Welcome to St. John the Baptist Church

The word of God is caught up in metaphors and parables. The image of seed that falls on different kinds of ground helps us understand how to listen creatively. 

Jesus, the Word, bears fruit in all of creation, but best in our lives and hearts. When you hear this parable of the sower and the seed, do you wonder which you are? Sometimes it seems that we are one, and sometimes another. Like all metaphors, this parable must be understood intuitively, “with the heart,” in order for it to work God’s healing grace in us. 

 Jesus is careful to say that we see with our eyes and hear with our ears, but we understand, not with our head, but with our heart. 

It is easy to get discouraged. It is easy to be distracted by difficulties and duties in our daily lives. It is possible for the word to be snatched away, even as we struggle to understand. Distractions of every kind prevent the word from being heard. But Isaiah and Paul underline the important point that the word of God is effective in all of creation, including us. Just as the rain waters the earth and will not return to the heavens until it does its intended work, the earth yields its rich harvest and rejoices. Our sufferings, distractions, and wearying work will not prevent us from hearing the word of God and doing God’s work if we see with our eyes the beauty of creation, hear with our ears the music of the universe, and understand with our heart that God has made all of this to help us. God heals every ill, calls us back from distraction, protects us from evil, and gives us the grace to hear the word with joy. 

It is God’s grace that prepares the ground for the seed, watering it, breaking up the clods, making even untilled ground fruitful. When we understand with our heart that this is God’s work in us, then even without understanding with our head, we can receive the word of God with the same joyful song of creation in bloom.