Bear Fruit Through Perseverance

September 22, 2007

Saturday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Keep the commandment without stain or reproach. 1 Timothy 6:14

“…As for the seed that fell on rich soil, they are the ones who, when they have heard the word, embrace it with a generous and good heart, and bear fruit through perseverance.” Luke 8:8

Piety

Jesus, help me to slow down and stop so I can be with you in this moment…listening with my whole being, my heart, my head, my mind and my soul, to your joyous message.

Take from me, Father, my Peter-like tendency to be an object in motion always busy but never contented.

Give to me, Jesus, that characteristic of sister Mary who is strong and confident enough to choose the better part.

Set me free, Holy Spirit, from all that imprisons me in a world of meaningless action and temptation. Amen.

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/092207.shtml

Sometimes Jesus has a straightforward message that is easy to understand. Sometimes, the story needs more explanation. Today, Jesus interprets the Parable of the Seed.

Why interpret this one for us while so many others go unexplained? Obviously Jesus is making an important point to his followers…so he tells them the message twice, once in preamble and once in a straightforward interpretation. But the message about listening goes far beyond just this parable.

Listening is an important command in the Good News. Even in the Hebrew Bible, the Jews are instructed to listen to the prophets like Moses.

Jesus is trying to shake us out of our daydreams and distractions. “Listen to me!” he cries. “If you have hears to hear, then use them.” The followers must not just listen to what he has to say, they also must ‘hear’ the deeper meaning in his teaching and act upon it.

In Luke 2, we read the story of Jesus in the temple. His is poised and paying attention while Mary and Joseph are frantically trying to find him.

After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. Luke 2:46-47

Jesus models the behavior that he wants us to follow.

Right before Jesus called his disciples, he was standing at the Sea of Galilee (Lake Gennesaret) teaching the crowd and they were paying attention to what he had to say. (Luke 5:1). While there, Simon was distracted. He was out tending his boats and his nets – not listening. So Jesus called to him and asked him to put his nets in deeper water. After initially being argumentative, Simon finally relented and came away with the catch of the day.

Here Jesus shows us the benefits that we will reap when we behave as he requests – by listening to him and actually hearing what he has to say and making that part of our life and actions. The messages of “hearing” and “doing” are repeated over and over again.

After stressing this pair of linked behaviors, Jesus commissions his Apostles to go out into the world and teach and spread the Good News. As he does this, he gives them a stern warning about what to do when people do not listen – and what will happen to those who do not listen to the words of the Apostles (Matthew 10:14-16

Finally, in the ultimate message about the importance of paying attention, Luke relates the incident we have come to know as the Transfiguration.

Moses and Elijah were conversing with Jesus – they were not talking, they were conversing which conveys the meaning that the Prophets were both speaking as well as listening to the Lord – again, being models of the behavior sought in us.

Jesus modeled the behavior. He showed us the benefits. He warned of what happens when we don’t listen. And then he showed us that even the Prophets listen. Yet Peter goes about his busy work. You just have to love Peter! Just like at Lake Gennesaret when he was fishing instead of listening like the rest of the crowd, here he wants to perform some busy work. He wanted to be about erecting tents for Moses, Jesus and Elijah.

OK, if you won’t get the message yet, let’s try it straight from the top! “This is my chosen Son. Listen to him!”

Sit at his feet like Mary does…and listen. Choose the better part. The tax collectors and sinners drew near to Jesus…and listened. But where are we in that picture? Don’t wait until you are dead and in hell like the rich man in the story of Lazarus pleading with Abraham that he needed to send a message to his brothers…to listen.

The Lord’s message is not some unapproachable light. It is a light revealed to us. And we will see that light only when we stop what we are pre-occupied with and do as Jesus asks. Hear and do. Listen and Act. That is when Jesus reveals the truth about his passion, death and resurrection.

Jesus never let up trying to overcome the doubt and distractions that plagued the original Apostles. Ultimately, when he succeeded in getting this message across, people started getting up in the morning to listen to him in the temple. That is what finally got the Pharisees nervous and Jesus in hot water with the church and the government. He was no longer the itinerant preacher from Nazareth, but Jesus was a legitimate threat to their teaching authority when people actually started…listening to Him!

Right up to the very end of Matthew’s Gospel, he followed through with the same message working to get the Apostles and us to listen and act:

“All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20

Action

Where do you go in order to hear God’s voice speaking to you?