Of The Sending Forth of God's Word

by Deacon Bill Schneider  |  07/13/2023  |  Images of Faith

Today’s first reading is God’s invitation to a people who had been disconnected from God’s ways. In exile in a foreign land, they had no temple for worship and could not offer traditional sacrifices, but they did have a prophet, God’s mouthpiece, who spoke truth they often rejected. Now, God, through His mouthpiece, speaks a gentle word of invitation with a clear image all can understand. “Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down without returning … so shall my word be … achieving the end for which I send it” (Isaiah 55: 10-11).

We can find a double meaning in this prophecy uttered by Isaiah. First, we are reminded of God speaking life in Genesis. “Let there be light…” and there was light. “Let us create…” and creation happened. The power of God’s utterance shows itself in creation—the word does not issue forth without making something happen—achieving God’s purpose. Second, we turn to the beginning of John’s gospel. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…and the word became flesh and made His dwelling among us” (John 1: 1- 14). Here, John is writing about the person of Jesus Christ.

Christ is, in person, the fullness of God and the fullness of His Word. He does not deliver words from His mouth that separate themselves from Him once uttered. He delivers Himself, the Word that enlightens the mind and transforms the heart. Therefore, we should never read the Bible as we would a book of history or of conventional wisdom. We penetrate the Bible and are nourished by its truths by encountering in it the living Way, Truth and Life that is Jesus Christ, who in His person is all teaching and all revelation. God intends His word to be effective and will find a willing vessel to receive it joyfully and proclaim it fervently. Let us pray we can be that vessel.

Today’s Gospel, from the beginning of Matthew Chapter 13, represents a definitive shift in Jesus’ ministry. Prior to this, Jesus was teaching in the synagogues, but now we find him teaching in the streets. In His street ministry, Jesus employs a new method of teaching: the use of parables. Someone has described a parable as an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. Today, Jesus’ pulpit is a boat, while his audience stands along the shore. The parable is one very familiar to those who pay attention to the scriptures: the Parable of the Sower. It would have also been familiar to those hearing it the first time. Sowing seed and the various types of soil it fell on were an everyday part of life in first-century Palestine. Jesus delivers the parable to the crowds but explains it to His disciples. The seed is a metaphor for the word of God.

Although the parable itself is self-explanatory in today’s Gospel reading, there are certain aspects of this passage that do need some clarification. “This is why I speak to them in parables, because they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand …lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted and I heal them” (Matthew 13: 13-15).

Jesus had experience with those whose hearts were hardened against Him. Even when they witnessed His miracles, His forgiveness and His compassion, they were quick to find fault and plot His death. We too will encounter people, perhaps some close and dear to us, whose hearts are hardened against God. While it can be discouraging when they refuse to listen or they argue with our efforts to tell them about the Lord, today’s Gospel reminds us that, no matter what the heart condition (soil) of the hearer, we can sow seeds of prayer that God will put good people in their lives to lead them to Himself, and seeds of love, mercy and forgiveness to show them the face of the God we hope they will one day embrace. We may never know the fruit our seed-sowing will bear, but we must sow persistently and let God bring the harvest.