Breath of the Spirit

RVC’s Weekly Spiritual Essay

July 10, 2005: FIFTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR

Readings

Isaiah 55:10-11

Romans 8:18-23

Matthew 13:1-23

In his recent book, Paul His Story, Fr. Jerome Murphy-O’Connor makes an important observation. “The way in which Paul handles the sacred writings of his people betrays the profound familiarity that results from frequent contact. It must have been a feature of his home life that was reinforced by attendance at the synagogue. He remembered the texts because he was convinced that the Scriptures were speaking to him personally. They were a voice, not of the past, but of the present.”

Those of us, in contrast to Paul, who place Scripture on the periphery of our lives of faith, have much to learn not only from Scripture, but from those who created and passed on these sacred writings. Our ancestors in the faith believed these texts conveyed God’s word; an essential element in understanding God working in their everyday lives.

Scholars presume both Paul and Jesus were not only familiar with today’s Deutero‑Isaiah passage, but the courage and conviction with which they delivered their own messages came from reflecting on the words which the prophet proclaimed more than 500 years before.

Deutero-Isaiah prophesied during the most difficult time of the biblical period: the 6^th century BCE Babylonian Exile. There was no hope for the Israelites. Overpowered and outnumbered, even if they could pull off an escape, Jerusalem still was 100s of miles away, in ruins. In order to deliver his message of hope, the prophet was forced to fall back on a most important dimension of faith: the power of Yahweh’s word. He was convinced that the Israelites were going to return to the Promised Land only because Yahweh said they were going to return.

It’s no accident that when Deutero-Isaiah’s disciples arranged his oracles into the format we find in chapters 40-55 they concluded his proclamations with the two verses which comprise our liturgical passage. “Thus says Yahweh: Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; my word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.”

We know from Paul’s earliest letters that he became a Christian believing Jesus was going to return quickly to end the strife and tension his followers were experiencing and take them with him to share eternal happiness.

But it didn’t happen exactly that way. By the time Paul writes Romans, he’s beginning to have second thoughts. This seems to be why, falling back on Jesus’ word, he encourages his readers to “hang in there.” “We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now; and not only that, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our body.”

The historical Jesus faced a parallel situation. Often criticized for wasting his time preaching so often to so many when so few were actually carrying out his words, he tells the parable we find in the first nine verses of Matthew 13. (The next 14 verses are an explanation and allegorization of the original parable, and should not be included in today’s gospel proclamation.)

Admitting he’s wasting time and effort delivering God’s word, Jesus compares himself to farmers wasting lots of seed in the broadcast sowing of his era. No matter the waste, the seed which “fell on rich soil produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirty fold.” Just as Deutero-Isaiah believed, so Jesus believed. Yahweh’s word eventually achieves the end for which it was sent.

There’s just one problem. If we’re scripturally illiterate, we have no idea what God’s word is.