My Beloved: You learn from this Gospel that there are many kinds of hearers of the pure Word of God, but only a few who retain it and bring forth good fruit. This must be diligently presented to the people, so that all may examine themselves and discover to what class of hearers they belong, and make haste to be numbered among those who are called the good ground, in whom the Word brings forth fruit.

The first class of hearers are those with whom the Word fares as “the seed by the wayside.” It does not yield fruit because it is either trodden down or devoured by the fowls of the air. The second class are they “who hear and receive the Word with joy.” They not only speak of it but believe in it, and it grows finely, as the seed upon a rocky soil, but when the first hot day of summer comes it begins to wither, because it has neither root nor moisture. When persecution and tribulation come, such people fall away before the good fruit of faith with patience follows. The third class are easily discernible. They are Christians who are as seed among thorns; it grows, but brings no fruit and is choked; the thorns grow too densely around it. The fourth class of hearers, finally, are they who faithfully receive and retain the Word in an honest and good heart until it brings forth fruit with patience. They do not endeavor to avoid persecution for the sake of the Word, are ready in faith and love towards God, to endure all that may happen, and bring forth fruit, some an hundred-fold, some sixty-fold, and some thirty-fold. (Luther’s House Postil, Sermon for Sexagesima, Volume 1, p. 218-219)

Christ employs this parable to teach us the difference between His kingdom and the kingdom of this world. Affairs in the former differ entirely from those in the latter, in which there is an inequality among persons. Our Gospel has nothing to do with this existing inequality in the world, where the master has many possessions and the servant who labors for him none, or but few; the parable simply refers to the kingdom of God, and teaches us that in it all inequality is abolished, that everything is common property there, and that one shall have as much, and be esteemed as much, as the other. In our daily life, however, there will always be a marked distinction among men on account of their various pursuits. The peasant will have a mode of life different from that of the citizen, and the prince from that of the nobleman. In these matters there is inequality everywhere, and so it must remain. But in the kingdom of Christ it is otherwise; there is no distinction there among believers; they are all alike, whether they be kings, princes, governors, masters or servants. All have the same Baptism, Gospel, Faith, Sacrament, the same Christ and God. They all attend divine worship in perfect equality; the servant, the mechanic and the peasant hear the same Word as the mightiest lord. The Baptism wherewith I was baptized belongs to every other child, whether rich or poor. Magdalene and the malefactor on the cross have the same faith which St. Peter and St. Paul had; yea, the selfsame faith which you or I have, if we are Christians. All sinners, if converted, have the same God and Christ whom John the Baptist had. There is no difference here, though one may by far excel the other in his station in life, in his calling, or in his talents. (Luther’s House Postil, Sermon for Septuagesima, Volume 1, p. 210-211)