My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord be with you, and a blessed Sunday to you all. In today's readings, we hear about how God's Word is faithful. God's Word is penetrating. It has the power to enter into our hearts and transform our lives. God's Word is discipline because, as Saint Paul says, “the word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12). In other words, it's going to hurt sometimes. And so Jesus in the Gospel speaks about how this precious Word of God, once given to us, will either be neglected, rejected, embraced, nourished, and treasured within our hearts, but it's up to us.
So let's begin with the first reading from the Book of the prophet Isaiah. We're talking about the eighth century before Christ. We're talking about a prophet who is addressing a people who have lost their way, and that God is promising what? That He will restore the holiness of His people. But it will come through an exile. They will be exiled. And this happens later on when they are exiled into Babylon. But once King Cyrus conquers the Babylonians, he allows the Jewish people to return to their homeland. King Cyrus was obviously an instrument of God.
And so Isaiah gives these prophetic warnings. He explains what God is going to do and then illustrates it by these words: “Thus says the Lord: Just as from the heavens the rain and the snow come down, and do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed to the one who sows, and bread to the one who eats, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. My word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10–11)
Now, my brothers and sisters, here the prophet, or rather God through the prophet, is speaking about how He will keep His Word. But a deeper reading into this Scripture makes us remember that the Word of God, in its fullness, in all of its splendour, is in fact Jesus, our Lord.
Do you remember how Saint John begins his Gospel with these words? “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1:1, 14) In other words, everything God wants to really say to us in its profound and sublime power, He has said to us through Jesus.
Saint Paul reminds us that in former days God spoke through the prophets, but to us He speaks through His very Son, our Lord Jesus. And just as the snow and the rain fall to the earth and water it, making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed to the one who sows, and the seed that falls down into the ground and dies but then with the water is brought to new life, so too the Word of God, Jesus, descended into the earth, walked among us, but then was buried beneath the earth. And then in His spirit even descended into the netherworld to announce the Good News. And then, back in His body on Sunday morning, He rises gloriously, body and soul, through His power. And after forty days He ascends. He goes back to the Father, having fulfilled that for which He was sent into the world.
Do you see, my brothers and sisters, the deeper reading of this text that we are given by the prophet Isaiah in today's first reading? It's so much more sublime.
And again, I'm always reminded of the miracle of Fatima, the miracle of the sun, the sun that dances in the heavens. This is the glory of Jesus in His heavenly splendour. But then what does the sun do? It begins to descend towards the earth. They thought it was the end of the world. And then afterwards, what does it do? It reverted back into its original place. Jesus went back to His original place, for He was always eternally with the Father.
That sun, that day, was given a mission by God to descend towards the earth, to warm the people's faces. Do you know that even their clothes that were soaking wet were instantly dried because of the vicinity of the sun? Do you know that the mud was hardened? And yet we still have people who do not believe. And that's the thing. Our Lord sends us His Word, and then it's up to us.
And that's what the entire Gospel is about. Our Lord speaks in parables. Parables were a literary form that all the rabbis used to employ so as to make someone delve deeper into what is being said. So there would always be an oddity about the story, a story that usually employs elements from everyday life: sheep, mountains, water, wine, coins, fish, wolves, something people would understand.
But the greatest parable of all is Jesus Himself. Because Jesus Himself, although truly human, there was an oddity about Him. For He was truly divine. Hidden beneath His human nature was that divinity that created all things from nothing. And so they would see Him walking on water through the storms, raising the dead, bringing their souls back from the netherworld into their bodies, giving sight to the blind, and giving us sight, who were once lost. But He has found us.
Spend time with the Word of God who descended from heaven to spend time with you.
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