Gospel [Luke 8:5-15 (§35)
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Dear Father, brothers and sisters:
In today’s Gospel reading we move a little further into St Luke’s Gospel and are hearers of one of the Saviour’s most famous parables – the Parable of the Sower. Due to the wedding we will be serving after the liturgy today, you will be pleased to know that today I will only be giving a very brief homily with the help of the Apostle of the English, St Gregory the Great.
Unlike many of the Lord’s parables in the Gospels, our reading today not only contains the parable itself, but also the interpretation of the parable as given by the Lord Himself to His Apostles. In some sense, as St Gregory says, this gives little role for the preacher.
The reading from the holy Gospel which have just heard, dearly beloved, requires not a commentary but friendly admonition. Human weakness does not presume to review what Truth has commented on in person.
Let us thus pay close attention to our Saviour’s words in the second part of the reading where he unfolds the interpretation of the parable.
Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
Our Saviour’s parable today is concerned fundamentally with how we hear the Gospel, the Word of God. But, as St Gregory identifies, the hearing that the Lord is talking about is not just the audiology of hearing the words, the physical act of hearing, but a deeper hearing, which involves receiving and embedding this spoken words within us, and within our lives.
Everyone present there had the ears of the body; but since he said to all who had ears. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear. He surely meant the ears of the heart.
Not these flappy ears of flesh, then but the ears of the heart. Not a hearing of the ear and inner ear, but a hearing of the heart.
These first hearers, the hearers by the wayside, are the most superficial hearers. Those who hear the Word, but before this Life-giving Word can really take root within themselves, and change their lives, the demons come and take this Word from them. St Gregory particularly mentions that the Evil spirits come and take away the words from your memory. This might also apply to those who hear the Gospel or read the Gospel but do not read it or hear it with due care and attention. It is the lack of attention and care that makes this group of hearers so vulnerable to demonic attack as they are not engaged in the most basic spiritual warfare against the devil.
They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.
Then we come to the second group of hearers, those who hear for a while but then fall away. They are not as superficial in their hearing as the first group, but fundamentally also lack endurance. As St Gregory says –
Take care that the rocky ground does not receive the seed and send forth the fruit of good works without the roots of perseverance.
These hearers we could say are those who are full of good intentions but when confronted by adversity, persecution, temptations do not bear fruit. The fruits of good works cannot develop without good soil and moisture, the fertile good ground of a receptive and patient heart. Thinking of today’s feast of the Fathers of the Seventh Oecumenical Council, we should rejoice that so many of our Orthodox Christian fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters of the 8th and 9th centuries did indeed persevere and suffered for the Faith, and were not tempted to give up the Word they had been given despite the real sacrifice this caused them, whether exile, persecution, mockery or martyrdom.
And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.
Then we come to the third group, and the third type of soil. This soil has some depth to it, more than that second, rocky soil, and indeed brings forth some crop of good works. However, we then learn that the soil becomes chocked with the parasitical weeds of the cares, riches and distractions of this life. St Gregory draws attention to the Lord’s emphasis on the way in which these worldly cares choke or smother us.
They smother because they choke our minds by the constant thoughts they arouse. When they do not allow good desires to enter the heart, it is as if they are cutting off the entry if life-giving breath.
We can of course see this in the garden, how the vegetables or flowers that we so lovingly plant and water can so easily and so quickly become entirely invaded and overwhelmed by weeds that take up more and more of the ground until the plant we had tried so hard to cultivate becomes entirely consumed. Just so, the more we allow the allure of riches, possessions, lusts and temptations of this world into our hearts, so too can that good Word in our hearts, and the virtues we are cultivating, be entirely destroyed. St Gregory gives just one example, that of lust –
Many, when they hear a word against lust, not only do not desire to defile their bodies, but they feel shame at such defilements as they have committed. But as soon as a beautiful body appears before their eyes, their minds are drawn towards desire as if they had never made any resolutions against these desires.
But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.
Dear fathers, brothers and sisters: we then finally come to the final hearers, those who receive the Word, and most critically of all keep it, allowing it to bring forth fruit within themselves. Above all else it is patience which the Lord encourages us to have if we are to bring the Word within us to fruition. It is patience which will enable us to not allow the weeds and filth of this world to block out the Light. It is patience which will prevent us from giving-in at the first sign of temptation or difficulty and it is patience which will put the demons to flight. So the question we must ask ourselves today as we hear the Lord’s Word, and as we receive His Body and Blood is how will we receive this Word into our cold and stony hearts, how will we till the soil of our hearts that the Word might take root within us? He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
Amen.