Jesus tells the Parable of the Sower. The Sower casts His seed, and it falls on various types of soil—hard, clay-like soil along a path where the birds eat it, soil that is full of rocks, soil that is full of thorny plants, and soil that is fertile and fully receptive of the seed. In most cases, the seed takes root and begins to grow, but then things happen.

Jesus explained the parable:

From this you learn at the outset that as the seed is cast—as the Word of God is proclaimed—many will hear, but not all will believe. And, of those who believe, many will, for myriad reasons, fall away.

“At that time Jesus declared, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children…’”

Jesus spoke of these things and the wise and understanding and little children. Understanding what Jesus meant when He said these things will help to explain today’s Gospel.

In the study of philosophy, there are a couple of concepts called formal principle and material principle. The formal principle refers to the ultimate source or rule used to define a belief or philosophical system. The material principle refers to the core teaching or governing doctrine of a belief or philosophical system. The terms and concepts not only apply to philosophy, but also to linguistics and theology.

In Lutheran theology, the formal principle is most simply put as Scripture alone. The implication there is that other theologies use other or additional sources to define their doctrine. For instance, in Roman Catholic theology, the formal principle is Scripture and tradition. This can cause difficulty in debating finer points of doctrine with theologians of different confessions if they don’t or can’t agree on a formal principle.

Lutheran theologians tend to balk at the idea of having a material principle. Some will like to point out that Scripture serves as both the formal and material principles in Lutheran theology. I like the idea, but I also acknowledge that doing so runs the risk of having too vague a material principle. To that end, you may have heard the statement that Article IV is the article on which the church stands or falls; this is referring to Article IV of the Augsburg Confession: “Also [our churches] teach that men cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works, but are freely justified for Christ’s sake, through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor, and that their sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake, who, by His death, has made satisfaction for our sins. This faith God imputes for righteousness in His sight.”

I’ll begin with a remark by Martin Luther, condemned by the church for proclaiming that people are saved by grace through faith alone on account of Christ. Luther once expressed that, even when he was thoroughly intimidated by his enemies, he could not stop preaching the Gospel: He would envision the Jesus on Judgment Day asking him, “Why were you more afraid of them than me?” He may well have had today’s Gospel in mind.

Jesus was sending His disciples out into the world to preach a specific message: “Repent! The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” As they did so, they would work miracles and wonders. That is the good part, but Jesus also pulled no punches: they would also face heavy opposition.

They would be rejected—sometimes by households, sometimes by whole towns…sometimes by family members, sometimes by close friends, and sometimes by the heads of state and church. “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves,” He had just told them (as you may recall from last week). Then He explained what He meant in today’s text, a continuation of last week: “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master…If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.”

The Pharisee’s asked Jesus’ disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” If you really think about it, it shows that they didn’t know Jesus, didn’t know about themselves or those with whom He ate. Who is Jesus? He’s the Son of the Living God. He’s the Christ, the Messiah. He is the sinners’ Savior. That is what His name means: Jesus, Y’shua, “YHWH saves,” that is, “I Am Salvation.” There was no one among them or those with whom Jesus ate who is not a sinner. The same is true of everyone here. As St. Paul wrote, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” (1 Timothy 1:15)

Why did Jesus eat with sinners? Non-sinners don't need Him…they don’t even recognize Him. Furthermore, if He did not eat with sinners, He would have to eat alone.