Verses 6-9, which were left out of the reading insert, were in the Second Song of Isaiah, just before the Epistle lesson, though there was some overlap, in case you thought you were experiencing deja vu. As Isaiah says in the Second Song, God's mercy and generosity are much greater than ours. God's promises are good promises, and there is no better guarantee than God's generosity. As has been said numerous times before, God gives rain to wicked and righteous alike, out of the kindness of His heart.

The psalm for today is very much like Isaiah; it is full of praise for God, images of watering the earth and growing plants, and even hills girding themselves with joy and valleys decking themselves with grain. Even the images of all the earth shouting and singing together are there. There is mention of God's forgiveness for our transgressions, answering prayer, and deliverance in times of trouble.

Paul's letter to the Romans points out that we who follow Jesus are no longer bound by the flesh, but are now alive in Christ. We have become adoptive children of God--not slaves, nor strangers. We are thus able to pray as Jesus prayed, "Abba," which is Aramaic for Father--but it is more than that. "Abba" is much closer to the word "Daddy" than a formal "Father." We have not simply become children of God, but brothers and sisters of Jesus--joint heirs. This brings God much closer than the figure some of us may have from childhood of an unapproachable God--an old man of stern countenance, robed in white, with a white flowing beard. This is someone you can come to when you have nightmares; someone you can hug.

This is one thing Jesus did for us. He brought God close to us, taking away the terror. While taking away the terror that God would smite us, He also gave us reason to obey God, not out of fear, but out of love. Throughout what we call the Old Testament, God tells the people of Israel that He wants their love, not sacrifice. He wants obedience, not sackcloth and ashes. This is not a new thing Jesus proclaims, even though it may seem so. Jesus Himself said that he came to fulfill prophecy, not to replace the law.

Being moved by the Spirit to cry "Abba!" also brings God not only close to us, but within us, as a moral compass, and as a comforter. Paul talks about suffering with Christ in order to be glorified with Him. Being so close to God makes all the suffering worthwhile--not because we will get pie in the sky when we die, but because being close to God is much more important than any suffering we may have in this world. In fact, the next verse, 8:18, reads:

"I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us."

Remember that in Paul's time, the Christians were going through persecutions we have never encountered. Before the Romans began persecuting them, they were attacked by their fellow Jews. Before Saul became Paul, he was an avid crusader against the followers of Jesus. He sincerely thought he was cleansing the Jewish faith of heresy. He turned them in to be tried and executed. In fact, when his friends stoned Stephen, he was standing there, holding their cloaks.

Saul's change of heart was abrupt--being knocked off his horse, blinded, and hearing the voice of Jesus. The conversion from Saul to Paul was also a conversion of heart from persecutor to persecuted. Did Jesus pick him because of his sincerity and passion? Was his conversion because of Stephen's prayers to forgive his murderers? Would Christianity have survived without Paul on our side? Was it because God chastises those He loves?

There are places in Africa and Asia where being a Christian can be a death sentence, even today. We in the west are insulated from this climate. We are in danger of becoming complacent. Paul's missionary work was full of danger and pain. He was often beaten and chased out of town, but he thought all of his hardships worth every pain he had to endure.

Later in this epistle, Paul talks about creation waiting for the children of God, and the labor pains of our awaiting adoption and our redemption. He also mentions having the Holy Spirit within us as God's children, and having that Spirit intercede for us with sighs too deep for words. You cannot get closer to God than to have a piece of God inside you.

In the third reading, taken from the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells the story of the sower and the seeds. In one of the commentaries I read, it is called a "mashal," rather than a "parable." The word "parable" comes from a Greek word that means to "set side by side" or "compare," while "mashal" is a word meaning enigmatic speech.

Enigmatic speech is right! When I first remember hearing this story, as a child, I remember thinking it wasn't fair. It's not fair that some people can't understand what Jesus is saying, and thus miss out on an important lesson. It's not fair that in His explanation, some people have no roots and the word of God doesn't stick with them. It's unfair that some people hear the Word of God and then the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke it out and they fall away. It's especially unfair that trouble and persecution cause some people to fall away from the word and they are lost.

Someone once told me, "Life is unfair," and shrugged. I rebel against that. I can't help it. I always have. I probably always will. If God is just, then life should be fair.

What I really needed was a shift of position; a shift in perspective. God knew that some people simply weren't interested in listening. God's mercy, like rain, falls on the just and the unjust alike. God sees things as we do not. As is said in Isaiah, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the Heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Life is fair; we just can't see the big picture.

We have a tendency to blame God for what other people do to us. We have a tendency to think that God is being unfair when we endure hardships, forgetting that we are on this world for a purpose, even though we don't always know the purpose. We sometimes feel abandoned, but we need to remember that like swords, we are tried by fire and made stronger.

There is more to it than that. I don't believe God abandons His children because they are not ready to receive His word at some point in their lives. Like soil, we do not remain static throughout our lives. Saul was not willing to hear that Jesus was the Messiah until he was knocked off his horse on the way to Damascus. God, the great gardener, can remove rocks from rocky ground and plow it, often raising rich harvests. Silt from a river flow or added topsoil and compost can enrich poor soil. Brambles can be pulled and burned. There is that possibility, that hope, that those people who could not understand, and would not have listened to Jesus that day, some day in the future had a life-changing experience, or matured enough, that they were ready, and were converted. The divine gardener prunes, waters, and fertilizes, and plants seeds again each spring.

I'm always bothered when the readings have gaps in the middle, because often the best part, or the part that helps everything make sense is left out. In between the story of the sower and the explanation, Jesus explains to his disciples why He speaks in parables to the people. He says it is because "seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand." Neither did the Apostles, until Jesus explained. It seems, though, that the people would not have understood even if Jesus had explained. They have shut their eyes and stopped up their ears for fear they might see and hear, and understand, and turn--and let God heal them.

There is also a troubling statement. Jesus says:

"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."

Gee, that seems rather unfair, too, doesn't it? This is much like the parable of the talents, given in Matthew 25:29, where the servant who hides the one talent coin he has to keep it from being lost has the money taken away from him and given to the person who invested it wisely, and this same explanation is given.

As harsh as it sounds, think of it in terms of receiving God's word and implementing it. It isn't enough to sit in our pews on Sunday and listen to the readings and say the prayers. If we have taken the word of God to our hearts, it should bear fruit. In other words, what are we doing with what we hear and read? Are we carrying out Christ's commission? Are we doing something, or are we just sitting here, like bumps on a log? In order to truly be Christians, we should be moved by love of God and others to do what Christ would do in this world. They should know we are Christians by our love, as the song says.

Our love of God should shine forth in our love of each other, so that, when we finally do speak face to face with our maker, He will tell us that we clothed Him when He was naked, fed Him when He was hungry, cared for Him when He was sick, and visited Him when He was in prison. This is our great commission, to treat others as we would treat God, and to love all, to see Jesus in each person. This is not an attempt to earn our way to heaven. We can never do enough to merit heaven. Our forgiveness through Jesus Christ is God's mercy. This is the effect listening to the Word of God and loving God should have on each of us.

If it is true that faith without works is dead, then we have a responsibility as Christians to do something with the word we are given. The Gospel is not just ours to comment on for its beauty of phrase or the inspiration it gives us when reading or hearing it, but it is a seed planted; a tool to use; a structure for our daily lives, and a commission given to us to make this a better world, and to help this be God's kingdom on earth, as it is in heaven.

Amen