Today’s readings are very powerful in that both the Old Testament reading and the New Testament reading are both focused on metaphor. The Old Testament metaphor is to give understanding to ancient peoples as to the separation between the Jews in the Arabs. The Jewish people recognize that the herbs were much like themselves but nevertheless different. This metaphor which they held in oral tradition for about 4000 years is there a way of explaining why they believe that God chose them over the Arabs who they referred to as Edomites.
The second metaphor in today’s readings comes from the gospel. It is the gospel known as the sewer. In this parable Jesus compares his teaching to seeds and we are the listeners as ground. The challenge that Jesus puts out to us is what kind of ground are we going to be. Are we going to be Fertile, Rocky, Arid or Baron? Jesus sees us as having to make choices over who we are going to be. Will be in our life practice be places where love, hope, peace, and reconciliation are all allowed to mature and grow. Where are we going to be like rocky ground where there’s enthusiasm for these seeds, but they are not nourished and gradually die away. Are we going to be like seed that falls on dry ground and never gets sustained, withering away?
What type of seed ground well we provide for the words of Jesus? In this time of the virus when we are all under a lot of strain, it is a time of stress. It is important that we double down our efforts to follow Jesus and the teachings of Jesus. We need to be compassionate, excepting, loving, and listening to each other with our hearts as well as our brains. May God Bless our Journey in this time.
