Jesus when sharing today’s parable did so amongst people who lived in rural settings and could relate to his description of different soils and farming methods. Today this masterful storyteller might give us a different parable.
“A terrible sickness struck a village. The people were terrified of getting sick and wanted to know what to do.
“The doctor asked the people to wear face masks to protect one another. ‘We will!’ they all said. Some did for awhile, but they found the masks uncomfortable, and made it difficult to breathe, so they stopped wearing them.
“The rabbi asked the people to share their food with the poor and sick. ‘We will!’ they also promised. But many became more and more concerned for their own need and that of their families as time went on, so they kept their barns and larders full and locked.
“The mayor asked the merchants to close their shops and innkeepers to close their taverns so people would not gather and spread the sickness. ‘We will!’ they all agreed. They did so for a few days, but their profits dropped, and they could not pay their staff, so, slowly, one by one, they quietly reopened their shops and inns. Soon, the sickness took the lives of many in the poor village.
“But then there were the good folks who understood that wearing face masks protected others from the sickness, who kept their distance from one another so the sickness would not spread, even though they missed one another’s company terribly, who readily shared what they had with those who had little. Oh, it was very hard, and there were many days when they wanted to give up. But they persevered.
“Because of them, many people did not get sick and they survived. Blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears because they hear.” Jesus would have said.
The parable of the sower challenges us to check the “thinness” of the soil in our hearts that results in our faith withering in the noonday heat; the “rockiness” of self-centeredness and avarice that prevents God’s “seed” of generosity and peace from taking root in us; the “thorns” of bigotry and self-righteousness that “choke” the possibility of us providing for the poor, healing the broken-hearted, lifting up the fallen, and respecting peoples different from us.
Our own response to the coronavirus is a good measure of the “richness” of our faith and its potential for the “seed” of God’s Word to take root in our lives and realize the harvest of justice and compassion that can be found only in the kingdom of God.
These readings speak loudly and clearly of hope. Paul tells us in the opening line of his letter, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.” That glory he speaks of is our salvation, which as the parable suggests, is not to be taken for granted. Faith is what is necessary for salvation. Not the works of the law, only faith but what kind of faith? Not an intellectual faith that might protest, “Sure, I believe all that stuff, Father. I’ve been a Catholic all my life.”
Faith is much more than intellectually professing who Jesus is and what he taught. Faith is an act on our part, which establishes a personal union between Jesus and us. Faith is the way we look at the world and everything in it. Faith is a commitment of love. Such an attitude enables God’s Word to take root in our hearts and bear abundant fruit.
Everyone who is serious about his or her faith longs to give
birth to the Kingdom of God. Paul uses the image of labor pains to make that point. We want to make God’s kingdom a reality but that task is constantly challenging.
While we are truly free to follow Christ, he points out that outside sources will continually persuade us not to. Jesus speaks of different conditions that prevent God’s Word from taking root. The first is the devil, represented by birds, the second example, the rocky soil, alludes to laziness and comfort, our ingrained love for them curtails any efforts we would make toward self-sacrifice; and the third is our culture, the product of fallen human nature, represented by the thorns in his parable. The fallen world promises us perfect happiness, but that is false for only God can satisfy the human heart. When we fight immorality, we not only avoid sin, we are allowing God’s Word to influence the world we live in.
Jesus’ message is to point out that the Kingdom of Heaven is not an entitlement. The seed is planted in us at our baptism, but are we nurturing it? If not, it will die as would any plant that is neglected. When we follow God’s will and stay true to our friendship with Christ even in the face of these wayward influences, then our lives will bear an abundant harvest of wisdom, compassion and happiness.
Heaven is to be our eternal home but only if and when we let God’s seeds take root and produce such fruit in us.