According to Luke, the Apostles asked Jesus about the meaning of the Parable of the Sower. Jesus responded saying: The seed is the word of God. He then went on to say that the ground in the parable was a metaphor for the hearts, minds and souls of people who hear God’s word. Jesus then concludes His explanation by saying: The seed on good ground are those who hear the word in the spirit of openness, retain it, and bear fruit through perseverance.
Think about the Lord’s explanation. A person’s heart, mind and soul only become the good ground in which the Word of God can grow when there is one primary condition, a spirit of openness. One has to be open to the Word of God, believing that God’s Word brings truth about life and clearly reveals the way that life should be lived.
It must be admitted, all of us initially have, because of our life experiences, certain blocks to such openness of spirit. Most frequently these blocks are found in the attitudes we have about life and others. Frequently our attitudes are influenced by our society. It seems that our society promotes the stereotyping of others and freely makes judgments about what others believe and how they act. For example, currently our society, because of some of our experiences, promotes fear of others who are not like us. While this is natural, such attitudes block our openness of spirit, making it impossible for us to truly hear the word of God, retain it and, with perseverance, bear fruit because of it.
In order, therefore, to achieve this openness of spirit, we must identify the attitudes and thinking that blocks a real openness to God’s Word. While it may seem, to some a truly impossible task, we know from Paul’s words that God’s help is sufficient to achieve such openness. All that is initially needed is a true desire to embrace the WAY of Jesus – a true belief that the WAY of Jesus is the WAY to live.
So, perhaps a question is in order: Do I believe that Jesus is God’s revelation to me with regard to how I should live in order to have the fullness of life? If I don’t believe that Jesus is the WAY and the TRUTH about human life, then I will never hear His Word with an open spirit.
An openness of spirit is achieved only when there is a willingness to love others as ourselves; a desire to refrain from judging others; a real commitment to do unto others as we want them to do unto us; and a firm resolve to forgive others without placing any conditions on our forgiveness. May we truly have an openness to God’s Word.