"Then the whole community of Israelites began complaining again. They complained to Moses and Aaron in the desert. They said, “It would have been better if the Lord had just killed us in the land of Egypt. At least there we had plenty to eat. We had all the food we needed. But now you have brought us out here into this desert to make us all die from hunger.”
Exodus
In the world today, we are bombarded with many images. Most of these images are connected with the advertising industry and are designed to sell us something; a new car, a successful life style, popularity, ways to keep us perpetually young. For the most part, we have all bought into these images. The success of our technological industry has been built on the fact that we feel we require the latest and fastest gadgets.
The Gospels are also full of images. Jesus is the expert on using the images to convey a teaching or to make a point. But He does not use images to sell us something. Jesus uses images to show us a different way of looking at things, to draw us to a higher level of awareness. His images give us an understanding of a truth that would otherwise be hidden from us. His images encourages us to ponder, to reflect, and then decide what is best, not only for ourselves, but for those we touch in our day to day journey.
"Imagine, He says, a sower going out to sow his seeds. As he sows, some fell on the edge of the path, others fell in patches of rock, others fell among thorns, but some fell on rich soil."
The first thing that comes to my mind is that the sower is very generous. He does not scatter seeds sparingly. He spreads them wide and without concern as to where they might fall. He wants some to take root, and He'll do whatever He can to make them do so.
Do you see God as a generous sower of seeds in your life? Do you see life in terms of abundance, gifts received to be used, but also to be shared in hopes of bearing fruit in other people's lives? Or is life looked upon only in terms of protecting what I have or what I have earned?
We all at times fall into erroneous thinking. There is a story in the Book of Exodus that is a perfect illustration of an incorrect mindset about matters such as this. After Moses delivered the whole community of Israel out of slavery from Egypt, they ventured into the desert where they began to complain. "Why did we not die in the land of Egypt where we were able to sit down to pans of meat and could eat bread to our heart's content?"
The message of Moses and Aaron was to trust, trust in God's abundance, and their needs would be met. But when we fail to listen, God's abundance gets carried away by the birds, scorched by the hot sun, or chocked out by the worries of this life. But when we listen, some takes root and flourishes and leads to an abundance not previously experienced.
The rich fertile ground of God's presence lives in each of us, and when we create the right circumstances, God's generous sowing grows into an abundant life.
We need the images of God in order that we may keep the other images that we are bombarded with daily in perspective.
Christ, in the giving of Himself to us, symbolically played out in Eucharist freely given, is an image of the abundant life that God wishes to share with us. There is just no limit to the extent that God will go to get our attention, draw us into His care. May we all be blessed by His abundance and given hearts that reflect the fruits of that abundance.
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