WHEN A BOUNTIFUL HARVEST IS NOT PROFITABLE.

FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME. YEAR A.
July 13, 2008.
(First reading: Isaiah 55:10-11) (Psalm 65:10-14)
(Second reading: Romans 8:18-23) (Gospel reading: Matthew 13:1-23).


WHEN A BOUNTIFUL HARVEST
IS NOT PROFITABLE.

PART I.
According to today's gospel every person has the opportunity to profit from the Word of God, just as the sower sows the seeds everywhere; some seeds fall on the path, others on rocky ground, others among thorns and others on rich soil (Matthew 13:4-8). The Word God comes to all.

However, there are people who do not want to profit from the Word of God. As Jesus, quoting the prophecy of Isaiah, says: There are people who "shall indeed hear but not understand... shall indeed look but never see. Gross is the heart of these people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes" (Matthew 13:14-15).

Why don't they want so see or hear?
the prophecy goes on: They don't want to hear or see "lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and be converted, and I heal them" (Matthew 13:15).

They prefer to remain "miserable", they prefer to continue exploiting and abusing their fellow human beings. They refuse to relinquish their worldly power and accumulated riches. They refuse to see and to hear that the true wealth of the human race is based only on The Word which speaks of unity, peace, truth, equality and justice for all.

Who are they who reject true wealth?
They are the ones with "gross hearts" to whom "it has not been granted" the ability to possess the "knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 13:11); they are the ones who will never become rich in the power of God, and even what they have "will be taken away" (Matthew 13:12) (the unjust and aggressor will end up with nothing). They will never produce any "bountiful harvest" in the eyes of God and humanity.

PART II.
Now, who is, then, the one who will truly produce a "bountiful harvest"?
Like the seed that falls on rich soil, the person who is able to produce a bountiful harvest is the one who "hears the Word [of God] and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirty-fold" (Matthew 13:23).

Saint Paul in his Letter to the Romans explains: The people who produce a rich harvest are those who set humanity "free from slavery and corruption" (Romans 8:21), who make every human being "share in the glorious freedom of the children of God" (Romans 8:21), who await "the redemption of their bodies" (Romans 8:23), that is to say, people awaiting unity, liberation, truth, justice and peace.

Saint Paul recognizes that the people who take on the task of producing a rich harvest are confronted with "the sufferings of the present time"; but such sufferings "are nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us" (Romans 8:18). Thus, suffering is not to deter us from the pursuit of justice, peace, truth and unity for all.

Those who are intent of producing a rich harvest of justice, peace, truth and unity "will achieve the end for which [the Lord has] sent them" - says the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 55:11): The Word "shall not return to [God] void".

Psalm 65:14 describes the world of the "bountiful harvest": "the fields are garmented with flocks and the valleys blanketed with grain [a world where all human beings] shout and sing for joy".

A world of universal well-being is not profitable for the powerful of the world because there can be no profit in a world where all human beings equally enjoy the wealth of the earth, in a world where there is no exploitation of man by man.

In the world of "the present time", true wealth is not profitable.