Do you ever wonder why it is that some people believe in God and take the practice of their faith seriously and others don’t? How is it that some people are converted and others aren’t? Why did I come back to my faith at 19 and many of my friends did not?
Why did so many people listen to Jesus when he preached? Nobody knew who he was and he had no education to boast about. Yet he gathered a huge following of people wherever he went. You could say, it was because he is the Son of God. Yes, but nobody knew he was at the time. I’m sure part of the reason was because he was preaching the truth and peoples’ spirits recognized this, because all of us are searching for the truth; the truth about God and the truth about life. The truth is attractive to us and it pierces right to the heart, so that when we hear it we want to hear more of it, even though it may be difficult or painful for us to hear. Our faith is about a search for this truth, which has been revealed to us by Jesus Christ. That’s why we keep striving to understand it, even though it can be difficult at times. I heard it said that even those who were critical of John Paul II still listened to him, because they knew what he was preaching was truth. The more Jesus preached the truth the more resistance he met.
What is this truth? It is the truth about why we exist, where we came from, what our destiny is and what is right and wrong. If something is offensive to God, it is damaging to us and so God shows us exactly how we are to live and what will help and harm us the most. It’s strange how throughout the centuries people continue to try and live without God and always with the same results.
When John the Baptist was imprisoned, it says that Herod liked to listen to him, although he was afraid of him at the same time. He knew that John spoke the truth and this drew him to John. John had publicly said, ‘What you are doing is wrong. It is immoral and it breaks the divine law.’ Herod knew he was right. The same with all the other people who were drawn to John.
When Mother Teresa was invited to speak at the prayer breakfast in Washington D.C. in 1994, she spoke about abortion. She did the same when she spoke to Congress. I’m sure that made a lot of people uncomfortable, but she spoke truth and people listened, even if they didn’t agree. She said,
‘The greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a direct war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself. If we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?’
She didn’t say that it is a complicated problem and we must be open to all sides so as not to offend. She said it is murder. People listened to her, because they knew she was authentic. Our spirits recognize the truth, because the truth is from God.
Jesus frequently taught in parables. The fact that he did this tells us how much he respects our intelligence and our free will. The meaning of a parable isn’t always obvious. You have to think about it. In other words, we are invited to search for the truth. If we are open to it, we will hear it, but if we are not open to it, we won’t. Jesus explained that this was the very reason he spoke in parables. The Pharisees were closed to what he said and Jesus said, ‘So that they may listen, but not understand…’
Many of the stories in the bible are similar. They are teaching us truth in different ways, but you have to reflect on them to see the truth.
In this parable Jesus is teaching us two things about religion. First of all that it is a part of life that some people will hear about God and ignore him, or become preoccupied with something else, or not like the idea that it means you might have to suffer for it. Only a few will actually hear it and really grow because of it, as God intended. Those who do are generally in the minority.
The journey that leads us to God and to the truth of God’s teaching is not the easiest, but it is the only one worthwhile. In the second reading St. Paul writes, ‘I consider the sufferings of this present time are as nothing, compared to the glory that is to be revealed to us.’ What awaits us is worth every sacrifice. Being faithful to God and to his law goes against the tide, but it has always been that way.
That means it is worth putting up with every struggle and difficult to reach God. Only in God does our life make sense. We cannot exist without God and the more we listen to God’s teaching in the Scriptures, the more our life and our world will make sense. God spells out what we need to know in the Scriptures. The word of God always brings clarity. There is no situation that we will face that the Scriptures don’t address. It may not be directly, but it will be there in some form and that is God’s gift to us, to guide us. At this time we are faced with so much confusion in our society. Confusion does not come from God. God brings clarity and peace. The farther we stray from God’s law, the more chaos follows, which is what we see happening all around us. The more we try to be faithful to the divine law, the more peace we will find.
The parable of the sower also talks about the rich soil which bears fruit. For soil to remain rich it takes continuous work. That work, pruning, weeding, is about our continuing to listen to what God teaches. It is not just fate whether we will be open to believe or not, we have a part to play in it. If the word of God is to grow in us, we have to make some effort to be ready for it and to help it to grow. We are not going to grow in faith just by watching television.
Jesus says, ‘Try to enter by the narrow gate. For the road that leads to hell is wide and spacious and many take it, but the road that leads to life is narrow and only a few find it.’ The world’s version of that is, ‘All roads lead to heaven because God forgives everyone.’ That’s not what Jesus said. It is not the easy road, but it is the most worthwhile one.
If we want our relationship with God to grow, we must make it happen, by taking time to develop our faith, through prayer, reading the scriptures, listening to God. It won’t happen without giving time to it. Would you expect a relationship with someone to grow without giving it any time? Of course not, and faith is no different.
God has given us intelligence and free will, and he wants us to use it. Our future is not already set out for us, we have a major part to play in it. That is why God does not reveal the future to us and that is also why it is wrong to go to fortune tellers, or psychics, or ways to try and find out the future. It is only for God to know the future. God doesn’t want us to know the future. He wants us to trust in his providence and listen to his guidance. Everything we need to know has been given to us through the Scriptures. So the next time you find yourself getting anxious or confused about what we are being told, turn to God’s word. It always brings truth and peace.
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