"Then he told them many things in parables, saying: A farmer went out to sow his seed."
Gospel of Matthew
A few years ago, Catholic Christian Outreach published a little booklet called "the Ultimate Reality". In it they showed three diagrams. These diagrams represented the different levels of commitment in one's relationship to Christ.
The first diagram represented someone who did not have a relationship with Christ. It is an image of a person who has all kinds of different interests - work, family, hobbies, friends, etc. but a relationship with Christ is not among them. As far as this person is concerned, Jesus is outside of their life.
The second diagram showed an image of someone who acknowledges Jesus as part of their life, but is not completely committed to Him. Jesus is included among the many other things that make up this person's life, but is not the centre. Jesus is one aspect among many.
The third diagram represents a Christ-centered relationship. All the other aspects are still there as in the other two. Nothing is missing, but Christ is at the centre. Christ is primary, influencing all decisions and every aspect of the person's life.
The little booklet then makes this statement: "If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful, and great." And it ends with the very familiar quote from Revelations: "Listen, I am standing at the door knocking. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you, and eat with with you, and you with me."
In the parable of the seeds, Jesus is telling us that God is a generous sower, and He scatters His seeds everywhere. They fall into different types of ground - some on the trodden path, some in the rocks, some in the thorns, and some on fertile soil. So much of our understanding of the parables, of Jesus' word, depend upon our relationship with Him. When Christ is found at the centre of our lives, we have attentive ears, we have hearts that are willing to learn, we have (what you would call) fertile soil. And of course, if God is not a part of our lives, then Christ's word will often go unheard, bearing little or no fruit.
Christ' invitation is always open to us.
As we read in Hebrews: "This is a covenant I will make with you when those days arrive. I will put my laws into your hearts and write them on your minds. I will never call your sins to mind, or your offences."
When we come to Christ, then His word speaks very personally to us and we discover that His word is life.
No comments:
Post a Comment