2328AFC071423 – Something’s happening here
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Isaiah 55:11 –
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
Psalm 65:9 –
9 You visit the earth and water it,
you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water;
you provide the people with grain,
for so you have prepared it.
Romans 8:22-23 – 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; 23 and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
Matthew 13:12-13 – 12 For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. 13 The reason I speak to them in parables is that ‘seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.’
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.
This Sunday we will hear one version of The Sower and Seed. This parable appears in all three of the Synoptic Gospels – Matthew 13:1-53; Mark 4:1-34; Luke 8:1-18.
When we see that happen, it means that the message for us is necessary for our edification. This Sunday, the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time, has some pretty cool readings – not that there are any Scripture readings that are uncool! In the reading from the Prophet Isaiah, for example, God is declaring how he uses the rain and snow to water the earth and provide for the growth of crops that can be used for food, as he intends in his Divine Will, and he tells us that in just the same way – as part of his Absolutely Perfect Plan – he sends his Word out to the Earth to accomplish whatever is his intention. The water he brings to the Earth does what he wants it to do, and so does his Word. This is important to understand, and there are some nice symbolic connections here, too.
Water is a sign of the Holy Spirit. When God sends forth his Holy Spirit, “the Earth is renewed.” When he sends forth his Word – here understood as his Logos – his Word will fully accomplish the objective he commands. His command and his intent were accomplished in and through the Holy Spirit: “By the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.” The Word did not return to his Father “void,” that is in vain and without effect. Jesus told his Disciples, and therefore us, who are also his, in John 6:38 – 38 for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
God’s care for his creation of Earth and all its creatures is echoed in Sunday’s Psalm. Let’s reread that excerpt above:
Psalm 65:9 –
9 You visit the earth and water it,
you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water;
you provide the people with grain,
for so you have prepared it.
The Psalmist tells us repeatedly that God really does know what he’s doing – and that he always knows what we are doing. Way too often we act like we somehow don’t know that, or that somehow – even if God knows – he’s not going to tell or remember. We trust him to forget all our sins. There is a qualifier on that promise. He will forget the sins of which we admit and repent. It is an unwise plan to wait for death to be at the door and then say, “Oh yeah, Father, about that time I ______’d. I neglected to tell you; I’m sorry for that, too. I apologize for not admitting it sooner.” What do you think might happen if we didn’t get to finish that sentence? Would we find ourselves looking into an elevator with just one Big Blue Button marked with a large H?
Next The Apostle Paul reminds us that God’s creation and preservation of the Earth has one and only one culmination – the restoration of every living 
person to the Glory of Eden, the redemption of our bodies. He says that it is not just us, not just the Earth, but the entire Creation that groans and labors for that moment. He encourages the Church in his letter to the Romans to willingly bear all suffering present now in our lives because there is a greater Gift awaiting us. It is the Gift of freedom to be reunited with God as he intends – just as he intends that the earth be watered and his Word will not be voided. Belovéd, that is the incomprehensible Hope we have in Christ Jesus. It is a Hope that is brighter than all the stars and galaxies in the universe, and it is that Light, that Truth, that Way of Life that draws us and everyone we meet nearer and nearer to God’s Perfect Integrity, Endless Mercy, Everlasting Love, and Eternal Salvation through Christ our Lord. But we forget about that. We forget about YOLO-F. We forget about the APP. We forget there is no place to hide from the Divine Presence, the Divine Will, the Divine Love, and the Divine Wrath of our Almighty and Everliving God. His Plan is that we will grow in Grace as he prepares us for his gathering-in at the end of time – the Day of Reward. In the parable in Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus gives us a wonderful example of how the Word, which guides us to our Heavenly Home, is given and received.
You know the story. If you don’t, there are the three links above for the parallel Gospels that carry this important message. Usually when we think about this parable, we think about the seed because the seed is the Word. The whole purpose of the sower (in this parable, the Lord God) is to scatter the Word in every place in the field of harvest which here represents the entire 
World. Jesus describes four scenarios for the scattered seed. Three end in fruitlessness. One ends in a return of 30-, or 60-, or 100-fold. That’s the seed that falls on the good soil. In this parable, we want to be like the good soil. We want the Lord of the harvest to send the waters of dew, and rain, and snow on our good soil and sanctify our own Spirits. We want the Lord of the harvest to till the soil, to prune the vineyard or the orchard to increase the yield. We want to wait in joyfully eager anticipation of the rich fullness of the harvest. Why, then, do we take the extra trouble to cover that fertile, tilled, and watered soil with a two-foot-thick layer of rocks, broken branches, dead vines, trash, and garbage? Shall we tell the Lord of the Harvest, “Oops, sorry. I forgot we were planning on harvesting a crop here. We can clean it up later, OK?” That brings us to the quote from the Gospel. Why did Jesus say that?
We usually assume that Jesus told these engaging stories because what he really wanted to say was incomprehensible to the masses. Note, though, that he quotes a very strong admonition from Isaiah 6:9-10 –
9 And he said, “Go and say to this people:
‘Keep listening, but do not comprehend;
keep looking, but do not understand.’
10 Make the mind of this people dull,
and stop their ears,
and shut their eyes,
so that they may not look with their eyes,
and listen with their ears,
and comprehend with their minds,
and turn and be healed.”
Jesus has said clearly and plainly what his Father has told him to say. The Apostles ask him why he teaches the people in parables. He tells them it is because they will not listen to what he has plainly told them. When he quotes Isaiah, he indicates that they are not trying to grasp the Truth. They only want to see more signs and hear more stories. He is upbraiding them for closing their eyes and ears to what is True. The Marcan version of this parable makes this more evident. The Apostle Matthew softens it a bit. Here’s what he says:
Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says: You shall indeed hear but not understand, you shall indeed look but never see. Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and be converted, and I heal them. Jesus is saying that the crowds have not grasped the mystery and impact of his message because understanding has not been found in them even though he has told them – both plainly and in parables – what the kingdom of God is like. For those who accept what Jesus has laid out before them, they will be enriched by the fullness of Graces they receive. For those who reject or fail to embrace Jesus’ message, what little understanding they had will be lost to them. Because why?
Because when we are given the richness of the Word and bring those seeds of Graces into our lives, our hearts, and our minds, we are to treasure them, nurture them, tend them like a precious effect of God’s loving provision for us both physically and spiritually. When we are converted, we are healed. When we acknowledge our sins and repent as we feed more fully on the Word, we find the Gospel, the Love of God, and the message of Christ Jesus to be the most satisfying part of our lives. Some will understand YOLO-F as You Only Live Once – Fuhgeddaboudit. There is no poorer ground on which the Seeds of Grace can fall. Belovéd, let us promise each other never to forget because we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
There is one more thing I am led to share. It may or may not make sense to you. I’ll tell you what I think it means, but I believe you just might have a better handle on it. Here we go:
One is the beginning of infinite. Zero is the beginning of eternal. This could also be written as ±1≥∞ and X÷0=∞. If you were to represent these statements graphically, the first would be the x-axis, and the second would be the y-axis. Infinity does not start at zero, it has to start at 1 and build from there. It can’t start at -1 because that would be regressive and therefore not infinite. Zero is the beginning of Eternal because God exists outside of time and space, and started both time and space with nothing, and built it into Eternity – an 
Eternity with him. Before that, there was no such thing as time; but, when God created light we are told in Genesis 1:5 – 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. Yup, I’m sounding totally crazy, but I have just told you what I was told to tell you. When I was told, he also said, “Don’t forget to tell them.” Like everything he says, it is a good reminder of how vast is his Love for us! It is because of that Love that something is happening here. Back in the sixties, we used to say, “Hey, what’s happening?” We know the answer if we know the Lord. We are watching as creation awaits with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God. That is most definitely “SOMETHING.”
If you’d like to read something that will make your heart ache, READ Psalm 53. If you want to read something that will make your heart REJOICE, read Isaiah 55. That’s what’s happening!
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
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Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
