The Life-Giving Word of God

Homily for Saturday of Twenty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

When read together these two readings from the First Letter of St. Paul to Timothy and the Gospel of Saint Luke speak of the word of God as being the source of life. The word of God is not simply informative or descriptive. Rather it issues a challenge that must be heeded by all disciples of Jesus.

The parable that we read in the Gospel of Saint Luke is familiar. It appears in all three of the synoptic Gospels. It can be read from several different points of view; namely, from the point of view of the one who is sowing the seed, or from the point of view of the seed itself, or, finally, from the point of view from the soil on which the seed falls. It is helpful to look at the parable from all three points of view. If we take the part of the one sowing the seed, we learn that the sower broadcasts the seed without discriminating on the kind of soil upon which the seed will fall. This is an image of God’s desire to reach all people. If we take the point of view from the seed itself, we realize that the word of God offers its life-giving challenge to everyone. The point of view from the soil encourages us to welcome the seed so that it can produce good fruit.

In St. Paul’s letter to Timothy, Paul challenges Timothy to guard and to live by the word that has been preached to him and with which he is charged to preach. The word of God is living, active, and meant to shape our lives. Throughout this letter, we can see that Timothy seems to have lost his enthusiasm because of the resistance that he has experienced in his community. He reminds Timothy that the word was presented to Pilate by Jesus himself. Despite the fact that Pilate completely ignored the word of God, Jesus willingly entered into the passion and death that was part of God’s plan of salvation.

Both of these readings call us to steadfast perseverance in opening our hearts to the word of God as well as in sharing that word with others. The Eucharist provides us with the strength we need for such perseverance.