How is God’s Word effective?
The prophet Isaiah knew that growth depends upon nourishment: the heavens send rain and snow to water the earth, making it fertile and fruitful. Seeds planted under such conditions can thrive. As Psalm 65 reminds us, the seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest. These images were used to remind the people of Israel of how the Lord continues to care for them, season after season, year after year, bringing life and filling them with hope for future success. The images also serve as a useful metaphor for God’s communication to God’s people: like the rain and snow that come down,… so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth, the Lord tells Isaiah; my word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it. God’s word needs to be received by open hearts to it in order to be transformative, to nourish the growth of God’s people. In order to for that word to be effective, we must participate in God’s word, and in God’s will.
Jesus will similarly use the imagery of growth in Matthew’s Gospel when he wants the large crowds that have gathered around him to understand his message about the kingdom of God. Despite hardship and difficulties, Jesus explains, the Word of God is effective and will produce the fruit that is his kingdom. Indeed, the yield in some cases will be extraordinary: some seed will fall on rich soil, and produce fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. God’s harvest is miraculous, so long as we allow the seeds that are planted in our hearts to thrive. Not everyone is open to God’s Word, as Jesus knows: I speak to them in parables, because they look but do not see and hear but do not listen, he tells his disciples. But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear, he goes on. The people gathered to hear Jesus have an opportunity to understand, but many are not yet ready; the seed is sown so that later they will remember the Lord’s miraculous Word and participate in his extraordinary harvest.
What produces openness in us? What makes us willing to let the Word of God keep speaking to us? Why do we allow ourselves to open further to what they Lord is speaking to us, that we might know the growth and transformation to which Jesus call us? Perhaps it is the promise that the kingdom of heaven will be even more extraordinary than we can imagine, more effective than anything we can produce, because it is grounded in the power of Jesus’ death and rising which effects our salvation, as Paul reminds the Romans: the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us. We are invited to participate in the kingdom on earth by living in faith for the hope that is ours, the glorious freedom of the children of God. When we surrender entirely to salvation its glory, we are allowing the Word of God to be effective, and our world will overflow with a rich harvest!
This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com
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