Ps 65
Rom 8:18-25
Mt 13:1-23
It is important to remember that our scriptures, both the
Old and the New Testaments, were written at a particular time and in a
particular place. They reflect a specific social structure and describe a
unique model of governance and law. One
of the challenges today is to put the teaching of scripture into a modern
context so as to understand how particular examples and mandates apply to us now
in the first part of the 21st century. Some of the images and examples we encounter in
the Bible may fail to affect us or may not resonate with us whereas others
still work fairly well.
Today's first reading, the psalm and the gospel all contain
images of grain, seed, rain and soil, images that may be a bit easier for us to
understand than images of raising sheep or weaving cloth, something with which
the vast majority of us have no experience.
There is quite a bit to consider.
While today’s gospel has several aspects to it, the
centerpiece of this passage is the parable that begins in the first nine verses
and is explained in the last eight verses.
This particular parable is oftentimes referred to as the
parable of the sower. That is the wrong
name. This parable has little to do with
the sower or the seed. It has everything
to do with the soil into which the seed was sown. The sower is the means of getting the seed to
the ground. The seed is good seed that could take root anywhere.
A parable always points to something more than its
story. When we hear one of Jesus’
parables proclaimed we must always ask ourselves what is below the surface. While the story of the parable is generally
simple the meaning is deeper and more complex.
That is the great gift of the parables; we can return to them again and
again, and find something new each time.
We can meditate on them repeatedly and never exhaust what they say to
us.
The parable about the soils onto which the seed falls is a
parable about us. It is a parable about us who are here to receive the Word of
God, the Living Word of God in the assembly, the Living Word of God in the
readings, and the True Body and Blood of Christ in the sacrament of the altar.
The Word of God is the seed. We are the soil. But what
kind of soil are we? Are we willing to
receive the word? Are we going to let it
take root in us or not? Will we nurture
it? Will we start off strong and fade in
the end? Will the Word of God take root
in us and produce an enormous yield up to a hundred times?
When he explained the parable to the apostles Jesus gave
three reasons for rejecting the Word of God: the activity of the evil one, personal shallowness, and worldly concerns coupled
with the desire for wealth. We confront
each of these on a daily basis.
Like us, Jesus knew temptation from the evil one. Unlike us, Jesus never acted on the
temptation. He never “took the bait” no
matter what: food, power, or glory. Jesus, fully Divine and fully human, was like
us in all things but sin. He is our
model of obedience to the will and the law of God.
Personal shallowness is a different kind of rejecting God’s
Word. It is represented by the seed that
springs up in a scant amount of soil and then withers with the sun. That is us when we enthusiastically embrace
the Word of God, when we nurture the seed . . .
until something happens. It could
be a natural disaster, a personal crisis, a loss . . . you name it. But as
soon as things don’t go our way we decide God is not worth bothering with. The childish response, “I could never believe
in God if he let something like this happen” is no different than the child who
yells "I hate you" at a his or her parents when the expensive video
game is not among the birthday presents.
The crop that is choked out by weeds of worldly concern brings
to mind a bumper sticker that is popular in the U.S. It never fails to depress me when I see
it. “He who has the most toys when he
dies wins.” Wins what? Accumulating material possessions in
competitive fashion, having more, bigger, faster; more luxurious, more
exclusive, more prestigious? All of this
distracts us from truly living.
Financial success or having many possessions is not a
sin. A flashy car or a large house is
not inherently sinful. However, when
obtaining these things becomes the dominant factor of our lives to the
exclusion of everything else, we are allowing the Word to be choked by the
distractions. The seed that the sower
has spread, the seed of faith freely given us by God, is of the finest quality. The rains have been plentiful.
We heard in the psalm: “You care for the earth, give it
water, you fill it with riches. Your
river in heaven brims over to provide its grain.”
Only two questions remain.
What kind of soil are we? Are we
willing to care for the sower's gift?
Chalice and patens at the ready for Mass.
Partial view of a chandelier.
The light in the Franciscan church was perfect at 11 AM. By 11:30 there was no further direct light on the altar.
Standing at the entrance to the sacristy. Had to tone the on the flowers down just a little bit.
The pulpit and portion of the choir loft.
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