My dear friends in Christ, today is the 15th Sunday in ordinary time year A. The readings of this liturgy remind us about the essentiality of the word of God. The human heart is a field where the word of God is sown like seeds, and there is a need for us to dispose our hearts and minds to receive it. Like the rain which waters the earth, moistures it and makes the plants grow, so is the word of God, it nourishes our hearts and minds, makes it grow in grace and holiness.
In the first reading, Prophet Isaiah speaks about the power of the word of God, its infallibility and divine efficacy. It says, “As the rain and snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth… so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth…” By the word of his mouth God created every living creature (cf. Genesis Ch.1), and the same word of God continues to irrigate and nourishes human hearts.
In today’s gospel reading, Jesus used the parable of a Sower to communicate how the word of God is sown in the human heart, and at the same time, how each person is disposed to embrace it. In all sincerity, no sensible farmer would like to invest in a piece of land he knows that will not yield positive results. God is the divine Sower; he is always very generous and cultivates all soils with good seed in order to give each soil opportunity to produce. His decision to cultivate all kinds of soils: sandy, rocky, thorny, and rich exposes the wealth of his love and patience to all humans.
When Jesus sat by the lake side and looked at the crowds gathered round him, he saw four different types of dispositions of the human heart. The human heart is like a field where seeds are sown, and that seed is the word of God. Each of us belongs to one of these four groups. In the gathering of the community of believers, we have these four different dispositions of the heart: sandy, rocky, thorny, and the rich soil. On these dispositions of the heart are what today’s gospel sets its narrative.
The first is a completely superficial soil, a pathway where the seed was not received or allowed to penetrate. The second is arid or rocky soil where the hardness of the rock provided no opportunity for the seed to establish firmly its roots. The third is dissipating soil, which ambiguously harbored and nourished both wheat and thorns. The fourth is a rich soil, which by producing a rich yield of hundreds, sixty, and thirty, which crowns the efforts of the Sower and consoled him for the poor performance of the others.
The biggest challenges from this parable before us as Christians are: where can the good soil be found today? Of these four groups, where do we belong? Where do I belong? Which group can you honestly categorize yourself? In his infinite wisdom and providence God cultivates the human heart with the good seed of the four Gospels. Prophet Isaiah has unveiled before us the transformative nature of God’s word. However, this transformation can be enhanced or impeded by human freedom. Any type of soil where the four gospels fail to make any impact is rocky and indeed very rocky.
Finally, if we really want to be good Christians, we can make it possible by our commitment and openness to accept the word of God. Remember what Jesus tells us in the book of Revelation, “I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me” (rev 3:20). Let us be patient in every trial, and never allow the fantasies of this world overwhelm us. May we in the coming days become exemplary Christians who receive the Word of God, live by it, and bear lasting fruits.