WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:03.040 There's something strange about today's gospel. 00:00:04.080 --> 00:00:08.880 Jesus tells us about a farmer who goes out to sow seed. 00:00:09.439 --> 00:00:13.199 He reaches into his bag and begins to throw the seeds. 00:00:13.759 --> 00:00:16.320 He throws the seeds on the path. 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:20.000 On rocky ground, he throws it into the thorns. 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:22.559 He throws seed on good soil. 00:00:24.239 --> 00:00:28.800 Now, if you know anything about farming, this makes absolutely no sense. 00:00:29.679 --> 00:00:32.560 A good farmer protects his seed. 00:00:32.960 --> 00:00:34.640 He doesn't waste it. 00:00:35.039 --> 00:00:36.799 He plants very carefully. 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:38.159 He calculates. 00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:39.520 He measures. 00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:42.159 But not this farmer. 00:00:43.039 --> 00:00:45.200 He seems almost reckless. 00:00:45.679 --> 00:00:50.560 Which means Jesus wants us to notice something before we ever notice the soil. 00:00:51.439 --> 00:00:57.039 The first character in this parable is not the ground, it's the sower, the farmer. 00:00:58.159 --> 00:01:00.799 The sower is extravagant. 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:08.959 Who would throw something precious onto ground that has almost no chance of producing anything? 00:01:09.599 --> 00:01:14.879 Well, only someone whose generosity is greater than his fear of wasting it. 00:01:15.519 --> 00:01:16.560 That's God. 00:01:18.159 --> 00:01:21.040 God never rations his grace. 00:01:22.159 --> 00:01:26.799 He does not look at a person and say, Well, he's too far gone. 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:29.280 That marriage is too broken. 00:01:29.760 --> 00:01:33.599 That sin or that addiction is gone too far. 00:01:34.159 --> 00:01:38.000 That family will never be reconciled and come back. 00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:40.159 That soul isn't worth it. 00:01:40.319 --> 00:01:42.159 I've tried and tried. 00:01:42.719 --> 00:01:43.040 No. 00:01:44.159 --> 00:01:44.959 What does he do? 00:01:45.040 --> 00:01:46.239 He keeps sowing. 00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:50.000 He keeps speaking, he keeps calling, he keeps loving. 00:01:50.959 --> 00:01:54.400 Even when he knows many will reject him. 00:01:56.079 --> 00:01:58.719 That tells us something beautiful about God. 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:03.760 God's love is never determined by the condition of the receiver. 00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:07.680 It comes from the generosity of the giver. 00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:12.719 That alone should change the way we see ourselves. 00:02:13.439 --> 00:02:20.960 Because some of us walked into this church today convinced that we've disappointed God one too many times. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:29.360 But if God were stingy with his mercy, he would never have sent his son to die on the cross for us. 00:02:30.080 --> 00:02:32.319 God is extravagant. 00:02:33.120 --> 00:02:34.960 He keeps sowing. 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:39.280 But then Jesus shifts our attention. 00:02:40.240 --> 00:02:42.319 The seed is never the problem. 00:02:42.719 --> 00:02:43.039 Why? 00:02:43.199 --> 00:02:45.759 Because the word of God is always alive. 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:49.360 The gospel never loses its power. 00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:55.599 If nothing grows, it is never because the seed lacked life. 00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:57.759 It's because of the soil. 00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:02.960 And now that's where the gospel becomes uncomfortable. 00:03:03.840 --> 00:03:09.280 Because every single one of us can recognize ourselves somewhere in these four soils. 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:14.319 Sometimes our hearts become like the path hard. 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:26.560 Not because we're evil, but because life has driven us, driven over us many times, with disappointments, with failures, with betrayals. 00:03:28.400 --> 00:03:31.280 We've heard this gospel many times. 00:03:32.479 --> 00:03:36.800 And sometimes we have stopped expecting it to change us. 00:03:38.319 --> 00:03:41.439 The word lands, but it never gets inside. 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:46.080 Other times we are like rocky soil. 00:03:46.719 --> 00:03:48.800 We love emotional moments. 00:03:49.039 --> 00:03:58.080 Maybe a retreat, a conference, a good experience at Mass, maybe a Christmas Mass or Easter Mass, a really beautiful sunrise mass. 00:03:58.159 --> 00:03:59.680 We get inspired. 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:03.919 But inspiration is not the same thing as conversion. 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:12.960 The trials come, the first inconvenience may come, the first sacrifice, and suddenly our faith disappears. 00:04:13.039 --> 00:04:15.280 We're back to the same old, same old. 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:23.120 Because feelings may make beautiful beginnings, but they make for poor foundations. 00:04:24.639 --> 00:04:31.839 Roots are formed through perseverance, through structure, through discipline, not excitement. 00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:34.720 And then there are the thorns. 00:04:35.120 --> 00:04:38.000 I think that this is where most of us live. 00:04:38.720 --> 00:04:44.879 But notice something: Jesus does not say the plant dies because of some great evil. 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:47.600 No, it dies because it gets crowded. 00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:56.720 The worries, the schedule, the constraint notifications, the pressure to make more, to buy more, to be more. 00:04:57.839 --> 00:05:01.759 The pressures of life to be accomplished. 00:05:02.319 --> 00:05:05.360 We fill every empty moment with noise. 00:05:05.759 --> 00:05:07.199 We stay busy. 00:05:07.519 --> 00:05:12.319 And whatever constantly occupies the mind, well, that's what's occupying the heart. 00:05:13.519 --> 00:05:18.000 The devil doesn't always have to make us be bad or feel bad. 00:05:18.319 --> 00:05:21.040 All he has to do is make us real busy. 00:05:22.399 --> 00:05:24.399 Now here's the part I don't want you to miss. 00:05:24.560 --> 00:05:28.879 This parable is not about personality, it's about freedom. 00:05:29.839 --> 00:05:33.360 Jesus never says, You were born rocky. 00:05:34.160 --> 00:05:36.399 You are always thorny. 00:05:36.879 --> 00:05:38.399 You're always hard. 00:05:38.720 --> 00:05:39.839 No, he doesn't say that. 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:40.319 Why? 00:05:40.399 --> 00:05:42.959 Because he knows that the soil can change. 00:05:43.600 --> 00:05:48.560 A farmer spends a lot more time working on the soil than he does planting. 00:05:49.680 --> 00:05:51.680 That's the spiritual life. 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:56.720 The saints were not born with better soil, they cultivated it. 00:05:57.439 --> 00:06:01.120 Every act of repentance softens that ground. 00:06:01.920 --> 00:06:05.920 Every confession breaks open another layer of hardness. 00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:11.040 Every act of forgiveness removes another stone. 00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:17.600 Every moment spent in silence before the Lord pulls away another thorn. 00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:21.360 Mercy changes us. 00:06:21.839 --> 00:06:24.000 Grace changes us. 00:06:24.319 --> 00:06:26.720 But grace needs cooperation. 00:06:27.920 --> 00:06:30.000 God provides the seed. 00:06:30.399 --> 00:06:32.879 We must prepare the ground. 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:36.000 There's a lesson from nature. 00:06:37.920 --> 00:06:41.199 Have you ever noticed what happens after a forest fire? 00:06:42.160 --> 00:06:44.000 Everything looks dead. 00:06:44.240 --> 00:06:46.480 Black, burned, hopeless. 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:50.879 Many, but many species of trees actually need fire. 00:06:51.759 --> 00:06:57.360 The intense heat cracks open those seeds that would otherwise remain closed for years. 00:06:58.319 --> 00:07:03.279 What look like total destruction becomes the beginning of new life. 00:07:04.800 --> 00:07:17.040 Sometimes God allows the trials of life, the disappointments, the challenges to crack open the hearts that comfort never could. 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:27.680 Some of the strongest Christians I know did not grow because of because life was easy, but because of a big trial in their life. 00:07:28.319 --> 00:07:37.439 They grew because suffering finally made them understand the redemptive power of God and that they had to draw closer to the Lord. 00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:40.720 So let me leave you with one image. 00:07:41.680 --> 00:07:47.199 Imagine Jesus walking through those doors today, carrying a bag of seeds. 00:07:47.839 --> 00:07:49.920 He already knows everything about you. 00:07:50.240 --> 00:07:52.560 He knows exactly where your heart is. 00:07:52.959 --> 00:07:58.560 He knows exactly where your faith is shallow and where you've drifted and you're distracted. 00:07:58.879 --> 00:08:02.079 He knows exactly where the thorns are growing. 00:08:02.639 --> 00:08:04.639 And yet he doesn't skip past you. 00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:07.600 He doesn't walk around you. 00:08:08.160 --> 00:08:13.279 He doesn't save his seed for someone else, someone more deserving. 00:08:13.600 --> 00:08:15.680 He throws it your way anyway. 00:08:16.800 --> 00:08:18.000 Because that's who he is. 00:08:18.240 --> 00:08:19.839 He is extravagant. 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:24.879 The question isn't whether God is speaking, because he is. 00:08:25.759 --> 00:08:30.959 The question is whether we will give him somewhere for that le that seed to land. 00:08:32.559 --> 00:08:36.159 So this week, don't try to change your entire life. 00:08:36.879 --> 00:08:40.080 Just cultivate one small piece of the soil. 00:08:41.120 --> 00:08:43.759 Maybe it means finally going to confession. 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:49.919 Maybe it means ten minutes of silence before grabbing your phone and working and starting your work day. 00:08:50.159 --> 00:08:54.879 Maybe it means forgiving someone you've carried a grudge against. 00:08:55.279 --> 00:08:59.679 Maybe it means opening the scriptures before opening social media. 00:09:00.799 --> 00:09:06.559 Just one piece, small piece of ground that you can cultivate this week. 00:09:07.759 --> 00:09:17.759 Because if you give Christ even one small corner of your heart, he can do with it with what no farmer on earth could ever imagine. 00:09:18.559 --> 00:09:22.240 Thirtyfold, sixtyfold, a hundredfold. 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:24.799 That isn't agriculture. 00:09:25.039 --> 00:09:26.799 That's God's grace. 00:09:27.759 --> 00:09:31.279 And grace has always been God's specialty. 00:09:31.519 --> 00:09:33.039 And it awaits us. 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:34.000 Amen.