Isabelle and I flew back from Italy recently after being there for three weeks. I led a retreat on St. Francis and she had a great time with friends. We flew on Swissair and had to change planes in Zurich, Switzerland, but we are always happy when we are in the Zurich airport because it is so calm and peaceful. I know that sounds impossible, but somehow the Swiss have made a quiet beautiful airport that runs smoothly. If you’ve ever flown out of Terminal E at Logan you know that it is incredibly noisy. They have music playing, TV monitors on, and every couple of minutes the loudspeaker comes on with TSA warnings about not leaving your baggage unattended. It’s an utter din that makes it hard to even think. But if you land in Zurich it’s quiet…. No music, no TV’s, no loudspeakers. Quiet escalators and moving walkways whisk you from one part of the airport to the next.
The only sound on the little train that you take to next terminal is a few seconds of a cowbell and an alpenhorn. It’s all wonderfully calming in the midst of the stress of travel. Isabelle and I are always glad when we get to change planes in Zurich.The stark contrast between the noise of Logan and the quietness in Zurich airport are just the difference of cultures, I suppose. We Americans like to be kept busy and entertained. But I wonder also if by keeping our minds constantly distracted or entertained, we are losing the ability to really listen deeply. There is so much external noise, which then contributes to our internal noise, that we are barely able to sit still long enough to really listen to others, to ourselves, and more importantly, to God.
How well are we able to hear and listen to God? Jesus’ parable about the Sower and the seed in Matthew 13 is about listening to and receiving the Word of God. In fact, Jesus begins by saying “Listen!” Listen. Be still and listen. Quiet your heart and mind so you can be attentive to what Jesus is saying to you. Open your ears and your mind to hear God’s Word and let it take root in your hearts!” God is planting seeds in the world. God is planting seeds in your own heart. It is the seed of his Word.
Seeds are really miraculous things, aren’t they? Maybe some of you planted some little seeds in your gardens this spring, just these little tiny things that you put in the ground three months ago, and now the plants have grown up and are beginning to bear fruit. Maybe you planted flowers, or lettuce or tomatoes, and from those little tiny seeds the plants have grown up. What a marvel seeds are, that inside of this tiny thing there is all the potential of a full grown plant or tree. God’s Word is like the seed that has within it all the potential of the full grown plant. Who is the seed in the parable of the Sower? Jesus is the seed. Jesus is God’s Word. God sent Jesus into the world. Jesus, the seed, is the creating word of God, the word that brings life and light out of what was void and empty. The opening of the gospel of John talks about Jesus, the Word. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through him….And the Word became flesh and lived among us.” Isaiah 55 talks about the creative power of God’s Word.
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
God’s Word goes out and accomplishes God’s purpose. It does not return empty. It is seed that is full of creative power that blossoms into plants that bear abundant fruit.
Jesus’ parable is about the creative energy of God’s love as revealed in his Son going out into the world to bring life and fruitfulness to all who will receive it. But there is also a note of caution in the parable. Jesus wants us to ask ourselves the question—How well are we listening. How receptive are we to hearing the Word that is Jesus himself, and allowing the seed to grow within us. The seed has all the potential to produce a beautiful plant that is just like the original. When we receive the seed, the creative power of Jesus himself is within us to produce Christ-likeness in us. We become like Jesus, the original plant, The Word.
But there’s the problem of the condition of the soil. What is your soil like? Jesus describes four kinds of soil—three that have problems, and then the good soil. The problems are all things we’re familiar with I would guess. The first problem is the seed on the hard ground of the path that gets snatched away by the birds. Jesus says the problem is shallow understanding. Is your soil hard and packed down so that the seed can’t take root? Do you take the time to deepen your understanding of God and of your faith?
Last September the Pew Research Center published the results of a U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey. In the survey they gave people a questionnaire to answer that had questions about Christianity and other religions. The results were pretty dismaying. In knowledge of Christianity Mormons scored highest, Evangelical Christians scored second highest, with Atheists/Agnostics a close third. On average the Evangelicals got only 60% of the questions about Christianity right. There’s a lot of room for improvement there.
How soft and receptive is your soil? Do you study the Scriptures on your own, or in a Bible Study group? And more importantly, how do you read the Scriptures? St. Francis said that a person is killed by the Word if one only wants to know what the text says, in order to make one’s ego grow. The word is turned towards one’s self. But a person is given life through the Word if one refers all the words to God and puts the Word into practice. Putting the Word into action is how Jesus, the Word, is made flesh in us. Are you open and receptive to God, are you willing to be taught, corrected and taken deeper in your faith?
The second type of problem soil Jesus talks about is rocky soil. The seed in rocky soil springs up with enthusiasm, but then withers as soon as there are difficulties. The problem is a lack of endurance when difficulties arise. Sometimes the difficulties are the kinds of persecution that Christians might experience in our culture, like being labeled, judged and misunderstood by others. But the difficulties can also come from just the troubles and suffering that is part of life. How deep is our soil in the difficult times? In fact, it’s in the difficult times that God able to grow the virtues of patience, faith, hope, trust, forgiveness, and endurance in our soil. St. Teresa of Avila, a great woman of prayer who lived about 400 years ago, uses the image of the garden to describe our souls. She says that God is the gardener who plants the seeds of Christ-like virtues in our gardens. Our work she says is to water the seeds with prayer so that the virtues can grow. Developing a regular prayer life is what gives us endurance when persecution or troubles come. Prayer keeps us close to Jesus, so that we can receive comfort, encouragement and hope, even in the most difficult times. And Teresa of Avila describes how as we continue to persevere with regular prayer, we are giving God more and more freedom to do the work of transforming us. The soil truly becomes fruitful, yielding a bumper crop.
The third type of problem soil is weedy and thorny soil. The weeds and thorns come up and choke the plant so it can’t grow. The problem with this soil is the distractions and cares of the world. It’s like sitting in Terminal E at Logan airport. The music is blaring, disturbing news is on the TV monitor, and the loudspeaker is giving you safety warnings. In such an environment, how can you hear God speaking to you? It’s nearly impossible. If we want to be good soil for the Word it is important that we really seek to quiet and simplify our lives. Do we really need to have so much noise, input and information in our lives? There is a passage from T. S. Eliot’s poem “Four Quartets” that says we are “distracted from distraction by distraction.” He writes,
Only a flicker
Over the strained time-ridden faces Distracted from distraction by distraction Filled with fancies and empty of meaning Tumid apathy with no concentration ….Not here Not here the darkness, in this twittering world.When Eliot wrote this poem back in the 1930’s, twittering meant something different than it means today in terms of the internet. But the words seem very fitting now, “Distracted from distraction by distraction … in this twittering world.” We are so restless and unsettled inside that we seek constant distraction so we don’t have to feel how distracted and anxious we are inside. The key to quieting ourselves inside, so we can listen to God, is to quiet the distractions on the outside. To turn off the TV, turn off the ipod, the radio, turn off the cell phone—at least for a certain amount of time each day, and just listen and be present to God and to others. Take a walk and just listen to the sounds you hear. Sit a while in silence and just listen. Silence, like reading scripture and prayer, is an important spiritual practice. You’ll find that it’s difficult at first. Your mind will be racing, the inner videos playing through your mind will grab your attention. It is hard to sit in silence. We are not used to it. St. John of the Cross, like Teresa of Avila, is another great writer on prayer. He writes,
The Father spoke one Word, which was his Son, and this Word he speaks always in eternal silence, and in silence must be heard by the soul.—Saint John of the Cross, Maxims on Love
Jesus, the Word, “in silence must be heard by the soul.” It’s because in silence we are still, surrendered and expectant, ready to receive from God whatever God desires to give us. We are ready to receive that deepest communion of our soul with our loving God.
Jesus teaches us about soil and seeds, about the Word, the Seed which is himself, taking root in us and bearing Christ-like fruit. Three important ways to keep our soil rich and fertile are to seek to deepen our understanding through Scripture study; enduring the difficult times through prayer, and developing the spiritual practice of silence to help us have still, attentive and listening hearts that truly dwell within the Father’s love.