Do You Hear What I Hear
15th Sunday of the Ordinary Time – Do You Hear What I Hear
Forget the sower for a moment. Ignore the seed-scattering and the kinds of soil. I know our tendency is to focus on these images whenever we read/hear this parable, but they might be secondary to understanding the heart of the message Jesus is offering. Rather, focus on what Jesus said to his disciples when they pulled him aside to ask about his teachings. Jesus said, “Many have longed to see and hear what you have seen and heard, but have not.”
Thus the question: What did those first apostle-disciples see and hear?
On the surface, my answer would be simple and direct: Jesus. They saw and heard Jesus. Prophets and the holy ones of the past longed to see the Day of the Lord come among them. They awaited the Savior’s coming and prayed for the day He’d come to save them. Now, he walked among them, and the disciples knew it.
While that’s certainly true, it really only scratches the surface of what Jesus was driving home. A lot of other people saw and heard Jesus, too. They listened to His Beatitudes and watched him perform miracles. They followed him from town-to-town, and witnessed the ways he vanquished demons. Like the apostle-disciples, they were a part of the in-breaking of the Kingdom of God.
Why, then, was Jesus so quick to point out that most who followed him actually didn’t see or hear anything at all, that their hearts were gross?
Here it is: no one really knew Him, nor did they want to. Instead, they chased after him when they needed something. They were content when he did something nice for someone they loved (or themselves). They followed when it was convenient, or when they were desperately needy.
The Lord understood this, of course – human nature being what it is. Even in these moments, His Heart was moved with pity and compassion, for God can’t help Himself. He loves even when we don’t love in return. And yet, how Heart-crushing it must be for God when the crowds only see and hear what they choose to embrace.
They wanted Jesus without the commandments and “hard sayings.” They wanted Transfiguration without Calvary. They wanted Mercy without Justice. It was almost as if their own hearts were picking-and-choosing which seeds of God would bloom in their lives.
Sadly, I can’t help but think we aren’t much different than they.
I know there have been – and still are, if I were being honest – times in my own faith journey in which I choose not to see or hear what the Lord is asking me to accept or embrace. I close myself to His Will and refuse to carry the Cross He has asked me to carry.
The seeds that He is trying to scatter in my life – seeds of grace; seeds of holiness – are falling into soil that refuses to accept Him. I would rather stay “safe,” without any demands placed upon me. “Easy Jesus” is the way to go, at least according to the soil I try to cultivate myself. But if we are accepting God only according to our terms, we are missing the mark.
What the apostle-disciples had begun to understand – and what we are challenged to embrace as well – is that the roots of our relationship with God must go deeper than surface level, and for roots to take hold, the soil must be turned-over frequently and made nutrient-rich, none of it an easy process.
The Sower wants all of our soil, not just what we want to give Him. He wants to remove the rockiness of jealousy and anger; He wants to remove the thorns of hate and greed; He wants to cast-out the weeds of impurity and addictions of every kind. And yet, always remember: the Sower will never steal the land He wants to till.
Will you and I offer Him the soil of our lives?
We are being challenged in this very moment in time to offer that soil of our hearts to Him, to allow Him to use the instrument of His Church — yoked with the Cross – to do the planting and harvesting He longs to accomplish in order to make us His holy disciples and faithful witnesses.
Yes, it may hurt – uprooting rocks and weeds always does. But in the end, imagine the garden … imagine the bountiful harvest. It is always worth it.
Thus, some instructions for planting that must be seen and heard:
First, return to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The Lord died for our sins and poured out His Blood on the Cross to become the life-giving nutrient of our salvation. And while the Sower knows we are sorry for the wrongs we’ve done or the good we’ve failed to do, Love requires that we come to Him in the Sacrament and reveal our rocks and thorns. Don’t hide them. Only Confession can get to the root of the pain and the sin.
Secondly, make time for prayer – every day. The Amish farmers up the road whom I love to watch work their land never neglect a day to plant, till, harvest and, yes, rest. They don’t put off what must be done, for if they do, life around them withers and fades away. So, too, does prayer if we aren’t faithful in tending to that relationship. For each of us, prayer looks different – and there are seasons through which we must travel, even dry seasons – but we have to show-up daily in those fields of prayer if we expect growth.
Finally – and this, too, is key to sowing healthy fields – we mustn’t work alone. We need each other, and God is asking us to till the land together as one. That’s what Communion is all about, is it not? The very bread and wine that become our Eucharistic Lord is produced from the wheat and grapes harvested from healthy fields and vines where a team works to bear this good fruit. Perhaps, then, what the disciples really began to see and hear – what the crowd was missing – was that they were becoming part of the harvesting: that the Sower was inviting them to share in His Work of soil-tilling and seed-planting. The journey was never meant to be done alone. It is truly Communion in every way.
At the end of Isaiah’s prophecy from our First Reading, God speaks to His people, letting them know that his word will not return to Him void but shall accomplish His will. We know that God’s Word is His Son, and the Son’s life within us. He scatters grace and His Spirit’s gifts all over the place – almost recklessly – hoping that our hearts will be open to receive all He offers and then desire nothing more than to know Him, love Him and serve Him. Yes, some seed may fall among the thorns and rocks, but there are fewer and fewer of those hurdles when we go to Confession, pray daily and tend the harvest with one another.
“Whoever has ears, ought to hear,” Jesus tells us … and then don’t just sit there. Fall in love with Him and allow Him to till the soil.