Sower and the Seed - Fr. Lawrence Margitich

Glory to Jesus Christ. The Lord said that, you

just heard these words, the wisdom is not revealed

unto the mighty and the powerful and the wise,

but revealed unto babes. So let's consider ourselves

children, babes, in understanding. and ask God

to reveal to us what he made today. The Lord

also said that the one on the good ground is

the one with the good and noble heart. So let

us open our hearts today to understand together,

meditating on this passage from St. Luke. Today

is the feast day of St. Luke as well. which is

why we had that second gospel that mentioned

the 70 apostles, of which he was one of those.

His relics were in Constantinople up until 1204,

when the crusaders came through, and they took

the relics along with lots of other things from

the city, and they ended up in Padua. in the

Cathedral of St. Justina, and they were forgotten.

Until the early 90s, when one of the metropolitans

of Greece, the metropolitan of Theva, where St.

Luke was martyred in central Greece, that metropolitan,

Hieronymus, asked, he knew that the relics had

been stolen. You know, Greeks don't forget stuff

like that. 1204, not that long ago for them.

It's still smarting. Of course, lots of things

were taken. The Vatican Museum is full of things

from Constantinople. He knew, and he asked the

Bishop of Padua for these relics, and the Bishop

of Padua had no idea they were there. He started

an investigation. They discovered they actually

had the body of St. Luke. a major portion of

the relic was returned to Theva, where now they

stream myrrh occasionally, and the faithful can

go and pray and ask St. Luke for his intercessions.

So the apostles are very much alive with us.

Let us briefly examine the words that the holy

apostle received from the Lord. This famous parable

of the sower, you've heard it a million times.

One of the primary and important spiritual teachers

these days, Father Maximus, Archimandrite Maximus

Custance from Holy Cross, noted that beginning

in 2009, that the New York Times ran a series

of articles focusing on accidents and fatalities

involving distracted drivers. And you know what

they're distracted with. And surgeons placing

calls and texting during surgery. Medical technicians

texting while running cardio. Pulmonary bypass

machines. I don't mean to scare anybody that

might be having surgery coming up. Anesthesiologists

who are shopping online for airplane tickets.

Social media interruptions, as you know, look

around, you yourself probably know this from

experience, happen at least every 10 minutes.

It's been calculated that in the U .S. alone,

over 12... billion collective hours are spent

browsing on social networks every day not a year

not a couple months but every day 12 billion

collective hours we each have some of those hours

to ourselves i know that alongside These statistics,

there's all kinds of anecdotal evidence, which

you know yourself, such as in September 2003

on one of the BART trains in San Francisco, the

train passengers were all looking at their cell

phones. They did not see a man pull a gun, who

stood there trying to get attention, but the

people were focused on their phones. It ended

in a tragedy. A man was shot and killed. I'm

recounting these details, these statistics, to

tell you, not to tell you, it's bad to be distracted.

I think we know that. That's not the lesson.

Nor am I telling you it's bad to use social media.

That's another topic. Probably is. This isn't

about distraction. It's about... distraction

as a symptom and the cause of the loss of God's

presence in the soul it's about what happens

when the mind and the heart and our attention

which is all connected just like the toe bone

is connected to the foot The mind, the heart,

and our attention is connected. When that attention

and the heart and the mind becomes like a hoarder's

garage, full of sins and distractions, the weeds

are multiplying with anxiety. And there's not

much useful for the journey to eternal life to

be found packed in that spiritual garage. This

gospel is about making a choice of where my attention

is going to go. Of deciding what I value, intentionally

value, what I pursue, knowing my life is short.

The judge is at hand. The kingdom of heaven is

here. And if after I leave this service today,

And just forget about the gospel lesson I just

heard about the sower and the seeds, the words

of the Savior. Then it's as if the words of Christ

have come true in me. Those by the wayside are

the ones who hear. Then the devil comes and takes

the word out of their hearts. lest they should

believe and be saved. Let's not forget, we're

meant to consider these readings all week long.

We're meant to store them in our heart and consider

them through the day. And when we do that, when

we meditate on it that way, God will reveal to

us his message. God will unfold for us what we

can't understand. You know, conquerors in the

ancient world, after overcoming their enemy,

would put stones and rocks and lime and salt

on the ground so their enemy's land could never

be useful again for a long time. Now this is

about clearing that field today. We don't want

to be the hard and stony ground. We want to be

the ground that some work has been done, that

the soil has been broken up, it's been amended,

the weeds have been pulled out. I remember when

my parents bought our first house. I guess I

was 12. I must have been 7th grade. It was in

Aurora, Colorado on Vaughan Avenue, a new housing

area. $28 ,000 for a four -bedroom house and

a basement with it and a backyard. But the front

yard was just dirt and rocks. And I remember

feeling conquered and beaten down by my enemy,

my dad. I was 12 at the time, so kids are a little

dramatic. Who wanted me to go out there, because

he's going to work every day and it was summer.

I had nothing to do. Go out there and take all

the rocks out of that front yard, clear the whole

thing, break up the soil because the sod guys

were coming. That's what we're doing with our

soul. That's what we're doing with our heart.

When it gets messed up, attend to thyself, it

says in Deuteronomy 15 .9. Attend to thyself.

that there be no hidden or iniquitous word in

thy heart. Christ himself is telling us this,

and he interprets the parable for us very simply.

The sower and the seed, he tells the disciples

and the women disciples that are there too. I

say that because in the passage before, they

were all there. And when asked why he speaks

in parables, he tells them, quoting a passage

from the prophet Isaiah, that those who can hear

it will understand. Those that don't want to

hear it, they will walk away and reject it. The

seed, the seed that the sower, God, is throwing

out before him as he goes everywhere, religious

idea, a set of principles about faith that we

adhere to. Nor is it a feeling of grace. The

word of God, the seed, the word of God is Christ

himself. He's been given to us. He's not merely

some human word or idea concealed within a religious

message. However great and overwhelming that

message might be, behind the message of the gospel

stands Jesus Christ himself, the Son of God,

the Word of God. As St. Paul puts it, having

been given to us, my little children for whom

I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ.

Be formed in you. Christ is being formed in us.

This is the goal of what Christ did. And he grows

in our hearts like an infant grows. And more.

Listen, do you remember? We heard this just a

couple weeks ago at the Feast of Protection.

Jesus said that those who hear the word of God

and keep it are what? That's his mother and his

brother. How do we know, then, that we have this

gift? How do we know that we are taking care

of the soil of our heart? St. Simeon, the new

theologian, gives us the following example. Very

clear. A woman who is pregnant with a child can

be absolutely certain that she's carrying a child,

even though there's no obvious sign of her pregnancy.

And other people don't suspect it. The same is

true of those who welcome the word of God into

their heart and who cultivate the ground. God's

not going to send us a taxi to take us to heaven.

We are responsible to cultivate the ground. We

understand. Very well then, when we have that

nourishing seed of the word of God within us.

How, again I ask, not by getting all Pentecostal

about it, not by getting all anxious about it.

No, one discovers very gently one day in the

midst of trouble, in the midst of problems, in

the midst of anxiety, in the midst of our own

moment, one discovers that the heart is quiet

and peaceful. One discovers when saying, O Heavenly

King, that truly one is comforted by the Comforter.

One discovers when we say, Our Father, give us

this day our daily bread, we really believe it.

And what joy then starts to grow. And a good

and noble heart is exalting before God for this.

One discovers exactly in the midst of difficulties

what St. Paul related. You heard it today. After

his visions, Christ says to him, my grace is

sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect

in weakness. My strength is made perfect in weakness.

Therefore, most gladly, I will boast in mine

infirmities that the power of Christ may rest

upon me. What a bold statement, to boast in infirmities.

And there is not only peace and sufficient grace

of God, but the story. as I've mentioned already,

is about the struggle to keep that gift in the

heart. Not just by avoiding sin, but by something

much more positive, much more helpful, much more

nourishing, and that is to desire, to pursue,

to put energy into acquiring the remembrance

of our Lord Jesus Christ. We can spend so much

time Focusing our energy on something that has

no eternal value. There's a picture the other

day. I admit, I saw it on Facebook, speaking

of distractions, of a hearse pulling a U -Haul.

So I guess some people think they can take it

with them. No, it's work. The Lord has given

us a share in the labor. You see, he doesn't

do everything for us. He says, you come, you

work with me. And what does he say? This beautiful

story today, over and over. The good ground are

they which in an honest and good heart, having

heard the word, keep it. The keeping of the word

is the labor, and we bring forth much fruit.

My beloved Elder Porphyrios, who died December

2, 1991, has said that God placed a gift in our

souls, the seed, Christ himself. He says this,

if we imagine the good as a garden full of flowers,

the good thing that we pursue. trees and plants,

and we imagine the evil that we know about. Not

in other people, by the way. We are not to judge.

We may discern sin, but we are not to judge.

We imagine the evil as weeds and thorns and the

power as water. Then what can happen is as follows.

When the water is directed to the flower and

the garden, Then all the plants grow. They blossom.

They bear fruit. And at the same time, the weeds

and the thorns, because they are not watered,

wither and die. And the opposite, of course,

can also happen. It is not necessary, therefore,

to concern yourself with the weeds. Don't occupy

yourself with rooting out evil. Christ does not

wish us to occupy ourselves with the passions,

but with the opposite. Channel the water that

is all the strength of your soul to the flowers,

and you will enjoy their beauty, their fragrance,

their freshness. You won't become saints by hounding

after evil. You won't become saints by hounding

after evil. Ignore evil. Look towards Christ.

He will save you. Occupy yourself with singing

hymns, the triumphant hymns of the saints. and

the martyrs, and the Psalms of David. Study Holy

Scripture and the Church Fathers. In this way,

says the elder, your soul will be softened, sanctified,

and assimilated to God. This is repentance, brothers

and sisters, and I promise you, the Lord has

given us each an allotment of time for this repentance.

Let us not spin our wheels. On the concrete.

Let's apply ourselves to what the Lord said in

the gospel today. And we shall be saved. Amen.