The way that the Prophet Isaiah describes the Word of God in our first reading, it sounds like something everybody would want. It’s like rain and snow that water the ground, which provides grain for the farmer, which provides bread for the hungry. That sounds like a pretty good deal! So why, in the Gospel, does Jesus describe people who, when given the Word of God, do not understand it, or give it up only for a short time, or abandon the Word of God during persecution and tribulation, or even let worldly cares and riches choke it out?
We can have this idea that if something is truly good, then we would automatically, or naturally, want it. Or, the alternative side of that same approach, if we want something, then it must be good. In fact, St. Augustine says that we wouldn’t choose something if we didn’t think it was good for us. But if we take a step back, we know that we don’t always choose things that are truly good for us, and the things that are good for us don’t always seem attractive. Take food: hopefully, if given the choice between an apple and a Snickers bar, we would choose the apple. But let’s be honest: the Snicker bar looks better and sounds like a more enjoyable treat. Only when we recognize the value of health and well-being can we recognize that, for at least a majority of occasions, we should choose the apple over the candy.
While cliché, there is truth to the phrase, “The Word of God comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable.” The Word of God only looks good if we have correct vision and understanding of what is truly good. It looks bad if our vision is off, if we have a wrong idea of what is good. The Letter to the Hebrews says, “the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit…and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.” As a two-edged sword, the Word of God cuts both ways. A sword can be something that defends, but it can also be something that attacks.
The Word of God is meant to challenge us, because, given our fallen nature, we don’t always appreciate what is good. Adam and Eve were told that the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not for them, though they could have every other fruit from every other tree in the garden, including the tree of immortality. But, at least for that moment of the Fall, their vision, their desire, went askew. They thought that something contrary to God’s will was good for them, and did not trust that what God had revealed was always good for them, even when He told them that the couldn’t have something. Parents experience this with their children. The child wants something that is not good for them, like candy for dinner. The child doesn’t believe them, and may even try to get away with it once or more. But then the stomach ache comes, or the cavities come, or any other amount of health problems comes.
What God has revealed to us, through the Scriptures and through the teaching of the Church, is good. But we only recognize it as good if we are viewing the world with the eyes of God. If we are viewing the world through the eyes of sin, then it can seem bad.
We might not understand the Word of God, and so, we can be tempted by Satan to think that it’s not good (the seed sown on the path). We might enjoy hearing the Word of God, but we don’t let it take hold in our lives, and then when we have to choose between a good from the perspective of God and a good from the perspective of fallen humanity or the world, we abandon the Word (the seed sown on rocky ground). We might hear the Word of God, enjoy it, and even let it start to take root in our lives, but then when other desires of the world pop up in our lives, we see those as good, and those choke out the Word of God (the seed among thorns).
Let’s be honest: the call to follow Christ, who is the Eternal Word of God, currently does not always go along easily with our culture. Certainly, there are parts of our faith, of our life in Christ, that the culture readily accepts: the rejection of racism; care for the poor and the immigrant; treating others as we would want to be treated. But there are also parts of the Word of God that are contrary to the values of today’s culture, and are often mocked: the respect for human life from natural conception until natural death; marriage is only between one man and one woman for life; sex is only for marriage; the dignity of workers and not using them as pawns to simply raise more money. And so often Catholics, those who claim to follow Christ in the one Church He established, simply skim past the parts of the Bible or the teachings of the Church with which they don’t agree. But, as St. Augustine wrote, “If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself.” If you only choose the parts of Jesus’ teaching that you agree with, then you’re choosing the Snickers bar over the apple. It may feel good now, but it could have bad effects later. Belief in the Word of God leads to eternal life; belief in the self leads to eternal disappointment.
We’ve heard this Gospel passage countless times before. But each time we hear it, it’s a good opportunity to ask ourselves: what kind of ground does the Word of God find in me? Am I open to the Word of God as truly good? Or have I decided that I know better than the Word of God, that sometime else looks better? God wants to refresh us with His Word, so that we can be fruitful. May we accept the Word of God into our hearts and bear fruit “‘a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.’”