A Psychospiritual Lesson from The Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23) – A reflection of the 15th Sunday Gospel reading (Year A)

The Seed, the Sower, and the Four Types of the Ground

Now, what is to grow into the Kingdom, like the seed?

This also can be more than one possibility, as whatever God the Father sends to establish the Kingdom can be considered to be the seed. It means that the seed can be the Holy Spirit and Jesus, the Son. And, as popularly understood, it can mean the Word of God.  If Jesus is considered as the sower, then the seed can be his word, kerygma.

If we regard the seed as the Word of God, then, the seed itself can be the very one who sow it, to follow the logic of John 1:1-2 and 14, as the word (logos) was not only with God but also was God and became flesh, making his dwelling among us. This Johannine description of the divine nature of the word reminds that the Hebrew word, dabah, can mean both a word spoken and the one who speaks the word, as the word, logos, in John 1, has the dual meaning, the Word of God and God.  Therefore, the seed that grows into the Kingdom of God can be understood as the Word of God, which incarnated as Jesus, the Son, the Christ, who is God, and the Word he spoke. The seed in the parable has deep manifold meaning and is not limited to the word Jesus spoke.

Now, what did Jesus mean by these various grounds, where the seed is sown in the Parable of the Sower? In other words, who or what can be the recipients of the seed in the parable?

In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus presents four different types of the ground, where the seed is sown: the path with hardened soil (Matthew 13:4), the rocky ground with shallow soil (Matthew 13:5), the ground infested with thorns (Matthew 13:7), and the rich soil (Matthew 13:8).  These metaphorically represent different conditions of the recipients of the seed – the Word, the Incarnated Word, who is Jesus, and his word, kerygma.

Of course, the recipients can be both us and the world. The four different types of the ground (path, rocky ground, ground plagued with thorns, and rich soil) in the parable correspond to various conditions of our hearts and the states of the world. These are not to profile different types of personalities and the societies.  Any person may experience various conditions of the heart, sometimes being like the path in the parable, while being like the rich soil in the parable other times. Likewise, the condition of any society can varies from being like the path in the parable to the rich soil in the parable.

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We tend to think that these four different kinds of the ground are different entities, representing

four different persons, who receive the word of God. But, given the agricultural practice in Galilee at the time of Jesus, these different types of the ground represents various conditions of the same heart, as the same fertile field can become a hardened path, rocky ground, and plagued with thorns – depending on how it is treated.

A path is formed in the same rich soil field as people walk frequently as the soil becomes firm as they step on repeatedly. Even it was once a soft and rich soil, it becomes a hard-ground path as it was always stepped upon.

The fertile soil may become a rocky ground if a rain storm carry rocks into the field, and thorns can grow in the rich soil, just as weeds can grow.

It all depends on what affects the soil, even the rich fertile farm soil can turn into a hard path, where the seed can be taken away by birds, or into a rocky ground, where the seed may grow fast but die soon because of its shallow soil, or into a ground infested with thorns, where the sprouts from the seed die from choking. And, this reality of a farm ground in Galilee at the time of Jesus reminded farmers of their need to take a good care of the farm soil to keep it always fertile and suitable for the seed to grow healthily.

Jesus used this farming metaphor to teach us that we need to work on ourselves – on our hearts, to keep the condition of our hearts always suitable for the seed, which is what God sow in us. It is because God want us to provide the seed He sow the fertile soil so that it will grow into the Kingdom of God – as a tiny mustard seed will grow into a great tree or a grain of wheat will grow into manifold harvest of wheat for the bread of life.

Sometimes, our hearts are like the hard soil path, not suitable at all for the seed to grow. Perhaps, it is when we reject God or let Devil snatch the seed that God sow by easily giving into temptations.

At times, our relationship with God become weak and superficial. On the surface, we may make ourselves look pious. But, we do not put our hearts committed to our relationship with God. In such a weak or superficial relationship with God, we are likely to commit apostasy, when keeping our faith no longer satisfy our own ego. Thus, the condition of the rocky ground can be a metaphor of our narcissistic take on our faith.

Our hearts may become plagued by growing and overwhelming anxieties. In such an anxious condition, we often find it difficult to keep our faith – our relationship with God. Doubt kicks in and tries to kill our hope, which is associated with faith (i.e. 1 Corinthians 13: 13), as thorns can choke and kill the sprouting seed.  Thus, the thorn in the Parable of the Sower represents our anxieties and other psychological conditions that can kill our faith and what it is related to, such as hope and love. When our anxieties become out of control, our relationships suffer as hope and love in the relationships begin to die.

Of course, the rich soil in the Parable of the Sower represents an idealistic condition of our hearts, free from anxiety. It symbolizes the willing hearts for the seed that God sow – whatever God bestow on us. It also represents a deeply committed relationship with God, because it is not our own ego, our own will that matters, but it is the will of God that matters most. Thus, as there is no anxiety in this, there is no narcissism, either. And, the roots that grow out of the seed indicates the degree of secure attachment with God, which is an indicator of the quality and strengths of our faith in God. As the further the roots from the seed spread, the stronger our faith become – because it means our trust-filled secure attachment with God. This is the kind of attachment that Jesus has with the Father (i.e. John 10:30).

We all go through these types of conditions of hearts, metaphorically mentioned as the four types of the ground in the Parable of the Sower. Our desire is to be what the rich soil represents for the seed that God sow in us. So, if we find ourselves to be in conditions other than this, such as not being receptive to God and what God offers, being superficial or narcissistic, or being so anxious, then, we need to work hard to turn our hearts’ conditions into an idealistic condition, like the rich soil.

If our hearts are too hardened to accept God or what God offers, as the hardened path does not allow the seed to sprout at all, we just need to till the earth, turning the hard soil into soft soil. Likewise, we can convert our hardened hearts into soft and rich hearts through the circumcision of the hearts. The circumcision of the hearts requires appropriate spiritual disciples, because, as Paul indicates in Romans 2:29, it can be done by the Holy Spirit.

When our hearts are too self-concerned or too anxious to let God and what He offers grow in our hearts and in our relationship with Him, then, we also need to prow some layers of our hearts to remove the “rocks” and “thorns” out of our hearts. For this, we also need suitable spiritual disciples.

One effective spiritual discipline to turn our unsuitable hearts’ condition for the seed into a suitable condition is the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. The Spiritual Exercises are also helpful to keep our hearts condition as good as the rich soil, because this spiritual discipline was developed through St. Ignatius of Loyola’s own struggles with his own hardened heart, like a pardoned path, with his own superficial and narcissistic heart, like a rocky ground, and with his own anxious heart, like a ground plagued with thorns.

So, the Parable of the  Sower invites us to examine our hearts’ condition at this moment and work on whatever the necessary spiritual disciplines to turn and to keep our hearts conditions suitable for the seed to grow and takes its roots, just as the rich soil in the Parable does.

Below, I show a spectrum of these different hearts’ conditions, corresponding to the four types of the soil that Jesus uses in his Parable of the Sower.  We need to constantly assess our hearts with this spectrum so that we can take appropriate actions to turn our hearts to an ideal condition for the seed and to keep this way. 

The numbers in the spectrum indicate degrees of the strengths of faith. It suggests the likelihood of the secure attachment with God, symbolized with the probability of the seed to germinate and takes its roots, because the roots represent the secure attachment with God – an indicator of the strengths of faith. These numbers also reflect the degree of the growth of seed, as well as the extent and durability of the roots growing from the germinated seed, as the growth of the roots can be understood as a metaphor of the degree of attachment to God or Jesus.

The secure the attachment with God we develop, the greater extent the germinated seed spreads its seed. And, the degree of this secure attachment with God – the extent of the roots from the seed – is an indication of the strength of the faith. That is why the seed on the rocky ground (1), which may sprout quickly but dies soon for its shallow soil, is a symbolic representation of a weak attachment to God – weak faith. Likewise, the seed on the ground plagued with thorns, also metaphor of the weak faith because it lets anxieties (thorns) choke to death, preventing it from spreading its roots wide enough to overcome obstacles (anxieties – thorns).

←	0	1	2	3	→
Separation from God	Path (13:4)	Rocky ground (13:5)	Thorns (13:7)	Rich soil (13:8)	Secure attachment with God
Ego-centric , narcissistic	No faith, very little faith	Superficial faith	Weak faith – prone to be plagued with anxieties and doubts	Mature faith	God-centered, altruistic

So, I did not limit the interpretation of the seed in the Parable of the Sower to the Word of the Lord. Below, I suggest two possibilities, including the word, for understanding what Jesus could have meant by the “seed” in the parable.

The Seed as the Word

Perhaps, you have read or heard that the seed in the Parable of the Sower means the word of God that Jesus spoke – kerygma. And, it has been a popular interpretation.

The Father in heaven sent the Son, Jesus Christ, to sow His word through the teaching of Jesus. Thus, Jesus has been sowing the seed in us throughout the history. And we are called to provide a good soil for the seed to grow and take its roots so that the seed will bear manifold fruits for harvest.

So, you can imagine Jesus sowing the seed when he preached. Can you see Jesus planting the good seed during the Sermon of the Mount (Matthew 5-7) and how the seed being received in each audience there?

The sacred scripture, the Word of the Lord, written by human hands as inspired by the Holy Spirit, is the holy book of the sacred seed. Even though Jesus does not sow his word in our hearts as he did to the crowds and the disciples, he continues to do so through the Holy Spirit and the word in the scriptures, which has been written as inspired by the Holy Spirit. When Jesus said, “receive the Holy Spirit” to the frightened disciples in the Upper Room (John 20:22), he was also sowing the seed into the hearts of the disciples – even though these were hearts hardened with fear and some skepticism.

The Seed as the Holy Spirit, the Divine Sperm, for Jesus

Now, with this contextual understanding, we know that the seed in the Parable of the Sower is the good seed in the Parable of the Weeds among the Wheat. Thus, the seed can be understood as a grain of wheat. In fact, when Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it dies, it produces many seeds (John 12:24), he refers himself as a kernel of wheat, as this sentence was said by Jesus to predict his own death to bring salvation.

In this interpretation of mine, the seed, as a grain of wheat, can be what is to become Jesus, the “divine sperm”, sowed by the Father in the World. As Matthew 1:18 reports, Mary was impregnated not by virginal intercourse but by the mysterious work of the Holy Spirit, as a will of the Father for the Kingdom of God. Given Jesus’ self-identified Christological description in John 6:35, 51 and Matthew 26:26, Jesus as the bread of life (pan de vida), being made out of harvested wheat, the sacred seed sowed in Mary a seed of “wheat” to be made into the bread of life.

Obviously, Mary was the rich soil for this seed, as her immaculate body let this sacred seed grow healthily in her womb to bring the bread of life, Jesus Christ, to this world. And, the ultimate result of nurturing the sacred seed that the Father planted in Mary’s fertile and pure flesh is the Kingdom of God, on earth, as it is in heaven! The Sacrament of the Eucharist, Corporis et Sanguinis Christi, which is the bread of life, Jesus Christ, who states, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst” (John 6:35).

Bread is made from harvested wheat. As the Jewish festival, Shavuot (Jewish Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks) suggest, a festival of harvest values the first harvest. Given John 12:24 and 1 Corinthians 15:23, Jesus is the bread made with the first harvest, as the wheat that make Corporis et Sanguinis Christi is the first fruits out of the grain of wheat that once fell on the ground and died.

 

Vincent Van Gogh "The Sower" (1888)

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Whether we regard the seed as the word, which became Jesus (John 1:14), or the Holy Spirit, these are sent by the Father in heaven (i.e. John 6:39, 20:21,14:26). Thus, both the word and the Holy Spirit can be understood as the seed that Jesus refers to in the parable. What is important to us is what we are doing with the seed that God sow with us – in particular, with our hearts.

Are we the good fertile soil for the seed to grow? Or, are we too hardened to let the seed sowed or plagued with obstacles for the seed to grow, because we are so self-concerned and too anxious?

If we find ourselves not being like the fertile soil, then, we need to work on ourselves with necessary spiritual disciplines, just as farmers need to prow and till the soil so that even unsuitable soil conditions can be converted into a suitable condition for the seed to grow and take its roots deeply – in order to yield abundant fruits and crops for harvesting. And the harvest time is when we sure find ourselves in the Kingdom of God. 


After all, we are called to be good steward of the seed that God sow. 

Wisdom for Entering Through the Narrow Gate of Heaven - 21st Sunday (Year C) Readings

In response to an anxious question if only a few will be saved Jesus answered: 

“Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.  After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door, then will you stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’ He will say to you in reply, ‘I do not know where you are from. And you will say, ‘We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets.’ Then he will say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers!’”(Luke 13:24-27)

Jesus did not answer in a simple “yes or no” way. Rather he answered the question with a parable of the narrow gate to hint that only those who meet certain conditions can be saved at the time of the judgement upon Christ’s return. 

So, what are the conditions we must satisfy in order to be saved?  We must meet the salvation criteria before Jesus returns and lock the entrance of the heaven, as he indicated in the parable. 

The 21^st Sunday Year C Gospel narrative (Luke 13:22-30) does not provide any specific conditions. But, it is obvious that it takes more than faith to be saved – though some Christians seem to naively believe that accepting Jesus Christ as a personal savior and keep the faith is the way to be saved. Surely, the 21^st Sunday Gospel indicates that accepting Jesus Christ as the Messiah and keeping the faith is only a necessary condition but not a sufficient condition. Personal association with Jesus – knowing him does not suffice to be saved as those who said, “We ate and drank in your company and you taught in our streets” are being saved. 

In thinking of what Jesus says about the condition for salvation, the Gospel narrative (Luke 13:22-30) just reminds me of Matthew 25:31-46:

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.  Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’  Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’ He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Both Luke 13:22-30 and Matthew 25:31-46 address the judgement and salvation. It seems that Matthew 25:31-46 gives more concrete and practical ideals about what it takes us to be entitled to salvation – to enter the Kingdom of God – heaven. 

It is clear that important criteria for salvation are our work of charity – opus caritatis, taking care of those are in need. In Jesus’ view, our acts of charity toward those are in need also means serving him – serving God. 

This clearly makes sense because Jesus, in Luke 10:25-37,  also teaches that a path to salvation (to inherit eternal life) is to practice works of charity as the Good Samaritan did, in light of the most important command – the command of love: To love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself, which reflects Deuteronomy 6:5 (about loving God ) and Leviticus 19:18 (about loving our neighbors). 

Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 25:31-46 certainly indicates that practicing the Corporal Works of Mercy (feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, providing shelter to the homeless, visiting the sick, visiting the imprisoned, and burying the dead) is a very important in our efforts to enter into Heaven through the narrow gate.  

After all, the Corporal Works of Mercy is opus caritatis, the works of charity.  As James said in James 2:14-26, faith that is not demonstrated by works is not good enough for salvation and only as good as dead faith.  Paul makes it clear that our work of faith must embody love in 1 Corinthians 13: 1-3.  So, with Jesus’ worlds in Matthew 25:31-46, as well as, these words of James (James 2:14-26) and Paul (1 Corinthians 13:1-3) on faith, work, and love, we now understand better that what Jesus meant by “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough”(Luke 13: 24).  It is to strive on the Corporal Works of Mercy (CCC 2247) in order to enter into the Kingdom of God through the narrow gate. 

For those who are strong enough to have persistently practiced the Corporal Works of Mercy, as well as the Spiritual Works of Mercy (instructing, advising, consoling, comforting, forgiving and bearing wrongs patiently)(CCC 2247), are the ones entering the Kingdom through the narrow gate.

Some may wonder if there is a better way to enter the Kingdom – an easier way of attaining salvation. In fact, there is not. The way to heaven is never easy. 

As I have mentioned in my previous blog entries, since the 12^th Sunday’s Gospel readings (Year C), Jesus’ words are on what it takes to be his disciples (the cost of the discipleship) and what it takes to inherit the Kingdom of God. Through his teachings on the discipleship and inheriting the Kingdom (attaining salvation), there is nothing even indicative of an “easy way”.  To be his disciple and to journey on the path toward the Kingdom only lead to the narrow gate.  No wider gate to enter into the Kingdom.  In fact, being Christian and walk on the path to the Kingdom comes with many trials, as the path Moses took the Israelites to the promised land was so in Exodus.  If you think that all you have to do to attain salvation is to simply accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior…of if you naively think that all you need is faith to be saved, I suggest that you reconsider your belief.  Being Christian and attaining salvation, indeed, demands a lot of hard works – works of love – works of mercy, while enduring series of hardships, including persecutions. 

So, Paul, whom I regard as a great cheerleader and coach for Christians on a long hard path, allegedly says these words: 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us  while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith. For the sake of the joy that lay before him he endured the cross, despising its shame, and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God. Consider how he endured such opposition from sinners, in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood. You have also forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as sons: “My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord or lose heart when reproved by him; for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines; he scourges every son he acknowledges.” Endure your trials as “discipline”; God treats you as sons. For what “son” is there whom his father does not discipline?  Hebrews 12:1-7. 

These words suggest that the path to salvation via the narrow gate of the Kingdom sure demands our endurance, as walking on this path is like a challenging race. And, we must win this race by completing our mission – to enter through the narrow gate through our striving, just as marathoners enter into the post-race refreshment area upon heroically crossing the finish line, upon enduring a challenging 26.2-mile path. 

Of course, to run a marathon successfully, you must be fit – physically, mentally, and spiritually. Likewise, we must be fit spiritually to endure our challenging path to enter through the narrow gate into the Kingdom by ridding ourselves of burdens and sins. It means that we must travel spiritually and psychologically light.  That is why we need the spiritual disciplines to make sure we are not burdened – not to be with a restless heart, which is associated with sins, and not to carry baggage of sins, along our way. 

Jesus also advises us to journey “light” because we would not be fit to enter through the narrow gate if we were heavy with a restless heart and sins. 

"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."  (Matthew 10:25)

In these words, Jesus meant a person, who is suffering from sin of greed, by saying a rich man. Greed is considered as sin also in Buddhism, which calls what Christians call sin a poison, as greed is one of the Three Poisons in Buddhist teaching. And, Buddhism also warns against the Poison of Attachment. In fact, this Buddhist teaching is also echoed in Jesus’ teaching’s on entering into the Kingdom through the narrow gate by journeying  light”. What makes us heavy with burdens and sins is our inability to rid our attachment of.  This wisdom is also clinically reflected in Morita Therapy, a psychotherapeutic method developed by Shoma (Masatake) Morita, a Japanese psychiatrist. 

So, we need to shed whatever gets in our way of entering into the Kingdom through the narrow gate through our spiritual disciplines, such as the St. Ignatius of Loyola’s “Spiritual Exercises” and the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This way, we can keep our heart and soul fit to endure the journey.  This way, we can better serve our brothers and sisters in need – to serve Christ – better in our striving with the works of mercy. 

Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken” is about dilemmas in making a choice. And, we may face difficult dilemmas on our way to enter the Kingdom through the narrow gate. As Frost’s poem invokes an image of traveler standing and wondering to make a decision on which way to take at a fork, we may have to slow down and even stop for a while when we face difficult decision-makings. 

When we at a fork on our path to our destiny, the Kingdom, we must guard ourselves against temptations to be pulled into devil’s path, which tend to appear easier, more pleasurable and even rational. We must make sure that we will not be fooled. For our need to make right decisions on our path, I found “What’s Your Decision?: How to Make Choices with Confidence and Clarity: An Ignatian Approach to Decision Making” by Rev. Michael Sparough, SJ, Jim Manney, and Rev. Tim Hipskind, SJ, to be resourceful. 

The lead author, a Jesuit priest, Fr. Michael has been my friend and Ignatian spiritual resource. He is also a great story-teller and writer. Over the years of my association with him through the Charis Ministries and Loyola University, I know his deep commitment to discernment and his gift to explain abstract concepts, such as spiritual discernment, through lucid narratives.  In this book, just as in his retreat and workshops, through inviting and engaging stories, you can also find that how discerning God’s will for us at our journey’s crossroads and our deep hearts' desires are to be put in the same direction, overcoming discrepancies and resistances. 

It is not only about recognizing God’s will but also making sure that our heart’s deep desire is in God’s will.  As we attain the spiritual discipline with our mature faith, we become more able to understand that discerning God’s will and finding our deep heart’s desire in God’s will does not have to be a rational decision.  And, it often comes with risks and even sufferings. But, I have found that what this book describes really helps us to appreciate these words of Jesus: Strive to enter through the narrow gate. 

St. Ignatius of Loyola, whose spiritual wisdom is the bottom line of the book, had to make many difficult decisions at forks on his journey. And, many of the decisions he made did not make sense – rationally, and he had to ensure great sufferings because of the decisions he made. But, it was out of his deep heart’s desire for the greater glory of God (Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam), and his journey took him into the Sainthood. It means that St. Ignatius of Loyola has already entered the Kingdom of God though the narrow gate before Christ’s return. So, we can trust St. Ignatius’ spiritual wisdom, which the book is based upon, to helps us become better decision-makers, better discerners, fitting to strive to enter the Kingdom through the narrow gate.

Vigilance Necessary to Inherit the Kingdom - 19th Sunday Gospel Reading in Reviewing Gospel Readings since the 12th Sunday

The Costs and Conditions of the Discipleship and of inheriting the Kingdom of God

Everybody wants to inherit the Kingdom of God as the ultimate treasure, as the very reward of being a faithful disciple of Christ.  

Jesus certainly understands this desire of ours. That is why he instructs us how we can attain this most important reward: the Kingdom. It is the ultimate goal of the faith pilgrimage for Christians. To put this in the context of Viktor Frankl’s meaning-focused psychology, the Kingdom is the ultimate meaning of Christian life.  To Christians, it is the source of hope and courage to endure any hardship on the pilgrimage, similar to how Abraham and Sarah endured their challenging journey to Canaan to settle, as well as the way how Moses and his fellow Jews endured the 40 years of hard journey of Exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land.

So, the Christian path to inherit the Kingdom of God certainly comes with challenges and trials to endure meaningfully.  To make sure that we make it through our pilgrimage all the way to the Kingdom – until his return, Jesus teaches us how we prepare ourselves for the Kingdom.

As the path that Abraham and Sarah took at their old age, and like the path of Exodus that Moses and his fellow Jews took, came with heavy “costs” to reach their promised lands, our pilgrim path to the Kingdom of God certainly comes with significant costs and conditions.

“The costs of the discipleship”, to borrow Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s word, are certainly a part of the costs and conditions to inherit the Kingdom. 

Since the 12^th Sunday’s Gospel reading on, Jesus has been addressing the costs and conditions on us to receive the Kingdom. In order to understand Jesus’ teaching on the Kingdom in the 19^th Sunday Gospel reading better, let’s review main points of Gospel readings from the 12^th Sunday and see how these build up to the teaching in the 19^th Sunday reading. The costs and conditions of the discipleship also mean the costs and conditions to be entitled to the Kingdom of God.

In the 12^th Sunday Gospel reading (Luke 9:18-24), Jesus listed Buddhist-like self-denial and Bushido-like self-sacrifice (carrying one’s own cross – a prospect of martyrdom) as a part of the costs of the discipleship.   

In the 13^th Sunday Gospel reading (Luke 9:51-62), Jesus continued on with the costs of the discipleship, teaching about giving up on the desire to settle and the immediacy in following him , resembling Buddhist-monk’s imitation of Shakamuni Buddha’s life of pabbajja and not delaying a commitment to follow because of the attachment to earthy matters, including families.  

Jesus’ teaching shifted a bit form the cost of the discipleship to the benefits of the discipleship, in the 14^th Sunday’s Gospel (Luke 10:1-12, 17-20).  In this Gospel story, Jesus alluded that the faithful discipleship’s ultimate reward is to have one’s name written in heaven – inferring to the Book of Life in the Judgement (Revelations 3:5, 20:12) the book, which is the register of those who are inheriting the Kingdom . 

In the Gospel story for the 15^th Sunday (Luke 10;25-37), Jesus’ teaching begins to focus on inheriting the Kingdom, which is the ultimate reward for the faithfully embracing the costly discipleship, as alluded in the 14^th Sunday Gospel narratives. 

In the 15^th Sunday Gospel story, Jesus teaches that we need to observe God’s command to love God with all our heart, being, strength, and mind, and our neighbors as ourselves, exemplified by the Good Samaritan, in order to inherit the Kingdom. 

Then, in the 16^th Sunday’s Gospel reading (Luke 10:38-42), Jesus teaches the importance of listening, which is essential to maintain a good relationship with God. If we love God, then, we naturally listen to God, as Mary listened to Jesus. And, this Mary-like listening is an essential part of prayer. 

In the 17^th Sunday’s Gospel (Luke 11:1-13), Jesus focuses on prayer – in particular, our petitions to God. On this matter, Jesus teaches us to be like a persistent seeker, who will receive and find, to whom doors will be opened on his/her journey to the Kingdom. The persistency needed in this is like the persistency of the Canaanite woman in Matthew 15:21-28, the widow who gets an unjust judge to listen to her (Luke 18:1-8) and Hanna who persistently prayed for having a child (1 Sam 1). This teaching on prayer hints that our path to inherit the Kingdom requires a significant amount of persistence as in our resilience to fight any setbacks on our journey of faith. 

In the 18^th Sunday’s Gospel (Luke 12:13-21), again, Jesus teaches like a Buddhist master, on non-attachment to earthly matter – earthly treasure, through the parable of the rich fool. Jesus wants us to know that our attachment (worries) on earthly treasures can keep us from inheriting the real treasure – the Kingdom. 

So, from the 12^th Sunday on until the 19^th Sunday, Gospel readings have built up Jesus’ teaching on the costs and conditions of inheriting the Kingdom through our discipleship, as the 20^th Sunday will deal with a different subject. 

With the above overview from the 12^th Sunday Gospel, let’s take a deeper look into the 19^th Sunday Gospel.

Vigilance in Waiting for the Lord Christ’s Return to Inherit the Kingdom

In a nutshell, the 19^th Sunday Gospel reading (Luke 12;32-48) is about the importance of our readiness to inherit the Kingdom at any moment through our constant vigilance. To put this important teaching of Jesus in a Buddhist term, it is about mindfulness, as it is what vigilance requires. In inheriting the Kingdom, it is indeed, “You snooze, you lose”. 

Jesus said: “Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them. And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”  (Luke 12: 35-40)

To better understand these words of Jesus in the Gospel reading for the 19^th Sunday of Ordinary Time in Year C, it is helpful to interpret this narrative in light of the Book of Revelation 19 – 20.

Revelation tells that we will inherit the Kingdom of God, as long as our names are written in the Book of Life, upon Jesus’ return, Parousia. Here in this Gospel narrative, Jesus is teaching what it takes us to inherit the Kingdom upon his return. Namely, it is our steadfast vigilance. 

As said in the 14^th Sunday’s Gospel reading (Luke 10:1-12, 17-20), embracing the costs of discipleship and serving for God’s greater glory (Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam) like the disciples on mission is a way to have our names written in heaven – written in the Book of Life.  This means that providing services (ministries) to the world’s needs through the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit is a way to inherit the Kingdom by having our names in the Book of Life.  In the 15^th Sunday Gospel story (Luke 10;25-37), Jesus further goes on to tell that we must serve the needs of the world as the Good Samaritan did in order to be entitled to the Kingdom. 

Now, the 19^th Sunday Gospel reading further adds that another important condition – besides serving as the disciples on mission and the Good Samaritan did, as well as listening to God as Mary did and persistent prayers, we must remain spiritually vigilant.  So, to put the 19^th Sunday Gospel reading with the Gospel readings from the 12^th Sunday on, we can say that service (work) through the gifts of the Holy Spirit (i.e. 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, Isaiah 11:1-2), persistent prayers, and constant vigilance are three necessary conditions to inherit the Kingdom of God by embracing the costs of the discipleship (self-denial, carrying our cross – a prospect of martyrdom, pabbajja-like simple life not attached to any earthly matters, and immediacy to follow God’s call in our heart’s desire).

Now, let’s think of the 19^th Sunday Gospel narratives (Luke 12:32-48) together with the 13^th Sunday Gospel story (Luke 9:51-62). 

As I mentioned, the 13^th Sunday Gospel story (also see my 6/30/13 entry, “Pabbajja (pravrajana) in Christianity   キリスト教における出家  - Reflection of the Scripture Reading on the 13th Sunday Ordinary Time Year C”),  to become disciples of Jesus, we must act immediately upon being called.  To make sure we can follow him with such immediacy, we also must denounce all our attachments to earthly matters, including our personal assets and even families.  Of course, this does not mean that we cannot have any personal assets and we have to abandon our families. Rather, it is to teach us that our worries about our personal assets and families really hinders our abilities to follow Jesus – negatively affecting the quality of our discipleship. 

That is why Jesus said at the beginning of the 19^th Sunday’s Gospel reading, “Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be”(Luke 12:32-34), to set the tone for his teaching on vigilance.

Practically, if you have so many things to worry about – your assets and families – your own earthly matters, then, you are likely to be distracted and become less vigilant.  Spiritually, this is a tension between ego and our servant identity in Christ.  

Ever since the Gospel reading of the 12^th Sunday, self-lessness, namely, overcoming our ego, has been emphasized as our need to be disciples of Christ, because the discipleship means being servant. Our own big ego compromise our abilities to serve. 

So, we have a choice: to revert back to our ego for our own earthly gain, like the Rich Fool,  or to overcome ego and strive to be a better servant of Christ in order to inherit the Kingdom. 

If we prefer the latter choice for the sake of the better reward: the Kingdom, then, we’d better be a really good servants– just like the vigilant servants in the 19^th Sunday Gospel reading.  

The vigilant servants, who dutifully and faithfully wait for the return of their servants, are also like the Ten Wise Virgins in Matthew 25:1-13.  The vigilance in this kind of faithful service of waiting is empowered by the same spirit that enables us to pray with the kind of persistence, demonstrated by the Canaanite woman’s faith (Matthew 15:21-28), the widow challenging the unjust judge (Luke 18:1-8), and Hanna (1 Samuel 1).  It is also about endurance. 

When the Lord returns, he will knock on the door (Luke 12:36). If we fall off-guard and asleep, we may not recognize the knock.  Not being able to recognize the knock of the returning Lord indicates not only a compromised alertness but also our sinful heart. 

Christ cannot enter the stone of heart, which is an image of unrepentant sinful heart. But, as we repent and convert our heart to open heart, then, Christ can enter. Our heart that Christ enters in becomes the heart found in Christ.  

 As St. Augustine of Hippo said in his “Confession”, “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee”, we remain restless, mired in kleshas, to put this in a Buddhist term, as long as our heart is not in one with Christ. That is why we may never be free from worries and other forms of restlessness – until the return of Christ at the end of time.  That is why we have to remain vigilant. But, this time with unknown length is also a time to make sure that our heart is repentant and open to welcome Christ in to find our heart in Christ, upon his return. This way, we can hear him knocking and appreciate these words of Jesus: 

 Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me (Revelation 3:20).