Sunday Homily, July 13, 2014, 15th Ordinary Time, A
Readings:
Isaiah 55, 10-11, My word shall not return to me void.
Psalm 65, The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.
Romans 8, 18-23, We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains.
Matthew 13, 1-23, A sower went out to sow.
Isaiah, The Great One, observations—
Who: One of the Big 3 prophets, the greatest in my estimation. Jeremiah and Ezekiel are the other two. Actually, the book includes the work of 3 prophets. Our selection is the last chapter written by Isaiah 2.
Time: Isaiah 2 was living during the Babylonian Captivity, ca. 555. Isaiah 1 writes before the Captivity, maybe 150 years. Isaiah 3 writes after the return to Jerusalem.
Subject today: better times will come. I am expanding today’s passage, because it is so good.
Isaiah 2 has some of the most beautiful passages, many of which are seen as foretelling the coming of the Savior. His readings are used all through the Advent & Christmas readings, as well as in Lent. Handel uses Isaiah 2 in his marvelous work, The Messiah.
Both the Isaiah reading and Psalm 65 are beautiful.
And My Seed Landed Where?
This morning I would like to talk about how Jesus is said to describe how the farmer’s seed is scattered on four different types of ground, the path, the rocks, the thorns, and the fertile. Where did your seed fall? Where did my seed fall? I’m sure a lot of volunteers would be happy to let me know where my seed fell.
If you are a sinful gambler poker player you would look at this explanation and notice the bad odds, one out of four. I would propose, however, that we all landed on fertile soil. Let me offer some examples.
I’ve shared this example once before, so you might remember it, but probably not.
When I was a little kid about 5 years old, I was playing in the driveway of our house in University Park. There were no fences and the drive went from the street, through the space between our house and the neighbor’s, and to the back up against the alley.
The neighbor was Sam Berger, who owned a hat store in downtown Dallas. He was Jewish and lived next to us all during the Holocaust. I was oblivious to it all. He & his wife had a big black lady who not only worked in the house, but lived in the back in an apartment attached to the garage, the servant quarters. This black lady was not nice to me.
So this day as I am playing in the driveway, the lady steps out of the kitchen door & stands on the steps. Without thinking, I say, “You are a big fat elephant.”
To the lady’s credit, she marches right across the drive and tells my mom. My mom comes out of the house, drags me in, and spanks me. Thinking back, I am impressed that my mom respected the lady. The spanking, however, and her treatment of me confirmed my suspicions that my seed had fallen at least on the path or rocks, if not right on the thorns. I definitely grew up with the belief that I was a bad kid.
Despite the fact that you folks might agree with that assessment, I would propose that I was just a normal little boy doing silly things.
This habit of doing silly, not bad things, can continue into adult years. I know a guy who gets on his bike and rides off for an hour leaving the driver’s door of his car wide upon.
I know a lady who last week let her Lincoln run out of gas in rush hour traffic. Her husband, a bit nettled, brought gas, but then could not start the car. It had to be towed.
I know a dear friend who drove into her garage with a canoe strapped to the top of her car.
You do this stuff and you begin to believe the bad news, ‘I am a loser, I am bad, my seed obviously landed in the ditch.”
And then there are the malicious acts. You know where I come in on this. Kids hurt and abused grow up to hurt and abuse. They are not bad. They are damaged.
So, who landed on fertile soil? All of us. God don’t make bad seed.
So, what do you think about all this?