Homily 15th
Sunday of Year A: Fr. Michael Ufok Udoekpo
·
Isa
55:10-11· Ps 65:10-14
· Rom 8:18-23
· Matthew 13:1-23
Today we
celebrate the Word of God, verbum domini that nourishes us, that
transforms us, when we read it, when listen to it, when we preach it, when we
sing it, when we receive in in the Holy Communion, and when we live it positively in our daily lives.
And going by the readings of today, Jesus,
God’s incarnate is this Word of God.
Throughout the
course of his ministry, this God’s Incarnate, Jesus, loves speaking in
parables, because he loves simplicity. He speaks in parable to drive home his
points in a manner understandable to his brothers and sisters; to his listeners
who were men and women like us, who were children and adult like us, who were
rich and poor like us, who were learned and some without a college degrees like
some of us today. These parabolic teachings of Jesus will continue in the next
couple of Sundays ahead!
But, as for
today’s Gospel parable, Matthew 13, in it, the Word of God, the love of God,
the commandments of God, the values of God, the promises of God have been sown
as a seed in our hearts, in various soils of our hearts. There are 4 different soils, representing 4 different hearts of the baptized. The first 3 are not
hospitable, accommodative, approachable or fertile enough to host the Word of
God, the love of God, his mercy, his kindness and his forgiveness. They represent anxieties, worries,
tribulations, jealousies, anger, hatred, distrust of divine providence,
disobedience and all kinds of temptations with anti-Christ’ sentiments of this
world.
The 4th
soil represents those who hear, read, preach, teach and live the Word of God,
listen to it a 30 fold, who understands it a 60 fold, and obeys it and puts
into fruitful practice of love, mercy, forgiveness, patience and love of God
and ones’ neighbors, a 100 hundred fold, no matter where they come from, or
look like.
Don’t forget
the 4th soil also represents those who endure sufferings and hope in
the Lord. This is where we find a very strong link between the Gospel and the
first reading of today, Isaiah 55, known also as the Book of Consolation.
Though originally addressed to the exiles who would return from Babylon to Judah
... in their scarcity of lack of food and water and defenselessness God out of
his mercy will provide all their needs against their enemies. Like the rain and
snow provided by God to water and irrigates the fields of ancient Israel, God will
surely see us through our present day challenges.
What are your
challenges if we may ask? Are there lack
of faith, loss of our loved ones, worries about our future, our health, jobs,
insurances, social security, our children, our retirement benefits and our
homes ….Paul in that 2nd reading, who is convinced of the promises
of Christ, insists on Christ’s messages of hope and openness to the Word of
God, that “the sufferings of this present time is nothing compared to the glory
of the Lord to be revealed to us.”
Paul says, just
as all creation groan with labor pains, let us bear our suffering patiently,
knowing that our redemption is near at hand. In other, words, May we continue
to read the word of God everyday starting with prayer to understand and live
the word of God. May we continue to listen to the word of God as read and
preached in the church during weekday and Sunday Masses, by our priests and
pastors. May we continue to listen to our parents and experience elders, and
daily ask for God’s special grace to remove all types of road blocks, worries,
confusions and burdens of un-repented sins that hinders the word God from
touching our hearts and transforming us, our children and our society.
Finally, “the
parable of the sower challenges us to see how deeply the word of God has taken
root in our lives, how central God is to the very fabric of our day-to-day life.
And how kind and forgiving we are to one another." Still, in the Spirit of Pope
Francis, our humblest offers of help to anyone in need may be the seeds that
fall on that good soil, on that 4th soil, and yield an abundant harvest of 30-60 and a100 folds.