Ex 16:1-5, 9-15
Ps 78: 18-19, 23-28
Mt 13:1-9
St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church,
Burkburnett, TX
Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Wichita
Falls, TX
Often in
the Gospel of Matthew, we find Jesus teaching his disciples using parables.
What is the purpose of a parable anyway? Why does Jesus speak in ways that most
of the people hearing his parables cannot understand? A parable is not simply a
story. It is a call to evangelization, a call to conversion. The purpose of a
parable is to reveal to the hearer some truth that has been present all along,
but has been hidden. Only those who ask to know the truth are able to fully understand
the meaning of the parable. One could say that Jesus himself is a parable of
God the Father, because He reveals who God the Father is – the One who exists
before the beginning.
In the
parable today Jesus tells us about the sower throwing his seed here and there
and everywhere. The sower, of course, is Jesus himself and the seed is the Gospel
– the holy truth of God. But what about all these different types of ground?
There is the part that has to be revealed to those who seek the truth and ask
for it. The different types of ground are the different types of hearts of
those who hear the Gospel.
The hard
footpath where the seed is gobbled up by birds is the hardened heart of the
unbeliever. This heart is unable or unwilling to hear the truth and instead
clings to its own truth. This one has no faith and so remains closed to the
truth of the Gospel.
The rocky
ground speaks about the heart of the one who is infected with the worst enemy
of the Gospel today, especially in the United States – sentimentality. This one
hears the Gospel and is moved to accept it, but only at a shallow level. It is
not a faith deeply rooted in conversion, but one of feelings. This is the ‘retreat
junkie’ who attends retreat after retreat after retreat, seeking out the
emotional high, but never gets moved to true conversion. This is the one who
clings stubbornly to the shallow hymns written 20, 30, 40 years ago found
in most hymnals today that moves the emotions, but contains poor
theology. Not all ‘religious music’ is suitable for use in our liturgies just
because it happens to mention God or Jesus.[1] Truly sacred music reveals
the truth of God.
The ground
choked out by thorns is the heart where the Gospel is readily received by the
hearer, but eventually the cares of the secular world choke out the truth. This
one discovers that discipleship is hard and is unwilling to makes the
sacrifices Christ demands. This one is infected with ‘stuff-itis’ and is not
willing to part with their money, their time, or whatever they possess that
draws them away from God.
But the
good, fertile ground is the heart of the disciple. This is the heart where the
Gospel takes hold and its roots grow deep. They are moved to conversion of life
and hunger for the truth. This type of ground is where the Gospel brings forth
much fruit for the Kingdom. And what makes this ground different? Later in the
Gospel, verses 18-23, the disciples ask Jesus to explain the parable to
them. They want to know the truth in the Gospel – the whole truth – and they
are willing to accept it and be changed by it!
So the
questions for all of us today is this: what type of ground are we? Are our hearts
open to the Gospel? Are we willing to accept the truth of God as taught by His
Holy Catholic Church, or do we stubbornly cling to a truth or an image of God
of our own making? Let us resolve today to allow our hearts to be good and fertile
ground and bring forth the fruits of the Gospel.
[1] Please
read ‘Catholic Hymnody at the Service of the Church: An Aid for Evaluating Hymn
Lyrics’ published by the USCCB in September 2020. https://www.usccb.org/resources/Catholic%20Hymnody%20at%20the%20Service%20of%20the%20Church_0.pdf
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