Faithful God, I Hope in Your Miracle!
Isaiah 55:10-11; Romans 8:18-23; Matthew 13:1-23
“Miracle” is different from the “power of positive thinking”. All your labors and wishing for good amount to positive thinking, when you already have the wherewithal—intelligence—to be successful and hard work for break throughs. This is not the miracle we are talking about. You need God on the driver’s seat for this miracle to happen, especially the compassion of God that proves the simultaneity of God’s love and mercy. It is like a credit card: you have no money, yet you spend money—somebody’s money; even your credit card debt qualifies you to borrow money—what a world, what a reality! With God, expect saving miracle—this is our topic!
Every miracle begins with hope—the conviction that all is not lost, even when we lack the faith that moves mountains. From the ashes of the Babylonian captivity, suddenly, ember flames began to flicker. The despondent song “by the rivers of Babylon” turned into reversed wheel of fortune. This is the message of our first reading, it was the scenario of Isaiah’s prophecy. Isaiah paints the image of a slow and steady God, who may not be in time but always on time with his rains! Yes, God doesn’t provide rain in the dry season, but he has arranged a special period for the rains—rainy season; he has a contract with the rains, with specific instructions not to be suspended in mid-air, but to reach the soil and make germinate and grow, the good seeds sown. More than the rains, it is the prophecy of God that is at stake here; when pronounced, it is efficacious because irreversible—“my word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). The dry season may hurt, but hope tells us that God is not asleep, he will intervene, just as God returns Judah home to Jerusalem, from Babylonian exile.
If Isaiah prophesied the hope of a nation, our second reading talks of individual hope. According to Paul, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us” (Romans 8:18). The hope of a nation correlates individual hope for salvation. If Judah was saved as a nation (first reading), God also wants to save us as individuals (second reading). Inseparable with hope is a period of waiting that may be uncomfortable or called “suffering”. Some will say it took 70 years of exile (Jeremiah 25:11; 29:10), before the prophecy of the return that our first reading speaks of. Paul would suggest hundreds of years of waiting (Galatians 3:17), before Christ came to redeem us. For you and I, it is now two millennia of waiting for the parousia: so many martyrs, confessors and everyday folks kicking the bucket, and Christ is yet to return. In all these situations, there must be hope, hope of an unfailing miracle because God’s miracle is on the way.
Today’s gospel parable begins at a seashore: “On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea” (Matthew 13:1). Instead of talking about all the species of fish one could catch at sea and the different kinds of fishermen there are, Jesus talks about a farmer and farm lands. Without telling us where the farmer got his seeds from, he busied himself with the act of sowing and the kind of harvest to be expected, while Jesus sat in a boat at sea, not on the land. Any symbolisms at stake here?
For contemporary Africans, the other side of the sea is where the good things are, not at home. For the Mesopotamian and Babylonians, the sea is the kingdom of the gods and monstrous creatures beyond human domestication and taming. But, for the returnee Jews from Babylon, God is the Master of the sea and tamer of all that is unruly and wild. Sitting at sea, in the Jewish mind, Jesus makes himself God. Jesus recreates creation scenario, where God’s power is part of himself—his Word—the power of the Word of God and its efficacy. Part of God’s domestication of the sea was already the creation of the human person through his Word (Genesis 1), and the separation between the sea and the land. Jesus’ parable today is neither about any farmer, farmland nor farming/sowing. It is about human beings created in the image and likeness of God and about the process of salvation, since creation had already taken place, the evidence of creation was the presence of human beings right there before Jesus. The question is: how would God help human beings to cross over to the other side, the side of God, to achieve salvation? This is the meaning of our parable—human salvation, how it will come about—the nurturing of the seed/word of God in every human being.
Indeed, God is not just like a farmer, he is actually the Farmer of the parable—you and I are his fields, his farm lands. Looking at the good, the bad and the ugly amongst us—God needs to explain why the differences—what better idea could one find to explain the parable of today’s gospel? They all point to the problems we face today, that make salvation a Herculean task—the thorns on our path to social justice and equality, the weeds in our political landscapes impeding economic rights and human rights, and the human extermination industrial complexes masquerading as wolves in sheep’s clothing; yet, we slug it out in hope of a better tomorrow through our little kindnesses—this too is hope awaiting a miracle.
The fact that our gospel reading quotes Isaiah takes our minds to Jesus’ desire for our salvation—our return home (heaven) from the exile of our sinfulness and error—the way the Jews returned home (Jerusalem) from Babylon. The only miracle our gospel narrates is that God makes salvation possible, despite all odds! For every soul, God makes up for the difference between our efforts and pass mark; we simply need to produce some fruits at the harvest time; everybody is not expected to produce the same quantity, some will “produce a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold” (Matthew 13:23). Here and now, “I hope in your miracle” is the hope for a change, with or without me present to live it, for which I struggle today. It is the sign of my indebtedness to future generation, and an appreciation of the largesse of the generation I am succeeding and—in some cases—I have succeeded. Hope has no time to waste on who has or had failed, but on what can be done to improve your and my tomorrow—your and my chances of salvation.
Looking at the Jesus of today’s gospel, he keeps busy strategizing on how to convince his disciples to believe in miracle, beginning with the miracle of his presence, God’s presence before their eyes—the paradox of the parable they were listening to and that you and I are reading about today. Jesus attempts to convince his listeners that the presence of his word within them must find a way of becoming deeds and actions—this is the challenge. These deeds are the fruits on the basis of which salvation will occur. When God spoke his word at creation, there were concrete deeds that followed; the word of God, sown and present in human beings, must produce fruits in deeds like God’s, towards salvation. We can count on God’s faithfulness, his miracle for our salvation, but our salvation also depends on us!
Let us conclude with a story, a Nigerian story. A young man graduated from the university with a first class honors. As required by the Nigerian government, he needed to serve his fatherland (some call it “military service”) for one year, before going into the labor market. He was sent to teach in a community secondary school, where he met an old man reputed for his wisdom and held in high esteem by all in the community. The senior had no university degree, and this graduate with a first class couldn’t get his opinions to prevail in this school because of everybody’s deference to this old man’s. Our young graduate came up with an idea to prove to all and sundry that the old man was overrated. He says to the students, “I will catch a fly in the palm of my hand, and go to the old man to ask him whether the fly is alive or dead. Should the old man say the fly is dead, I will open my palm and the fly will fly away, but should he say the fly is alive, I will squeeze the fly to death and open my palm to let the old man know that the fly is dead”. How ingenious, the students thought. So, a day was set, and the young graduate went with his fans to test the old man. When the young man asked his question, the old man was in no hurry to provide an answer. As a matter of fact, it is habitual of seniors to think issues through before responding. The young man asked his question three times before the old man responded: “my son,” he said, “the answer to your question depends on you: the life of the fly is in your hand, you could either let it go free or kill it; so, the answer to your question depends on yo
Faith – God’s Advice to the Doubtful
Isaiah 55:10-11; Romans 8:18-23; Matthew 13:1-23
Living in Africa today, it is very difficult not to doubt people and even God: politicians make promises during their election campaigns, which they do not honor after election into office; couples make wonderful promises on their wedding day, only to chicken out of their marriage vows; most men promise their wife fidelity until death, but they celebrate infidelity in their marriage; ministers of God and preachers promise fidelity to God, but they are the first to run away from martyrdom and, for love of money, they promote the exploitation of the poor; children go to school, only to become experts in examination malpractices and cultism. Is there anyone still faithful to God and human beings today?
In a world of infidelities and broken promises, there is still a promise-keeper and a faithful adventurer ready to court those who are and have been victims of lies, betrayals, infidelities and shattered hopes and dreams – this promise-keeper and adventurer is God. To the casualties of lies, betrayals, etc., God is your answer: with God, there are no promises unfulfilled, dreams unrealized, hopes dashed or doubts not dispelled. In fact, all one needs to do is to look backwards to God’s dealings with all who trusted in him in Sacred Scripture. When the Philistine hero taunted Israel, with a sling, God granted victory to Israel through the hands of a lad, David. When Joseph was in dungeon because he refused the sin of adultery and fornication with Potiphar’s wife, God lifted him up to glory—he became a deputy in the kingdom of Egypt. When the Devil and sin thought they had had the last laugh on humanity, angel Gabriel announced the conception of a Savior, and Mary conceived Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. When human beings were identity-less and stateless, Baptism restored them to the dignity of becoming sons and daughters of God, and members of the kingdom of God.
Through Isaiah, whose name means, “God saves,” God gives his unalterable word in our first reading, and he guarantees its efficacy; the word that comes from my mouth, says God, must accomplish its purposes. What is this word of God? Primarily, salvation is God’s gift to humanity; salvation from every oppression, betrayal, lies, infidelity, etc. Salvation is the restoration of Truth and the dethronement of lies and falsehood. A story may help us to understand this fact.
There is the story of a wood cutter, who went out to cut wood on a river bank. While he was cutting wood, his axe fell into the river. Since he couldn’t swim, and being a good Christian, he yelled out – oh God help me. He heard the voice of God asking him what the matter was; he responded that he needed God to go into the river to get him his axe. God goes down into the river and came up with a golden axe and asked him if it was his, his reply was negative. God went down the river a second time and came up with a silver axe, but the wood cutter said it wasn’t his. A third time, God went down the bottom of the river and came up with a metal axe, which the wood cutter said was his. In his surprise that the wood cutter was an honest man, God gave him all three axes—gold, silver and metal. One summer evening, the same wood cutter was taking an evening walk with his wife. While they were crossing a bridge, his wife fell overboard into the river. The wood cutter cried out, oh God help me. This time around, God asked him again what the matter was, and he replied that his wife fell into the river. So God went into the river, and God resurfaced with Angelina Jolie, and asked the wood cutter whether she was his wife. He responded, “yes Lord, she is my wife!” But God said to him, “you lied, she is not your wife.” To which the wood cutter said: God, you’ve got to understand; the last time my axe fell into the river, you went three times into the river, at the end of which I ended up with three axes; this first time, if I had said that Angelina Jolie is not my wife, you would have gone back into the river and brought up Celine Dion, and if I said she is not my wife, you would have gone back to bring up my wife in third place, then I will end up with three women, no God, one woman is good enough!
Salvation of God hinges on faith; God saves those who trust and put their faith in him. “Faith,” a doubtless trust that God is able to do what we want him to do for us, comes to us, through the Word of God we hear. One instance of hearing this word of God is through God’s ministers, whether they be priests, prophets or evangelists. Today, the prophet Isaiah tells us what God guarantees, the fact that God saves in whatever circumstances of life—ill-health, oppression, poverty, sinfulness, etc. In fact, our story of today tells the tale of a God who saves a woman/wife from drowning and runs errands for a man who could not swim, in order to recover his axe.
Armed with faith, every door begins to open, and every obstacle gives way. With faith, there is always the courage to trust again, even the worst cheat in a marriage, the worst criminals of our societies, the most disastrous husband or wife, and that good-for-nothing person around us. According to St. Paul, “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?” (Romans 10:13-15). You and I, just as Isaiah was sent by God, are the messengers of God to preach God’s fidelity to his word.
You know what? You are reading this sermon because God wants to rekindle your faith in him. God is tired of your knowledge of him in your brains and wants a lively relationship with you. A relationship that sees you trusting in him; a relationship that sees you calling upon his name to help solve the problems you think you have. A relationship because he wants to descend to your heart, so that your every heartbeat is monitored and guided by him. He wants to be the very first thought in your heart when you rise in the morning, the thought that accompanies your activities all day long, and the thought on your mind when you go to bed.
The different places where the word of God is sown by Jesus in today’s gospel remind us of all the places where we need him, and the places where we have accounted him useless and expelled him. The human heart is the terrain for sowing God’s word because no one sows the seeds of spoken words on an agricultural field, they do not belong there. The human heart grows thorns because we have all experienced betrayals, infidelity and abuse of one sort or another. If we have little faith, it is because we easily become asphyxiated, catch our breath because the theories we have learnt in school are at variances with the realities we see. Above all, our hearts and ears and eyes are fatigued with errors instead of truth, lies in place of honesty, hatred en lieu of love.
Indeed, we have seen the harvest of violence and wars more than that of peace and love, so we think it is useless having faith in God. We have so often seen the worst of humanity that we doubt the human ability and capacity for good. The noises of that which is wrong have drowned the gentle message and nudge towards unity and peaceful co-existence. So discouraged are we that we forget that we can change what we feed our hearts and minds with through what we see with our eyes and hear with our ears. We need a change of died—try the word of God.
The harvest of peace and love, the weeding out of hatred and exploitation from our hearts and societies will only be possible when we sow the word of God in our hearts. The groaning of creation of which St. Paul speaks, in the second reading, is my groaning, it is your groaning, because we all seek peace and love and joy and quietness for ourselves and those we care about. Yes, it is the groaning of all of creation, but we feel it deep within us, we desire earnestly to be liberated from it, and we crave passionately for a better world. But how does St. Paul conclude our second reading? He says, the whole of creation awaits the revelation of the sons and daughters of God. In other words, I am the solution and answer to what I seek: there will be no peace without me; there will be no fidelity without my faithfulness; there will be not absence of war when I continue to be the manufacturer of weapons of war, and an architect of unrest; hatred will continue to have a field day because I readily make my heart available to it.
Peace and love come to me and my loved ones because I feed my eyes, ears and other senses with the word of God. The time I spend contemplating division rather than unity, I promote disunity. The hours I spend in front of the television watching how some people are bad, instead of how do I make such people good; how one political party is bad without asking how to make it good, how one ideology is bad, without suggestions on how to improve on it—these are wasteful times because they only divide, they do not unite. Unity and love come when we spend time on how to improve one another and not tear one another apart. Love is to feel concern for the other and not seek the destruction of the other. Indeed, when the more than 1 billion human beings, who go by the name Christian, begin to reveal that they are sons and daughters of God, then peace, love and unity will be ours.
The answer to broken promises and infidelity of all kinds is faith in the irrevocable and utterly efficacious word of God that can transform creation and nature; the solution to the inner groaning and yearnings of the human heart and soul is the permanent disposition to listen to and act according to the word of God transmitted to every human generation from God; the only time when Christianity will stop being a travesty of the truth is when every Christian’s life mirrors that of God. For now, at least, each one of us is called to reveal God to our families and friends. Today, we are encouraged to trust and have faith in the word of God sown in our hearts since our Baptism. A better tomorrow is possible, when I make today a better day by behaving like a child of God!
Assignment of the Week:
Sit and reflect on one obstacle preventing the word of God from flourishing in your life, and seek a solution to it or let every word you speak this week come from the Word of God.
From: fatherayo2u.com 2017