Ninth Sunday after Pentecost |
|
|
|
Scripture |
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 13 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. 6 But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 Let anyone with ears listen!” 18“Hear then the parable of the sower. 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. 23 But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit
|
Devotional |
How religious am I? Really, how committed am I to the gospel and to the life lived in the reign of God? Robert Wuthnow was asked the question: So how religious are we, really? His answer: One way to answer is to divide the public into four categories. Roughly the top quarter of the public, I would say, is very committed. They take their spiritual life very seriously, pray routinely, are active in their religious organizations, and so forth. The second quarter, and even the third quarter -- the middle 50 percent of the public -- is sort of religious. They're involved. They go once in a while. They pray once in a while. They believe some of the right things. They may even think it's pretty important to them, but they don't make a big commitment to it. And the remaining quarter say they're pretty much just indifferent to religion. My guess is that may not be terribly different than the way it's been for a long time. 1 How can this relate to the parable of the sower? This is my attempt to relate the parable to today’s spiritual life and journey. This is how the parable became a challenge to me. To reduce a parable to a “point” is to dismiss it as parable and domesticate its message to more comfortable and manageable categories. Parables generate new meaning in new situations. 2 Robert Wuthnow divides the public into four categories so to divide an individual’s spiritual life into the same categories seems possible. As spiritual individuals one quarter is committed to the spiritual disciplines and growing in good soil. This quarter is practicing prayer, bible study, and active in the religious community. Another quarter does not take spirituality and commitment as serious and grows with thorns. Some work is required to remove the thorns that choke our our spiritual growth. Often the thorns look appealing. Another quarter occupies the rocky soil. This is a place which lacks the deep roots that prevents growth and development. The work of removing the rocks is too demanding and time consuming. There are not enough hours in the day. If only we had more time. The other quarter lives on the path where the seed do not have the opportunity to sprout. No growth or development occurs in this quarter of our spiritual life. This section does not care about the spiritual being within us. There are other issues of life more important than navel gazing. Maybe better. Is it possible to reduce the influence of the path and improve the rocky soil and the thorns? Experience reminds me that these four areas will always be present in some form or another. Therefore, any attempt to totally eliminate these areas will be impossible. The most productive method is to reduce the negative path and increase the positive influences pf the rocky soil and the thorns in our commitment to Christ and life with God. “Can parables generate new meanings in new situations?” 1http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week534/rwuthnow.html |