Isaiah 55:10-11; Psalm 65:10-14; Romans 8:18-23; Matthew 13:1-9
The first reading is Prophet Isaiah’s admonition to the
people of Israel to accept the word of God because, not only that it is
life-giving, it must surely come to fulfilment. He uses two familiar weather
elements, rain and snow, to describe the effects of the word of God. Human
beings are the earth watered by the word to make us fertile and fruitful.
Without God’s word, human beings become wastelands. May we have the same
experience like Jeremiah who exclaimed, “When I found your words, I devoured
them; your words were my joy, the happiness of my heart” (Jeremiah 15:16), and
the psalmist, “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light for my path” (Psalm
119:105).
In the second reading, St. Paul describes creation’s
suffering, pain, and futility until the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, came and
set creation free from slavery to corruption in order to share in the glorious
freedom of the children of God. Slavery to corruption means to be controlled by
moral decay, sin, and destructive habits. The Word made flesh, Jesus Christ,
sets free individuals, peoples, groups, communities, organizations, churches,
states, countries, and so on, when they listen to the word and accept it.
In the gospel, Jesus gives us the Parable of the Sower and,
also, its meaning: The word of God is the seed, and we are either the path, or
the rocky ground, or among thorns, or the rich soil where the word falls on or
where the word is sown. We pray not to be the path, or the rocky ground, or
among thorns. We pray to be the rich soil so that we can bear lasting fruit, “a
hundred, or sixty or thirty.”
We are not to be like the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and
theirs scribes who nullify the word of God in favor of human traditions. All
human-made laws, rules, and regulations are limited and, at some point, become
obsolete. But the word of God is limitless and everlasting. Jesus says, “Heaven
and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Matthew 24:35).
One of the conversion moments of St. Augustine of Hippo was
when he was weeping and agonizing over his spiritual struggles in a garden in
Milan. Then, he heard a voice that chanted repeatedly from a nearby house,
“Tolle, lege” (Latin for “Pick it up and read, pick it up and read”). He picked
up the Bible, opened it at random and read the first passage his eyes fell
upon, Romans 13:13-14, “Let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day, not in
orgies and drunkenness, not in promiscuity and licentiousness, not in rivalry
and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the
desires of the flesh.” After reading this passage, St. Augustine experienced a
flood of light that cleared his lingering doubts. There and then, he took an
immediate decision to fully commit to the Christian faith.
The same voice sings to us today, “Pick it up your Bible and
read, pick it up your Bible and read.” St. Jerome tells us that ignorance of
Scripture is ignorance of Christ.
A friend of my shared with me where he belongs in Jesus’
Parable of the Sower. He said that he does not belong among those who fell on
the path because he is steady with his faith and goes to Mass. For the same
reason, he does not see himself as among those who fell on rocky ground. He
says that he sees himself among those who fell on rich soil but there are
thorns all over the rich soil. How not to be choked by the thorns is the
problem.
Many of us can identify with my friend’s situation. Daily in
our way are thorns of trials and temptations, and thorns of evil one’s
machinations. Thorns, spiritual or physical, are part of life. Jesus says, “I
have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will
have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world” (John 16:33). In
John 17:15, Jesus does not pray that God takes us out from the world. He prays
that God keeps us from the evil one.
We are encouraged, today, to let the word of God dwell
richly in us and rule our lives (Colossians 3:16). With God’s word, we are
conquerors. With the word of God, we dwell in the shelter of the Most High
(Psalm 91:1). “Even though [we] walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
[we] will fear no evil, for you are with [us]; your rod and your staff comfort
[us]” (Psalm 23:4). Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment