Second Isaiah created a synthesis: uniting into one, Israelites beliefs in creation, in the Divine government of history, and Divine will to save. Yahweh is creator. Even the greatest powers are insignificant before him. We know how Israel was conquered by world powers, then transferred from its own soil to another.
Within this reality, Second Isaiah’s concept of God evolved. He perceived that Yahweh’s promise of life is as broad as his creative acts.” I will open up streams over the barren heights and let the rivers flow through all the valleys; I will turn the deserts into lakes and brooks and the thirsty earth into a land of springs…that all may see and know, consider and understand that the hand of Yahweh has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it.” (Isaiah 41:18-20) The land of Judah will be regenerated, and restored Jerusalem will exhibit the grandeur which befits the city where Yahweh dwells. (49:18-23; 52:1f; 54:1f,11-14)
According to Second Isaiah, Yahweh is tender love and compassion. Yahweh’s Word renews, restores to life and has power to transform the world: “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the Sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55: 10-11)
This text invites us to contemplate an image of abundance, engaging our senses: cool dampness of the rain water, the greenness of the landscape, the taste of the bread in our mouths… The prophet / poet tells us what God’s word is like. Refreshing. Restoring. Abundant. Life-giving. The water imagery illustrates the power and beauty in God’s word. Water, divine gift in the desert, was a symbol of God’s regenerative, gracious, flowing presence. Water is symbol of God’s nourishing word…
Matthew 13:3-9
“A Sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit, a hundred- or sixty- or thirty-fold. Whoever has ears ought to hear”.
Like the prophet Isaiah, Jesus used agricultural imagery to tell a parable: “Sower” “seed” and “soil”. Jesus and his audience knew the agricultural system of first century Galilee. The diversity of soil was good for different crops. Given the right conditions, they knew the prolific nature of their grains. They are also aware of the desired harvest within Roman taxation on a small farmer’s grain or soil. Listeners would also have been aware of the image captured on a coin of Agrippa I governed Judea in the first century (AΓPIΠA BACIΛEWC -King Agrippa, umbrella-like canopy with fringes; reverse three heads of barley between two leaves). This coin proclaimed the emperor, as the source of abundance.
In the simplicity of this parable, Jesus presents to us the context of his time: the complex socio-economic-political-cultural- ecological reality. There is that of the emperor and his representatives, Herodian king in Galilee or landowners supporting the imperial system. They are identified as the source of abundance, when in fact, the real source of abundance is the Divine gift: the Sower, seed, soil, water and in the other life-giving elements of nature! Jesus also calls our attention to the complex ecological system expressed in the process of sowing seed – the regenerative process of mother nature that can generously produce abundance.
You have visited the land and watered it;
greatly have you enriched it.
God’s watercourses are filled; you have prepared the grain.
Thus, have you prepared the land: drenching its furrows,
breaking up its clods, softening it with showers, blessing its yield…
Psalms 65:10, 11, 12-13, 14
We are disturbed by the message of God in the Sower, soil, seed, water, woman giving birth… We ask for grace that the Word of God, in the energy of these images be enfleshed in us. That the reign of Justice, peace and integrity of creation happen sooner… But we are called to pause… these images are showing us that God’s action, like giving birth, like sowing seeds, happen in a process, within the contrasting complex realities of the signs of the times: Desert and verdant pastures. Lights and shadows. Pains and joys. Communion and fragmentation. Injustices and solidarity. Inequality and sharing… We are being challenged to be mindful and be present to the now… to persevere, to wait patiently… God’s Word works discreetly, in subtle, unobservable ways….
Jesus, Second Isaiah, the Psalmist, and St. Paul are challenging us: “Let anyone with ears, listen!”. Listen to the deep groanings of the whole of creation: the groaning of the poor and the Earth! Proclaim and live the regenerative Word of God!
“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 bodies. Romans 8:18-23
Gospel reflection of Sr. Eleanor LLanes, ICM for the 15th Sunday of Ordinary Time. Is 55:10 11, Ps 65:10, 11, 12-13, 14, Rom 8:18-23, Mt 13:1-23, Isaiah 55: 10-11
Balik-Tanaw is a group blog of the Promotion of Church People’s Response (PCPR). The Lectionary Gospel reflection is an invitation for meditation, contemplation, and action.
