Readings: 1 Cor 15:35-37,42-49; Ps. 56; Luke 8:4-15
Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.
THE FRUIT OF HAVING THE RIGHT DISPOSITION TOWARDS THE WORD OF GOD
Our disposition towards whatever we do in life determines how successful we can be. Experience has shown that people’s dispositions vary depending on where their interests are based.
Therefore, to be fruitful in whatever we do, we must develop the right disposition towards it. Knowing the importance of this statement in understanding his mission, Jesus, in our Gospel reading today, used the parable of the sower to describe different kinds of human disposition and response towards the Word of God.
He said, A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some fell on the edge of the path and were trampled on; and the birds of the air ate it up. Some seed fell on rock, and when it came up it withered away, having no moisture. Some seed fell amongst thorns and the thorns grew with it and choked it. And some seed fell into rich soil and grew and produced its crop a hundredfold.’ Saying this he cried, ‘Listen, anyone who has ears to hear!’
In this parable, Jesus categorised our different dispositions towards the Word of God in relation to our interior life. Thereby giving us the guidelines that will help us to examine our attitudes towards the seed of God’s Word, whether our soul is like dry rocky ground, whether our soul is full of the thorns of the things of this passing world or whether we regularly seek to nourish our soul and prepare it to receive the Holy Word of God. So we are called to create a fertile disposition within our hearts to do the will of God.
This is important because today and even in the Scriptures, many hear the words of Jesus and do not understand them because of a wrong disposition, for instance in the Scriptures we have the religious leaders who are against the teachings of Jesus, and the crowds that responded positively to Jesus, especially to his miracles of healing, yet turned against him at the end and demanded his crucifixion.
Some disciples, such as Judas, might also be included among those who fell away when trouble or persecution came on account of the Word. The rich young man, unable to part with his possessions, provides a clear example of one who hears the word, but whose love for the passing things of this world and the lure of wealth choked the word, and it yielded nothing.
Also, what about the good soil? These are those who hear the Word, understand and internalise it, who indeed bear fruit and yield an abundant harvest. Our mother Mary and the apostles, excluding Judas, are good examples of such people.
Therefore, the different kinds of ground on which the seed falls represent different ways by which we receive the Word of God. And St. Paul in our first readings today says: If the soul has its own embodiment, so does the spirit have its own embodiment. The first man, Adam, as scripture says, became a living soul; but the last Adam has become a life-giving spirit.
Here, St Paul reminds us of our basic Christian faith, which teaches that, for us to rise with Christ, we must first die to ourselves. That is, those things which lead us to the ways of this world must die, and we must be reborn to the life of faith.
Then we will rise with Christ and share his glory, just as we read in the parable of the Sower. For the Sower being Christ himself, teaches us how to manage the challenges of life in order to yield a rich harvest of faith and attain the eternal joy of heaven,
Dear friends, today, our hearts are the fields in which the Word of God is scattered, to which do our hearts belong? The pathway, the rocky ground, the thorns or the good soil? Whichever one, we are called to pay attention and take some time to appreciate God’s Word in our lives by allowing it to bear solid roots in us and germinate to bear great fruits
LET US PRAY: Heavenly Father, we are often distracted from hearing and assimilating your Word we hear every day, give us grace to remain open to receiving your Word, so as to bear fruit abundantly. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Have a blessed and peaceful weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment