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Homily for July 10, 2011
Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Isaiah 55: 10-11
Psalm 65: 10, 11, 12-13, 14
Romans 8: 18-23
Matthew 13: 1-23
I used to think that today’s Gospel is one of the more difficult
Gospel readings. By encouraging us to align ourselves with this type of
ground or that, it encourages us to measure ourselves, and ultimately
others, against Jesus’ ideal of the good soil.
The word “good”, draws us in and we think of the good person
and the not so good person. This sets up a hierarchy of good and evil,
pitting us against them, the other, which has frequently, in the not so
distant past, led to violence. We are tempted to see ourselves as the good
soil and them as the not so good soil. And even if we do see ourselves
among the rocks or thorns, we might be tempted to feelings of guilt and
shame, which does not produce life or fertile soil.
By setting up this dichotomy, the good and not so good soil, we see
“goodness” as having value only as long as some… do not have
goodness. This can only lead to scapegoating, as we see today with the
blaming of our problems on “the other”.
We can see, then, how the words, “To anyone who has, more will
be given and he will grow rich. From anyone who has not, even what he
has, will be taken away”, can set up and justify privilege and
oppression.
Now, let’s recall the theologian, Dr. Sandra Schneider’s
description of scripture as a sheet of music, it is not the music, it is only
the potential for music, and let’s look for the music behind this
scripture reading.
I heard a radio program yesterday, in which an author was saying
that Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest is not a complete
understanding of how human beings developed. He was saying that
humans, because of the conditions in which they developed, had to
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survive through compassion and cooperation and that this is the only
way in which we, as a species, will survive today’s crises. So, I began to
look at the seeds of compassion and cooperation rising out of the ashes
of the old paradigm of “survival of the fittest” and took a second look at
the reading from Isaiah. Isaiah says that the rain and snow will come
down and do not return to the heavens until they have watered the
earth, making it fertile and fruitful.
In other words, the word of God rains down, watering all of the
earth, making it all fruitful. And of course, the word of God is love. So,
the sower sows love on all types of ground… that which is ready to bear
life, already transformed, already rich and ready to receive God’s love
AND that which is filled with potential, the not yet fertile earth, the
earth that has potential to someday receive that love which is the word
of God.
Let’s look, for a moment, at nature’s process of cooperation in
becoming fertile soil from unfertile soil. Unfertile soil breaks down over
long periods of time with the help of rain and snow which ultimately
make the earth fertile. They seep into any crevices in the rocks, for
example, and with the freezing of rain, break the rocks down into
smaller and smaller bits. The water and seeds wedge themselves into the
cracks, continuing to enlarge them. And, as the seeds continue to
wither, they enrich the potential soil in which they are sown, increasing
the rocks ability to provide nourishment. The same process is true of
seeds fallen on paths and thorns. The seeds that fall on paths, on rocks
and on thorns, continue to do their work even though they have not
fallen on fertile soil. Nature’s movement is always toward fertility.
If we think about it, the parable in today’s Gospel is more about
the sower than the soil or the seeds. The sower showers all types of soil
with the same seeds and the same quantity of seed regardless of the soils
ability to produce fruit. The sower, of course, is God. The seeds are
God’s word or love which is sown on all ground, transforming all of it
slowly. The path and rocks and thorns just need to take time to become
open to that word of God
So, the meaning of today’s Gospel, as I see it, is this, wherever we
are, whoever we are, we are loved just as we are at this very moment.
We have the seeds of love sown within us, right now. And the living
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water comes down from the heavens, preparing us for growth into
fertile soil.
So the Good News of the Kin-dom emerges. The story of God’s
prolific love and grace is beyond measure. In this parable, God’s love
and grace is all that we should look for, not what type of soil we are. The
soil that is at the center of our being, with God’s love and grace, will one
day become fertile, bearing life and bearing love. The God, who is love,
is just waiting for us to open to the process.
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