Homily for 15th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year A 2020
Isaiah 55:10-11; Romans 8:18-23; Matthew 13:1-23
Introduction
According to one tradition, St. Francis of Assisi, when teaching his followers how to minister said: “Preach the Gospel always, and if necessary, use words.” This was his way of saying what we say today that “Actions speak louder than words.” This is because human words can be empty, hypocritical and full of lies.
What about God's Word? We have just heard the Lord through the prophet Isaiah say: "my word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it?" And so, unlike human words, God's Word is entirely different. It is meaningful, persuasive and effective.
That is why the Word of God is at the Centre of our Catholic faith, despite the myth that Catholics don't know their Bible. What we believe and do as Catholics, even our worship all come from God's Word in Scripture and in Tradition. The problem is not that we don't read the Bible; it is that we don't understand its power. I would like to describe three ways in which we should hear the word of God, the three levels by which this Word is informative, persuasive and effective.
Scripture and Theology
First, like any other words, God's Word is informative. For example, when we read that Jesus said "I am the vine and you are the branches" we understand the meaning of that statement because we know what a vine is and what branches are. In ordinary life, for example, imagine a father teaching his daughter how to drive. Suddenly he says, "honey, the light is red." If the young lady is not colour blind like me and know what red means she will understand a certain light is red in colour. But there is more to words than merely informing us of facts.
The second level of meaning is persuasive. When the father of the young lady says that "the light is red" he is not merely giving her a lesson in colours – something she should have learnt at much younger age, he warning her that the traffic light they are approaching has turned red in colour. And so the statement does not only have information, but it also has the force of warning her. And so similarly, when we hear Jesus say "I am the vine and you are the branches" we are not receiving a botanical lesson, but those words have the force of persuading us to realize our relationship with Jesus and with each other.
But there is still a third purpose of words. Besides informing us and persuading us, words also have the power to elicit a response from us. In our example when the father tells his daughter that the light is red, he intends with those very words to make her stop the car lest they both meet their maker right there. Similarly when Jesus says "I am the vine and you are the branches" he intends to elicit concrete action from us, living in union with him and in union with each other.
And so, words are informative, persuasive and most importantly effective. That is what Isaiah is saying about God's Word. If we hear God's Word as not only informing our minds of facts, but also persuading our hearts, and thirdly effecting action in us, then we can see why God's word shall not return to him void, but shall do his will, achieving the end for which he sent it.
Christian Life
And so, even though the Bible is not a history, geography or science textbook there is plenty to learn from it about who God is, what his will is for us and for the world. The things we profess in the Creed, the Trinity, the Incarnation, the resurrection of the Dead, come right out of the Bible. It is from the Bible that we learn the Ten Commandments, the Two Greatest Commandments of Love, the Beatitudes, the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, the Works of Mercy. Even the words of our Mass, liturgy, prayers and devotions come straight out of the Scriptures.
We must know what God has said really well and not merely quote Scripture verses during a trivia game or when sparring with friends on Facebook. For as St. Jerome said, "ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ."
After knowing what God has said to us, the second purpose of hearing God's Word is to be persuaded by what God has said. We cannot be like those secular scholars of the Bible who don't believe a word of God. They know it, but they know it in the same way they know history or geography or science. For Christians, however, our knowledge must be accompanied by a conversion of heart, like the young lady who not only knows that the light is red with her mind, but also knows that the light being red is a warning to her.
It is for this reason that the letter to the Hebrews tells us: "Indeed, the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart" (Heb. 4:12). The Word of God must touch us, not only at the level of the head, but also the level of the heart.
And then thirdly, after our minds are informed by God's Word, and our hearts persuaded by it, we must put it into action so that it does not return to God empty. That is what St. Paul tells his protégé Timothy: "All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work" (2 Tim. 3:16-17). To be equipped for every good work can only happen if our good work is steeped in God's Word.
Just think of all the things we do in our personal lives, as families, or even as a Church. They are drawn from God's Word. Our pro-life work, for example, is drawn from what God has taught us about how to care for human life. That is why we March for the lives of the unborn in January. During the COVID-19 crisis, we are taking precautions to protect the lives of our elderly and vulnerable. And most recently we are focusing our efforts in the fight against racial injustice. We do all these things and others because God's Word, on which they are based, cannot return to him empty but must achieve the end for which he sent it.
Friends, for God's word to be effective in us, we must prepare our minds and hearts to hear God's Word as Jesus taught in the parable of the sower. We must not receive God's Word like "the seed sown on the path" whereby our hearts and minds don't understand the Word "and the evil one comes and steals away what was sown" in our hearts. We must not receive God's Word like the "the seed sown on rocky ground" whereby our hearts and minds have no roots to allow the Word to grow deeper, so that "When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he [we] immediately fall[s] away." We must not receive God's Word like "the seed sown among thorns" whereby our hearts and minds allow "worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit." We must receive God's Word and make it effective as Isaiah told us with hearts and minds that are the rich soil of "the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”
Conclusion
One of the privileged places we hear God's Word is at Mass. In the three-year cycle of Sunday readings and the two-year cycle of weekday readings, we hear about 90% of the gospels, 55% of the rest of the New Testament and 14% of the Old Testament, not counting the Psalms. But we must continue reading God's Word even in our personal lives. Let me offer a couple of practical ways.
Have you tried reading the whole bible from beginning to end, perhaps taking one passage at a time? Have you tried studying the Bible with others, perhaps with the help of those who have some expertise like my former colleague Dr. Brant Pitre or Bishop Robert Barron? Have you picked up a booklet or downloaded a phone app, that gives you a daily Scripture reading for meditation?
It is really up to you and me, to make sure that like Isaiah said, God's Word shall not return to him void, but shall do his will, achieving the end for which he sent it. Actions do speak louder than words. But God's Word speaks just as loudly in our actions.
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