I'll just point out briefly today that some of what the Bible says makes no sense to our own ideas of logic. In today's readings we see that those who are not faithful to God and his will should be destroyed, even if they are our families. We are to accept no lack of faith and righteousness as they are defined by God. The standard is incredibly high. Every one of us is guilty. Then in our New Testament reading Jesus makes some very cryptic remarks essentially indicating that the Word of God is planted everywhere, that it accomplishes its purpose and bears fruit except where it is violently choked out.
Are we violently choking out God's Word? To be realistic, we have to admit that we are. That's the way we typically operate, at least on some level. We do want to do things our way, according to our timetable.
We can take heart because God's Word is mighty. It accomplishes its purpose. Even in the unfruitful ground it is creating nourishment. Even the birds who snatch the Word away end up dropping it, allowing it to be fruitful. God's Word is greater than we are. Our nature is to choke and destroy God's Word but it grows, blossoms, and bears fruit anyway. There's nothing wrong with the Word.
Why the parables? It seems that Jesus is speaking in parables so that if we insist on closing our eyes, stopping up our ears, and turning our backs we are able to do so. Jesus speaks in mysteries apparently so we can ignore what he says if we insist. Let's don't ignore it. May the Word of God dwell in us richly, bringing forth an abundant harvest.
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