almighty God, your Word is cast

Like seed into the ground;

Now let the dew of heaven descend

And righteous fruits abound.

Let not the foe of Christ and man

This holy seed remove,

But give it root in every heart

To bring forth fruits of love.

Let not the world’s deceitful cares

The rising plant destroy,

But let it yield a hundredfold

The fruits of peace and joy.

Oft as the precious seed is sown

Your quickening grace bestow,

That all whose souls the truth receive

Its saving power may know. (John Cawood, 1775-1852 – from The Lutheran Hymnal, No. 267)

You have been born anew, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for ‘All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord abides forever.’ That word is the good news which was preached to you. 1 Peter 1:23-25.