Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Mark 4:1-9
On October 31, 2017, Christians around the world, Lutherans especially, celebrated the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. It was a moment to be honored and celebrated, and rightly so. The world has never been the same once Luther nailed those theses to the church door in Wittenberg.
However, there is another 500th anniversary that should be celebrated, and rightly so! What is it? Luther’s publishing of the New Testament in German on September 21, 1522. If the world was never the same with a few hammer blows on a church door, the world was certainly never the same when God’s Word was put into a language that could be readily understood and read by 12 million people. No longer would most people look blankly at the ceiling as the Word would be read in Latin. Instead, it would have the nuance, flow, and sound of their native language! They could hear God speak! They could hear God speak in a language they could understand! The importance of this is cataclysmic!
In the parable, notice the fruit that the Word produces. It doesn’t just yield double, or triple, when it lands in good soil. It yields thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold. God’s Word always does that for which God intends. It will not return to Him empty. That is not a surprise since the Word creates faith, sustains faith, bestows forgiveness, gives life, imparts strength, speaks hope, and gives wisdom. How could the translating of God’s Word into readable languages not be as important as the Reformation? It started because people, like Luther, read God’s Word! May the Lord bless the reading of His Word in your life this fall as we remember this other important anniversary. Sola Scriptura, Scripture alone!
In Christ,
Pastor Nick Kooi
Originally published in Emmaus Footprints, Vol. XXIV, Number 3, October 2022)