The Sánchez Archives FIFTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR Year A

By
Patricia Datchuck Sánchez

The Potent Word

ISAIAH 55:10-11
ROMANS 8:18-23
MATTHEW 13:1-23

In a recently televised interview, Maya Angelou (b.1928), one of the great voices of contemporary American literature, told of a childhood tragedy that had a profound and lasting impact on her life. When she was seven years old, Angelou was raped by her mother’s boyfriend. Because the man threatened that he would kill her brother if she told anyone what had happened, she told no one. But her brother, sensitive to his sister’s sadness and pain, eventually convinced Angelou to share with him her private horror. When she did, the man at fault was arrested, jailed for a short time, and then released. Not long thereafter he was found dead, kicked to death by unknown assailants. The rapist’s young victim, believing that her words had perpetrated the man’s death entered into a self-imposed silence and did not speak a word for six years. Later in life, Angelou would give voice to the silence and suffering of those six years in her book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Her appreciation of the power and effectiveness of the words is reflective of a similar understanding of the word of God in scripture.

To the ancient Hebrew mind, a spoken word was more than the enunciation of an idea; words were perceived as dynamic entities pressing onward toward realization in time and space. Once uttered, words could not be revoked; the effectiveness of human words of blessing and/or cursing persisted and extended beyond the moment of their utterance into the future (see Genesis 27). But, even more potent than the human word is the word of God.

In the Hebrew Scriptures God’s word is communicated in three ways, as prophecy, as law, and as a creative utterance. By his word alone, God created the cosmos (Genesis 1, Isaiah 48:13, Ps 33:9, Wisdom 9:1) and by his word he continues to maintain its wondrous order, the seasons, and the life breath of every living thing (Ps 147:15-18; 148:8).

When God put his word into the mouth of a prophet (Jeremiah 1:9) or commissioned someone to speak his word to the people (Isaiah 6:8), that person was assured that his ministry would not be in vain. Recall the description of Samuel who was called by God to prophetic service: “Samuel grew up and the Lord was with him, not permitting any word of his to be without effect” (1 Samuel 3:19). Moreover, the person commissioned with the ministry of God’s word was incapable of resisting its power. Jeremiah described the urgency of speaking God’s word as a “fire burning in his heart which he could not hold in” (Jeremiah 20:9).

Israel perceived God’s word as his revealed will intervening again and again, like a “hammer shattering rocks” (Jeremiah 23:29). The word of God was perceived to be an unstoppable architect of human events, carving and creating God’s saving plan for his people. Once proclaimed, God’s word proved to be a decisive force, guiding the course of Israel’s history (1 Samuel 9:27; 15:13-23; 2 Samuel 7:14). Isaiah in the first reading celebrates the power and effectiveness of God’s word. As sure as rain brings growth and fruitfulness to the earth, so God’s word will realize the purpose for which it has been spoken.

As is evident throughout the rest of the prophetic oracles and in the interpretations of salvation history as rendered by the Deuteronomist (Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings) and the Chronicler (Joshua, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 and 2 Maccabees), God’s revealing, directing, word was ever present. Those who heeded it were blessed; those who rejected it perished (Deuteronomy 30:15-18).

The early Christian authors, understood that Jesus in his incarnate person and saving mission was the essential and ultimate utterance of God’s word (John 1:1-14) to humanity. Today’s gospel with its parable of the sower offers a lesson in the necessity of being receptive to God’s word, sown among us through the prophets, throughout the events of salvation history and climactically in the words and works of Jesus.

Paul, in the second reading, calls believers to accept with hope and confidence the sufferings which are integral to any serious acceptance of the word of God; he reminds his readers that every present word of struggle and pain will be ultimately overwhelmed by shouts of joy and glory.

ISAIAH 55:10-11

Despite their best efforts at parenting and their good intentions, many parents will probably, at one time or another, become reluctant participants in a conversation which unfolds like this: Parent (speaking to child): It’s time to get ready for bed. Child: But, why? I haven’t finished my game. Parent: It’s late and you’ll have to get up early for school tomorrow. Child: But, why? I am not tired. Parent: But you will be in the morning and you know how difficult it is to wake up when you haven’t had enough rest. Child: But I don’t want to go to bed. May I stay up another half hour? Parent: No, it’s really time for bed now. Child: But why? Parent: . . . Because I said so!

Usually, there is acquiescence at this point in the dialog, not because the child has no further objections or questions but because of his/her acceptance of the parent’s authoritative word. When Deutero-Isaiah wished to assure his contemporaries that God was mindful of their situation and would act on their behalf, he reminded them, through both oracles and visions of hope, that all would be well because God had said so!

At the beginning of what has come to be known as his Book of Consolation (Isaiah 40-55), the unnamed sixth century B.C.E. prophet declared to his exiled companions in Babylon that “the word of our God stands forever!” (Isaiah 40:8). In today’s reading which is part of the conclusion of his work, the prophet reprised his initial theme, thus founding his entire message on the surety and potent effectiveness of God’s word. If God had said so, so it would be, just as surely as the falling rain and snow make a visible difference in the world of nature, so would God’s saving word make a difference in the lives of his people.

For the exiled people of Israel, that difference would be realized in a return to their homeland. Like his prophetic colleagues, Deutero-Isaiah had interpreted the years of their displacement in Babylon as deserved chastisement for sins against Yahweh, the law, the covenant and their shared faith traditions. In comforting his people with the idea of returning to Israel, the prophet counseled that their homecoming should be a comprehensive one; Israel was called to return not only to its allotted territory on earth, but also to Yahweh, to the law, to the covenant and to a renewed commitment to the rich heritage of their shared faith.

In looking back at Israel’s history through the perspective of the Christ-event, it is clear that the divine missiology as described by Deutero-Isaiah reached its climax in Jesus Christ. When the word who was with God in the beginning, and who was God, was spoken into human flesh (John 1), he did not return to God before accomplishing the end for which he was sent. In the fullness of his hour (i.e. his purpose and mission) he was lifted up (on the cross and in his resurrection), and drawing all people to himself (John 12:32) he returned with all the redeemed to the Father.

ROMANS 8:18-23

Beginning last Sunday (Fourteenth of the Year) and continuing through the Eighteenth Sunday of the Year, the second readings are comprised of excerpts form Romans 8. Many scholars regard chapter eight as the most important part of Paul’s letter to the Roman church because of its pedagogy concerning the role and importance of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Christian. In both a literary and theological sense, Paul’s thoughts soar in Romans 8 as he propounds all the blessings afforded through the Spirit; his enthusiasm virtually impels his readers to celebrate with him.

In the verses preceding today’s pericope, Paul had explained that suffering, i.e. suffering with and for the sake of Christ, is integral to the Christian experience; just as suffering proved to be Jesus’ path to glory so also shall it be the way of his disciples. In this text Paul attempts to put human suffering in proper perspective. Just as Adam’s fault was insignificant compared to the achievements of Jesus Christ, the New Adam (Romans 5:12-18), so also does present suffering fade into distant memory when compared with the glory which is to come (vs. 18).

Commenting on this passage Wilfrid Harrington (The Saving Word, Michael Glazier, Inc., Wilmington: 1980) explained that Christian redemption is not from suffering but through it, in union with Christ. Similarly redemption is not achieved apart from but by a cooperative effort with the material universe, of which our bodies are, as it were, the focal point.

Paul attributed the groaning agony (vs. 22) and futility (vs. 20; some translations say frustration) of creation to the universal repercussions of Adam’s sin (Genesis 3:17-19, 5:29). But whereas there is no mention of hope in the Genesis account, it appears that Paul has made a “bold addition to the story itself.” Paul read the Genesis story in the light of the Christ event and introduced the notion of hope to give believers assurance of the future glory. “Paul’s thinking is undoubtedly tributary also to the Old Testament apocalyptic teaching and promise of “a new heaven and a new earth” such as one finds in Trito-Isaiah (65:17, 66:22). In later intertestamental literature such a promise was transferred to the messianic age (Joseph Fitzmyer, Spiritual Exercises Based on Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, Paulist Press, New York: 1995). These later promises made it possible for Paul to conceive of frustrated creation as liberated by Jesus, the Christ or Messiah and provided the basis for creation’s hope.

Another reason for the groaning, yearning hope of creation and humanity is the fact that believers already enjoy the first fruits of the Spirit (vs. 23). In Greek, the term aparche (first fruits) referred to the offering of the first goods harvested from fields and flocks to God. This initial consecration signified that the rest of the harvest and all the increase in the flocks belonged to God. But, as this word could also be understood in the sense of the Greek arrabon, or earnest money, which guaranteed what was to come. Therefore the Christian’s present experience of the Spirit could be perceived as “earnest money” or a down-payment and a foretaste which guarantees the great and glorious future yet to be revealed. Although he does not express it in the same way, Paul’s ideas are clearly compatible with those of Deutero-Isaiah (first reading). The future shall be wondrous, because God has said so, in and through the person and mission of Jesus.

MATTHEW 13:1-23

Most scholars agree that the basic parable of the sower (vss. 3-9) which appears in all the synoptic gospels (see Mark 4:3-9, Luke 8:5-8) originated during Jesus earthly ministry and is therefore at the basic level of the development of the oral gospel. However the explanation of the parable (vs. 10-17), which also appears in the synoptics, is a later addition, reflective of the situation of the Matthean church in the eighties C.E. (Or the Marcan church of the sixties C.E. and the Lucan church of the eighties C.E.). Therefore today’s gospel with its three distinct sections should be assessed accordingly.

Notice that the basic parable was addressed to the crowds who stood on the lakeshore, listening to Jesus. As in any crowd, those gathered were no doubt a diverse sampling of all various peoples with differing personalities, attitudes, background and degrees of openness to what they were hearing.

To teach them, Jesus borrowed an image from Palestinian agricultural life; unlike many parts of the world, farmers in ancient Israel sowed their seed before plowing. The farmer in Jesus’ parable was not being careless or lax; he fully intended to plow the temporary footpath, rocky ground and thorny areas along with the fertile area, thus distributing his seed and enabling it to grow. The point of the root parable is that God sows his seed or reveals his word indiscriminately. Like the sun and rain which falls on the weeds as well as the wheat, and like the fishnet which snags all types of fish (13:24-30, 47-50); God does not distinguish among the recipients of his word. The indiscriminant nature of God’s goodness was manifest in the words and works of Jesus who reached out with the good news to everyone who would listen. Discrimination or judgment would only come later. The lesson for Jesus’ disciples was that theirs should be a mission marked by indiscriminant love and service to all.

When the early church sought to apply and explain the parable (vv. 18-23), the emphasis was shifted from the seed or the word and works of God (and of Jesus) to the soil which received the seed of the word. Four categories of hearers of the word are named, each displaying a different quality of receptivity to the word. No doubt, this application of the parable reflects the varying degrees of fervor and/or laxness with which the faith was being lived in the Matthean community. Sensitive to the difficulties which militated against continued Christian commitment (e.g. persecution from civil authorities, rejection of Christianity by Judaism, a definitive breach between synagogue and church, delayed eschatology, etc.) The originators of this section of the gospel urged their contemporaries to remain steadfast, and, like good soil, receptive to the seed of the word. In due course, their openness to hearing and living the word would be realized in a harvest of incredible proportions. Under ideal conditions, Palestinian farmers were pleased with a yield of slightly better than seven fold. But yields of 100, 60 and 30 fold pointed to the eschatological harvest of joy and glory which awaits the faithful.

The rest of today’s gospel pericope (vv. 10-17) concerning Jesus’ reason for teaching in parables probably represents a later theological consideration inserted into the text by the early church, the evangelist or a redactor. Like the Marcan messianic secret, these verses helped to explain why some, viz. the disciples, understood and accepted Jesus’ words and works whereas others did not and therefore could not probe the mystery of the parables. By quoting the formula quotation from Isaiah (in vv. 14-16), Matthew seems to indicate that God has willed that some people not comprehend his message. No attempt is ever made in scripture to explain the human conundrum of balancing God’s grace with free will. Later theologians would help to ease this conundrum by citing the distinction between God’s active will, which intended that all hear and accept his word in Jesus, and God’s passive or permissive will which knew that humanity would reject the word and yet did not interfere with their free will to do so. Therefore it appears, in scripture, that God willed the obstinacy of his people; on the contrary, he knew of it and, with respect for the sometimes frightening gift which is human freedom, permitted his people to close their ears and eyes and hearts to him.

Today’s gospel challenges those who hear it to use their freedom to prepare a welcome for the word and to listen and to learn its message of good news.

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