The prophet speaks about the need to look for the ways of God. He tells us to seek the Lord while he may be found, to call him while he is near (Isaiah 55:6). To seek the Lord involves changing our way of life and conforming to God’s ways, which might be different from our own ways. We are not left without any help. God speaks his word, which is powerful enough to change us. His word is like a messenger who does not return until he has fulfilled his mission. The conversion that God wants is not simply a turning away from sins and moral corruption. He is asking for much more. He wants a radical change in our way of looking at God. The spoken word of God is very important in our lives, to direct us to live according to God’s will. The word of God has a creative and life-giving power.
That is why the Prophet Isaiah speaks about the power and mission of God’s word. Its efficacy is seen in the non-failure of the rain that comes down upon the earth. The word of God accomplishes its task and returns with success. This prophecy is understood in the light of Christ event, the eternal Word, who is called the Word of God, and may be said to go forth out of his mouth, being spoken of, by all his holy prophets, since the world began. His coming was like the gentle rain or snow (Hosea 6:3). Jesus came as the Father’s eternal word. He was born of the Virgin Mary, by the power of the Holy Spirit. His earthly ministry was associated with great efficacy. Jesus the eternal Word of the Father accomplished his Mission through preaching and teaching, forgiveness of sins, raising the dead, curing and healing of all diseases, spreading of God’s love and establishing of God’s Kingdom on earth. He was watering his people with his grace, through the ministry of the word, and making them fruitful. He finally showed his Love by dying on the cross for his people winning for them the resurrection. He returned to heaven again in the ascension, not empty-handedly, without fruit and effect; he produced a large harvest of souls, and procured all blessings and graces for them, and accomplished the whole will and pleasure of God, in effecting the salvation of his people within the Holy church.
In our gospel reading, Jesus addresses us with himself. He is the word of God. He is the sower of the word. He is the interpreter, the preaching and the meaning of the word of God. Jesus is telling the parable of the sower at a difficult juncture in his life: he had been thrown out of his own town of Nazareth; at Capernaum, they had treated him as a madman; the Pharisees wanted to get rid of him; his disciples were leaving him. The whole of his preaching seems to have fallen on deaf ears. The conditions were totally unfavorable, and his word seems destined to die out. Jesus indeed, disappeared into the world, like a little seed, weak, insignificant, almost invisible. And yet soon after, slowly but progressively, it began to grow.
In the parable of the sower, Jesus speaks about the disposition of those who receive him as the word that is proclaimed. Jesus loves us so much. He does not want us to be the foot path or the rocky ground or the soil with thorns where the seed of the word did not find root. Jesus wants us to have the disposition of the rich soil, where the word germinated and grew bearing abundant fruits of the Kingdom.
The disciple with the disposition of the rich soil is the one, who weathers the storms of trials in union with Jesus Christ, with perseverance in faith and love, hoping for the light at the end of the tunnel. He is the one, who bears fruits of God’s Kingdom. The one who bears fruits of the kingdom, is the one who knows that all creation is in turmoil, and is not perfect yet. Each of us should experience this un-fulfillment in ourselves, but the Spirit works in creation, as well as in the believer, leading us to completion in Jesus Christ. We need the power of God’s word in our lives to bear fruits of God’s Kingdom.
Let us, therefore, follow Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word of God with enduring spirit. With St. Paul let us consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing, compared with the glory to be revealed for us.
