Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory to Christ. The gospel
is called Good News, and you've just heard the
best of Good News. Jesus, in this incredible
prayer with his Father, and we can speak about
that all day. We have this insight. into this
relationship with Jesus and the Father in that
passage from the Gospel of John, chapter 17,
that is very touching and encouraging, especially
at the end when he says that he has come and
he has given the words that we might have his
joy. Such good news. So, let us hear. Let us
hear a little bit more now of this gospel, the
first one we read from Luke chapter 8, the parable
of the soul. Each October we hear this parable.
It happens to be during harvest season. Perhaps
that's when Jesus offered his words to the crowd
of people that were around him. Perhaps it was
harvest season then. We have to remind ourselves
that for those who were listening to Jesus on
that day, sowing seed and harvesting crops was
the life or death matter. They had to survive
on the food, the plants they planted and the
food they would reap from that harvest. This
isn't just a story that Jesus kind of pulls out
of his hat that kind of sounds good to everybody.
It really hits home for them. We don't have that
kind of relationship with the earth. We run up
to Trader Joe's or Costco or wherever we're going
to go, and we're not worried about the harvest
except how much the prices have gone up. And
also, those listening to Jesus, Hearing this
parable about a sower that just goes everywhere,
throwing his seed, even on the path, probably
thought this was a crazy man, this sower. Why
would he waste his seed? But it's funny, in the
epistle of St. Paul, the passage you heard today
says, he who sows sparingly will reap sparingly.
So this seed is everywhere. The word of God is
the seed. The word of God is Jesus Christ. It's
not some idea. It's Christ's presence in the
heart of every single person. And he's sowing
everywhere. And there's an expectation then in
this parable by Jesus Christ that we do something
with that seed. with that that's been put in
our heart, his word, which he has so graciously
and extravagantly spread everywhere. In a way,
this parable, which the Lord himself has explained,
because the apostles just didn't get what he
said, it's similar to the parable of the talents.
It's about accountability before God. The gift
of salvation. accountability, which means judgment
also for us. From what we have received, what
do we do with what we've been given in the church?
What do we do with not just the spiritual blessings
that we've received, but the material blessings
that we've received? This is St. Paul's message
to the Corinthians there. If you give a lot,
You will reap a lot. Christ is trying and tries
with all that he has, then and now, to bring
us into that joy that he said, to bring us to
the kingdom, to remind us of the good news of
the resurrection. The gospel readings, pretty
much every week, are challenging us, asking us.
What is our response today to that news? You
hear the parable of the talents. You hear stories
of a rich young man who walks away from Jesus.
He can't respond, or he responds in a negative
way, I should say. You hear the message of the
cross and St. Peter's rejection of that. You
hear about the denial of the Lord by St. Peter
on the night of the Passion. The gospel's telling
us over and over there are a lot of good reasons
to water down the message of the cross, the message
of the gospel. A lot of good reasons to back
away from Jesus Christ. The reasons are not true.
A sower went out to sow his seed, Jesus starts.
As he sowed, some fell by the wayside. It was
trampled down. The birds of the air devoured
it. As I said, the Lord, the sower, puts into
the heart of every single person some kind of
knowledge of the glory of God. The heavens are
telling the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims
His handiwork. Day by day, the words go forth
into all the universe. It's looking at nature,
even, that we can see that there's something
in us that calls us to higher and higher and
greater spiritual life. His presence is everywhere
as we sing. Everywhere present and fillest all
things. Notice in the Gospel, now to just bring
it to a simple understanding, the seeds of faith
that fell on the good ground, Jesus said, are
those who having heard the word with a noble
and good heart. Keep it and bear fruit with patience.
Once again, Jesus is speaking to us about the
heart. The heart. This is encouraging to me.
Because we come together and the heart becomes
a mother. more receptive here at the Divine Liturgy
when we are together. But there's something that
worries me deeply about this parable, also about
the heart. What worries me is this. Jesus points
out in the parable that those by the wayside,
the heart at work, they represent those who are
given the seed of faith. They hear, he says.
Then, The devil comes and takes away the word
out of their hearts, lest they should believe
and should be saved. It scares me. It worries
me deeply to think that the devil has some kind
of access to my heart. This is deeply disturbing.
We need protection. The Holy Spirit gives us
that. But over and over again, we see how our
heart can be invaded by thoughts, by judgment,
by criticisms, by anger, by fear, by lack of
faith, by accusations, by disappointments. It
worries me also, deeply, that when Jesus tells
us what happens with the second kind of sorrow,
one receives the word of God, the gospel message,
the light of Christ with joy, but there's no
root. And when a time of testing or temptation,
in the gospel, it's the same word that Jesus
uses for in the Lord's Prayer. Lead us not into
temptation. Lead us not into the time of testing.
When a time of testing comes, one walks away.
It was joyful for a while. The Christian faith
was zealous. And then it became dry. But that's
the path we go when we hit the desert. And the
manna is there. And the repentance is there.
And we survive that time of testing. We have
to be watchful for this time of temptation when
we can either mature in the faith, be faithful
in what we do, or be afraid and resentful and
angered about that time and fall away. And it
worries me deeply also when the Savior says that
there are those of us, and I include myself,
in which Christ's presence, the Word of God,
is choked. It's choked. How? Not by testing.
Not by the devil. But by a self -inflicted, a
pile -up in the mind and in the heart. of cares
and worries and he says pleasures of this life
he doesn't mean that the pleasures of this life
are bad in themselves no we give thanks to god
for the material blessings we receive but for
the pursuit pursuit of pleasure for the contemplation
of pleasure which turns us away from christ this
is a self -inflicted wound shown by cares Let's
be honest. By affluence. The Lord calls us back
sometimes with hardship and sickness. All that
is my own fault when it's choked. It's not from
God. I have to be careful. We have to be careful
not to neglect the care of our soul. Not to be
offended. To be watchful for that time when God
is testing us. like gold in the fire to be purified.
St. Basil says, and when a soul is purified,
it's like crystal, and the sun hits that crystal
and becomes even more beautiful, sending out
warmth and rays in every direction. That's what
we're supposed to be like. But we have too many
distractions. Turn off your cell phones when
you come to church. Today, no cell phone has
gone off during the homily. This is a minor miracle.
Turn them off when you come in. You only need
to eat your mind on the Lord, not on those cares.
Maybe we should add a line to the true became.
Lay aside all earthly cares and turn off the
cell phone. And you will in that case. Brothers
and sisters in Christ, let me summarize what
the remedy is. Four remedies. The scriptures,
confession, divine liturgy, and receiving Holy
Communion. These remedies are not obligations.
They're not things that we've come up with. They're
not things that we must do. Not requirements.
These are gifts. Four gifts from God. The liturgy,
the scriptures, confession, communion are not
about what we do, but gifts from God that he
gives to us. And we can receive them and make
ourselves capable of receiving them. Because
that's the participation in the kingdom of God.
That is when the word, the seed of faith grows
in the mind. That is when we have Christ's joy
fulfilled in ourselves. Amen.