Let the Word of God Take Root in You - Bishop Barron's Sunday Sermon

0:00 Peace be with you. Friends, on this 15th Sunday of Ordinary Time, we continue our reading of the Gospel of Matthew. We have that great privilege during this cycle A of readings. Matthew is a marvelous text, of course, and it's characterized by a series of discourses. Matthew 5, 6, 7 is the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 10, we've been reading from that, too, is the kind of missionary discourse as Jesus sends out the apostles. But in Matthew 13, we're reading from today, that's the great section on the parables, where Jesus gives a whole series of discourses. of these very memorable stories.

0:34 The first four, there's seven of them, the first four have to do with the kind of growth of the kingdom of God. And the one we're reading today, which is the sower, is the first of these parables. So it's a very rich thing for us to be thinking about. Look, though, how it begins. On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. Such a large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down. and spoke. A couple things the church fathers loved is Jesus coming out of his house. They saw that as emblematic of the Logos leaving his heavenly place now to come into the world. And then Jesus sitting in the boat, so he's floating on the water, calls to mind the spirit at the beginning of creation hovering over the surface of the water. So it's references to divinity coming into the world, divinity drawing order from chaos. Also, the attitude of Jesus sitting.

1:32 Same thing in the Sermon on the Mount. He sits down, his disciples at his feet, and the people arrayed before him. Well, the seated attitude was the position of the teacher in the ancient world. You'd sit down, and people would arrange themselves at your feet. Same thing here. He sits in the boat, so he's the attitude of the teacher. And then he delivers this famous parable of the sower sows on the path, on rocky ground, on thorny ground, and some falls on good soil, and so on. First thing to notice, what a strange sower of seeds this is. Seeds were precious commodities in the ancient world, and especially in that part of the world. Who would ever sow in such a haphazard way? Wouldn't you really look for the good soil to sow? But why would you be sowing so kind of extravagantly. That's the way our God operates, right? God is not calculating in his grace. He doesn't just measure it out like in coffee spoons, as T.S. Eliot said, but God is extravagant in the way that he makes his sun to shine on the good and bad alike, makes his rain to fall on the just and unjust alike. And so he sows the seed of his word and his grace on everybody, on saint and sinner alike.

2:47 See, it's never a question to everybody of God being reticent or God holding back his grace. That's not it. No, the problem's going to come from our side, as we'll see. So the extravagance of it. And then keep this in mind, too. The first reading for today is that marvelous passage from Isaiah. Thus says the Lord, just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down, I do not return till they water the earth. so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. My word shall not return to be void but shall do my will achieving the end for which I sent it. God's word, everybody, is powerful and transformative. Not merely derivative and descriptive as our words are but God's word makes things happen. It's powerful.

3:39 When God speaks his word into our hearts things change. Now, now, as we see in this parable, can we block that word? Can we set up obstacles to it that prevents it from taking root? Yeah, we can. There's the drama, if you want, of the spiritual life. We're not just marionettes or utterly just passive and receptive. No, we can block God's word. We can refuse to cooperate with it. That's what this parable is all about. So, we've heard some on the path, some on the rocky, some on thorny, some on good soil. Well, if you've heard my homily here before, it's because it's one of the rare times when Jesus himself gives the interpretation. So, he lays out the parable, and then when they ask, he says, well, this is exactly what I mean by it.

4:32 So, I always feel whenever this reading comes around, who am I to be proposing some other reading of it? I'm always going to go back to what the Lord himself says about this parable. Okay. So what do we hear? The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it. And the evil one comes and steals away what was sown in his heart. It's really interesting, isn't it? The word is sown, powerful word of God. But if we don't understand it, it's not going to take root. See, think of the word of Jesus himself. There's no way you could ever understand that word unless you understand Israel, that he's the fulfillment of Israel. He's the yes to all the promises made to Israel.

5:27 He's the fulfillment of covenant, Torah, temple, prophecy. See, if you don't get that, you won't get him. Ignorance of scriptures, ignorance of Christ, as St. Jerome said. If I never bother to study my own faith or study the scriptures, the word of Jesus will not take root in me. Something I came across not long ago that was really depressing. A study was done of the various religious traditions as to how good they are at passing on their teaching. You know, the very worst one, I must say to my surprise a bit, were Jews. Jews were the worst at passing on their tradition. Now, I don't mean every single expression of Judaism, but in general, but you know who was the second worst, everybody? Catholics.

6:20 We were the second worst at passing on our tradition. Now, you know, there are reasons for that. I came to a age at a time when, you know, the great value was placed on toleration. You know, we don't want to disrespect anyone's religion, and we're willing to listen to everybody. Okay, okay. But what that conduced toward very often was a sort of indifferentism. Oh, well, if we all love God, aren't we all doing fine? And, you know, why bother with rehearsing our long tradition when we're all kind of saying the same thing in different ways? That's a problem. I'm completely in favor of toleration. But when it turns into bland indifferentism and we no longer pass on our faith or seek to understand it, the word will not take root in us. I'm saying this now to Catholic teachers and catechists, parents, everybody. Whoa, what happened? Why is my child not a believer?

7:15 Well, they hear the word of the kingdom without understanding it. If you hear about Jesus, you say, oh yeah, he's just one interesting moral teacher among many. Well, he's not going to take root in you, right? So understanding is really important. Now, how about the second one? The Lord again tells us, the seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy, but he has no root and it lasts only for a time.

7:49 I see that all the time. You know, my years doing seminary work, there were a lot of guys, not a lot, some, some who would come to the seminary because they had a powerful religious experience. It might have been from their reading or from a saint or from a retreat or something. They had a powerful experience of God. And on the basis of that, they were full of enthusiasm. They even wanted to become a priest.

8:12 But then they never practiced the faith. there were no roots. There was no discipline that allowed that seed that was initially sown so powerfully to reach deep down into their hearts and minds and indeed their bodies. All the disciplines of the spiritual life, I mean like going to Mass every Sunday or every day, I mean like daily prayer when you feel like it and when you don't. I mean the rosary, when maybe the first decade or so I'm into it, then I'm not. I don't care. Keep praying it. I mean the discipline of a religious community around you, of like-minded people that will encourage you in the faith. I mean the rituals associated with Catholicism. See, all of that, everybody, is the way that this original joyful experience now finds its roots deep down in you.

9:17 This happens whenever you hear people talk about, you know, I'm not religious, but I'm really a spiritual person. Yeah, whenever I hear that, I think, yeah, but not for long. Not for long, you're not. You will not remain a spiritual person long unless you are grounding that spirituality in something like religion. See, if we demonize religion, oh, that's just this old, you know, all these dusty traditions or all these corrupt institutions. No, no, religion would be that conjuries of practices and disciplines and so on that allow the seed to take deep root in you. I think there's a lot of us like this in our culture. They hear the word and they receive it with joy. You know, I've known people that maybe on the internet, they hear a speaker or they go to a conference, they hear someone and they really, oh yeah, that's intriguing.

10:10 That's great. I love that. Are you going to mass every Sunday? Oh, no, no, I'm not doing that. Do you pray every day? No, I'm not doing that. Do you do the works of mercy? No, I'm not going to bother with that. Look, I'm not religious. I'm spiritual. Not for long, you're not. What does Jesus say further? When difficulties and persecutions arrive, see, they always do, everybody. always, not sometimes, not typically, always, the difficulties and persecutions will come. And unless the roots are deep, your spirituality is not going to endure. Okay, the third example. Here's the third person. The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit. Some people hear the word, they take it in, and it's powerful.

11:09 But they're unable to maintain their focus and sense of priority. The word of God, everybody, has to be the central and defining element of your life. To know the will of God, the mind of God, and then to act accordingly must be the anchor and center of all that you do. without it you're going to lose your way in this sort of cacophony of conflicting voices in the cacophony of conflicting inclinations within you that's why jesus i think refers to the worldly anxiety and the lure of riches the worldly anxiety what about this what about that i'm worried about this what's going to happen oh my god oh my god or the lure of riches it could be wealth, but all the other forms of riches, the things that attract me in the world.

12:04 If I'm distracted by the anxieties and the lure of riches, then I've lost my focus on the Word of God. And so the seed is going to be choked off, and it's not going to bear fruit in me. Can I suggest to everybody, spend time with this simple story and with this privileged interpretation that the Lord himself has given to us. And examine your conscience to see if these three dimensions aren't at work in you in some way. Now, let's end, though, on the happy note. Is the seed also sown on good soil, where it takes deep root, and the Lord says bears fruit 30, 60, and 100-fold. Yeah. You know, my diocese here is in the far southern part of Minnesota. We're just over the border from Iowa. And so the farmers—we're like in northern Iowa, you might say—and the farmers here, this is planting—well, as I'm recording these words, the crops are coming up. But this is the kind of soil that, I mean, just gives rise to these beautiful fruits, right?

13:15 It's emblematic of the soil of the soul. that's not choked off by riches, that's willing to accept the discipline of a spiritual life, that's not just living it superficially, but allowing the word to sink down deep. That's the good soil. As long as that soil is present in us, everybody, the word that is always generously sown, will unleash its power in you, and it'll bear fruit 30, 60, and 100-fold. And God bless you. It's not it.