Morning Devotion for the season of Eastertide
Monday, May 23, 2022
The Invitatory
Alleluia! Christ is risen. The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia."
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end.
Amen.
Praise ye the Lord.
The Lord's Name be praised.
Reading: Matthew 13:1-16
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!”
Then the disciples came and asked him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” He answered, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. The reason I speak to them in parables is that ‘seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.’ With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says:
‘You will indeed listen, but never understand,
and you will indeed look, but never perceive.
For this people’s heart has grown dull,
and their ears are hard of hearing,
and they have shut their eyes;
so that they might not look with their eyes,
and listen with their ears,
and understand with their heart and turn—
and I would heal them.’
But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.
Meditation – Michael Palmisano
The parable of the sower is situated at the focal point of Matthew’s gospel. It is part of the third of five teaching discourses delivered by Jesus in the gospel and in this third discourse, it appears as the central parable in a flurry of several others. Moreover, grammatical context implicitly links Jesus with the person of the sower. The way in which Matthew situates Christ in this most central teaching of the gospel gives the sense that Jesus’s whole life might be something of a parable.
The Christ event is primarily of cosmic significance: God came in the form of a human to redeem all Creation, and there is not one thing that God did not bring to Himself through the person of Christ. But the Christ event also reveals to us, on an intimately human level, the nature of God and human beings. In the person of Christ, God reveals to us how human beings interact with the God of the universe when He draws near to them. The incarnate Christ is a heartbreaking parable of the response of humankind to the self-giving God:
God is borne into the world by a meek servant girl, but a brutal king seeks to kill this infant.
God commands us to love Him and one another, but we continue to lust after the false security of legalism.
God comes to feed the hungry; give drink to the thirsty; welcome the stranger; clothe the naked; care for the sick; and visit the imprisoned, but at the very last we imprisoned Him, broke His body, stripped His clothes, treated Him as a stranger, and fed Him sour wine.
We listened but did not understand; we looked but did not perceive; and it was clear that our hearts had grown dull. But here is the Good News of the parable: The parable of the Christ event begins with the God of Love descending to human beings in our faithlessness and returns with the God of Love saving all of us in His faithfulness.
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
Closing Prayer
We give you thanks, most gracious God, for the beauty of earth and sky and sea; for the richness of mountains, plains, and rivers; for the songs of birds and the loveliness of flowers. We praise you for these good gifts, and pray that we may safeguard them for our posterity. Grant that we may continue to grow in our grateful enjoyment of your abundant creation, to the honor and glory of your Name, now and for ever. Amen.
