July 16, 2023 Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Welcome Father Bernward Today’s Readings: Is 55:10-11 | Rom 8:18-23 | Mt 13:1-23

The Parable of the Sower is featured in 3 of the 4 Gospels so it’s a really important parable to pay attention to. […]

Jesus’ people were a subjugated people, living under Roman imperial oppression, occupying their ancestral lands. […] Can you imagine what Jesus might have felt seeing his community experience a great deal of inequality, poverty, and exploitation?

So seeing all this injustice around him, Jesus was very critical about the injustices that were exercised by the Roman elite and religious leaders who sided with them.

The central teaching Jesus shared with his people was that we must work together to usher in the Kingdom of God here and now and reject the Kingdom of Rome. Actualizing the Kingdom of God meant being free from Roman oppression! Jesus lived that out in incredibly daring ways. He pushed religious and cultural tradition to center the most marginalized, he invited people to leave their comfortable life, he broke bread and barriers with those you “weren’t” supposed to be with, and, most importantly, he stayed faithful to that vision even if it meant “carrying your cross,” which in his time meant that it would lead you to a Roman execution, the crucifixion.

This is a groundbreaking vision and calling! […] …You can almost feel the hope, excitement and THE CHALLENGE that Jesus was proposing to his people. “To get to this Kingdom of God, we need to act.” This is the Word, the seed, that Jesus references in his parable of the sower.

It’s a challenge parable! Jesus is challenging us to act boldly and to take risks in the pursuit of justice. […]

So let’s jump into the birds. Jesus says that when someone doesn’t understand the challenge of the Kingdom of God, the evil one just snatches it up before it takes root in our heart. This might look like being so moved by someone’s testimony about the climate crisis at a nice benefit dinner, but going back to your old habits of consumerism and energy waste after the dinner. So scaring the birds in this case would be to reflect deeply on the invitation from this testimony and to ask God and your community what steps you all can take to address this issue.

Then Jesus moves to the rocks where we might be incredibly inspired after going to an immigrant rights protest and you begin volunteering with a local organization. But after some time with them, you notice your neighbors and family making comments about you and criticizing your involvement with them, so you stop going. Throwing out the rocks might look like throwing out the rocks of people-pleasing and caring what others think of you. Throwing out these rocks makes more room in your heart to listen to where God needs you.

Then Jesus talks about the thorns which might look like when people get caught in their comfortable life. These are the thorns of “I’m too busy,” “I just want to chill and relax,” or worst yet, “I don’t want to go to that neighborhood.” These are the thorns that are normalized but they keep us in a trap of privilege and comfort. […] Pruning these thorns might look like going to your block club meetings, or forming a robust social justice ministry at your parish. And the thing about pruning is that you have to constantly keep doing it.

Just like scaring the birds and throwing out the rocks. How are we making our heart and soul fertile soil where the Word can bear good and holy fruit? Where instead of making excuses about our time, energy and comfort level, we say yes to Jesus’ challenge.

We are in a historical moment where our actions have tremendous consequences. The Spirit is calling and has been calling out to each of us to let the Gospel challenge fall on rich soil. As collaborators with God, we are meant to be OUT in the world, organizing for equality, helping one another, innovating tradition, and so much more.

Let us never fall in the trap of believing that Jesus’ parables were just some interesting short stories because we risk missing the entire point of the Gospel message and Jesus’ mission, altogether. Parables were meant to unsettle Jesus’ people and us today. So let’s reflect on our own birds, rocks and thorns that prevent us from rising up to this challenge - the pursuit of justice and equality in our communities.

Source of reflection: © Joanna Arellano-Gonzalez [shortened], full version on https://www.catholicwomenpreach.org/preaching/07162023 Source of image: Sower went out to sow (from a mural in Brasov, Romania), via Art in the Christian Tradition, https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55021 [retrieved July 16, 2023]. Original source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/feargal/5765705109/.