Isaiah 55:10-11
Romans 8:18-23
Matthew 13:1-9
Bishop Untener's Homily
This parable is about the Word of God - Scripture. When you look at this parable, you wonder whether to approach it from the point of view of the seed (which represents the Word of God), or from the point of view of the different kinds of soil (which represent us who receive the Word of God.) I decided to do both, because they are closely related. Don't worry. It won't take long.
The Seed
A seed is something that has life in it. By using this analogy, Jesus reveals that the Word of God is alive. It isn't simply information. It isn't simply instruction. It is God speaking to us "live."
You know how the Catholic Church, if I can put it this way, has a "higher" theology of the Eucharist than many other Christian faiths. We believe that the consecrated bread and wine are more than symbols of the presence of God. They are the Body and Blood of Christ. And not just temporarily. In other words, not just when we're receiving Communion. We believe that the consecrated bread and wine continue to be the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus.
This has been a Catholic emphasis.
The Catholic Church also has, again, if I can put it this way, a "higher" theology of the Word of God than many other Christian faiths. Now that may surprise you. After all, other Christian faiths have emphasized Bible reading far more than we have.
That is very true. But for us it was a matter of neglect. Our doctrine of the importance and meaning of Scripture is very high. It is our practice that has been neglected. Examples come easily to mind. When I was growing up, most of us would not have known where to find the Bible in our home. The phrase "Bible reading" itself sounded Protestant. And, the whole liturgy of the word at Mass was the part of Mass you could miss without missing Mass.
Let's take a closer look at our doctrine - our "high theology" of the Word of God.
We believe that when we listen to the Word of God, or read it thoughtfully, God is speaking to us live. We aren't listening to or reading something God once said. God is speaking to us now. Just as in the Eucharist the Lord uses bread and wine to be present to us, so in the Scriptures God uses words as a vehicle to be present to us, to speak to us, to act upon us - like the gentle rain falling upon the ground in today's first reading, and like the seed that is sown in today's Gospel. The Second Vatican Council document entitled the Constitution on Divine Revelation says: "The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures just as she venerates the Body of the Lord." That is a remarkable statement that would come as a surprise to many Catholics.
This means that we listen to Scripture differently than we listen to any other words. We receive it as we receive the Body of Christ. We are not receiving information. We are receiving the Lord who speaks to us "live." We rinse our minds of all other thoughts, and we tune in to the Lord speaking to us. When we do that, thoughts come to us that were the farthest thing from our minds, and thoughts that sometimes seem to have little connection with the actual words of the text. It may be a word of comfort, or a nudge, or a flash of insight. It is the Lord who is speaking to us personally.
Remember the Gospel passage about the two disciples on the road to Emmaus? The Risen Lord was walking with them (although they didn't realize it) and the Lord was opening up the Scriptures for them. That is exactly what happens when we prayerfully listen to or read the Scriptures.
The Soil
The seed in today's parable is the Word of God. Now let's look at the soil.
When thinking about this Gospel passage a few days ago, something came to me that I never thought of before. The Gospel speaks of the different kinds of soil on which the seed fell - the footpath, rocky ground, thorny ground, fertile ground. We usually think of that as representing different kinds of people. Well, it struck me that it also represents different parts of our lives - our private life, our family life, our business life, our social life, and so on.
Part of our life may be rich soil where we receive the Word of God very openly and it takes deep root. But it may not occur to us to let the Word of God affect other parts of our life. To use a stereotypical example, the movies sometimes portray a Mafia leader who goes to church, is dedicated to his family - and routinely kills people, or orders their killing. The Word of God never enters that "other part" of his life.
We don't go around killing people, but we might have parts of our life where we don't let the Word of God enter.
Closing
I hope that we'll all receive this parable of the seed and the soil into all parts of our lives. I hope that we'll return to our strong Catholic tradition of praying the Scriptures. I hope that we'll return to the traditional practice of Scripture reading - taking a few lines of Scripture each day and letting the Lord speak to us through the words. It's easy to do, one of the simplest and oldest forms of prayer, and it's enjoyable. It's there for the asking. It can change a day. It can change a life.
Originally given on July 14, 2002 Originally given on July 14, 2002