Sunday, July 10, 2011
Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Matthew 13: 1 - 23 | |
1 | That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. |
2 | And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat there; and the whole crowd stood on the beach. |
3 | And he told them many things in parables, saying: "A sower went out to sow. |
4 | And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. |
5 | Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, |
6 | but when the sun rose they were scorched; and since they had no root they withered away. |
7 | Other seeds fell upon thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. |
8 | Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. |
9 | He who has ears, let him hear." |
PERSONAL REFLECTIONS:
A BLESSED SUNDAY TO ALL!
Yesterday’s Gospel had shown to us Jesus giving the mandate to his disciples to go and preach the Kingdom of Heaven without having the fear to those that only destroy the body. The Gospel today focuses on the challenge on how the HEARERS of the PROCLAMATION should RESPOND to what they have heard. And so the Gospel ended with this exhortation, “He who has ears, let him hear.”
Whenever Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God he usually uses parables. He uses it as a strategy in order for his listeners to go to the CORE of what they HEAR. Jesus uses a parable to invite his listeners to not just listen to what he is telling them, as a parable can either be a short story or a saying, but to EXAMINE THEMSELVES. In the case of the Gospel today, Jesus is inviting us to examine ourselves as to what kind of hearers we are of his message. In the Gospel Jesus speaks of a sower, seeds, roots, birds, rocks and soil. Jesus uses this imagery to impart his message as it is very familiar with his audience. With the clear imagery of his parable Jesus intends to lead his listeners to enter into an introspection wherein they will find or identify themselves in the parable. This introspection is meant to elicit a decision on the part of the listeners to hear what Jesus wants him/her to become.
What then this parable of the sower have to do with the Kingdom of God and to those who listen to Jesus’ preaching? Among others, this parable contains a very simple metaphor that will make us assess the kind of response and commitment we have to Jesus’ Word. The parable gives us a picture on the different responses people have to the Goodnews of Jesus and, in turn, yield different fruits. The Goodnews of the Kingdom of God is already been sown and made present among us by Jesus coming. Jesus is the sower of this Goodnews, the in breaking of God’s love into the world that brings the offer of salvation to all. Yet, such offer must be accepted for it to yield its desired fruit—salvation.
However, there are those who receive the Goodnews but never bear the desired fruit, for the listener lacks commitment unto what she/he hears. There are those who simply don’t care about the message, or simply reject it as INSIGNIFICANT just like the seeds that falls on the pathways that never grow because the BIRDS find it good for their food. So here are those who have come to be confronted with the message of Jesus but never consider it to be SIGNIFICANT and RELEVANT as FOOD for their spiritual lives.
Also there are those who accepted the message but never nourished them to bear fruit because their understanding, and in effect their commitment has no depth. The message has never got to reach the very core of their being. Probably Jesus’ message just fire up their interest for a moment which addresses their curiosity or it simply appeal to their intellectual thirst, but never take root deep in their hearts because they never let it grow. Their hearts might be too tight to let Jesus message grow because it is so loaded with the ROCKS of worldly concerns that it lacks the soil of spiritual thirst for heavenly treasures. These worldly concerns stifled the growth and maturity to fruition of the message of Jesus in the person’s life that even the coming of the opportunity of the sun of spiritual nourishment cannot revive the withered and barren heart.
There are those whose hearts are really prepared to receive the message but cannot allow the message to grow because of the many voices around that bring THORNS that choked up the message to take root and grow. These are people who are truly spiritually thirsting, but their liberal views to life clouds their hearts from truly comprehending and accepting completely the message of Jesus. These thorns of the different voices and philosophies are growing more rapidly than the Goodnews of Jesus. Their hearts are soaked with confusions as to find out what is the truth among the many voices around.
But there is the fertile soil that nourishes the seeds to grow and yield the desired fruits in different quantities. These are the people who do not just listen but hears the Lord. To listen is to be aware of the Goodnews of the Lord. But to hear the Lord is to get into the bottom of the demand of the message of the Lord. To listen is simply to know what is being said by the Lord, but to hear is to commit oneself to what one is being told, and most especially to commit to the One who speaks, the Lord Jesus. It is only through this listening and hearing that the message will truly bear manifold fruits. Let us then not just hunger and thirst for the Word of God, but must also LISTEN and HEAR him who SPEAKS the Words of Life.
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