The Word of God and Its Hearers

A homily for the twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost

In today’s Gospel there was read, beloved brothers, a most instructive parable of the Savior about the sower and the seed. In this parable, as in all the teaching of Christ the Savior, you plainly see, brothers, God, who sees through the heart of every man, or, as Holy Scripture says, who searches our hearts and inward parts[1] — everything in them that is hidden, sometimes even unknown to ourselves, all their spiritual windings and hidden corners, all their unrighteousness or righteousness. This parable of God the Savior condemns some of us and plunges them into shame and disgrace, while it praises others and brings peace and God’s blessing into their hearts. What is at stake, brothers, is the hearing of the word of God. So then, be attentive, beloved! The Knower of hearts looks upon you and awaits fruit from His word, preached to you through me, humble and deeply sinful as I am. Your own profit requires that you accept this word with all your heart and keep it in it forever, as a guide for the time to come in hearing the word of God in church.

The sower, beloved brothers, is Jesus Christ; the seed means the word of God, and the earth is the human heart; a good heart is good earth, while an evil, impure heart, crushed beneath the passions, is bad earth. So, some are inattentive listeners, distracted, who do not stand in awe before the word of God as they ought to stand in awe of it; and it is to just such listeners that Satan comes secretly into their hearts at the very time they are listening, and, like a thief among careless householders, carries off the word of God from their hearts—so that they may not believe and be saved. This is the word of God sown beside the road. Learn from this, then, with what deep attention, with what undoubting faith one must hear the saving and living word of God. The enemy is forever on the watch to see whether he can somehow make someone inattentive to the word of God, whether he can destroy in someone’s heart all faith in it, so that they may not, through faith in the word of God, repent of their sins and be saved. During the reading or the preaching of the word of God, press your whole mind into your heart, and with open, believing hearts, with humility, listen to it for the salvation of your souls; and drive away thoughts of doubt and any other troubled or impure thoughts and feelings as the devil’s seed.

Others gladly listen to the word of God with attention, but here is the sorrow: they turn out to be frivolous, impatient, self-loving, inconstant; when circumstances are favorable they believe, but when they are unfavorable they abandon their faith; these are people who have not rooted faith within themselves; they are the seed that fell on the rock. But faith proclaims that only the one who endures to the end shall be saved[2], while for the cowardly and the unbelieving, and the unclean and all liars, their portion is in the lake burning with fire and sulfur[3]. And by the common consciousness of mankind, is it not right, beloved brethren, to demand that a person remain faithful to the end to the one to whom he gave a sworn oath to be faithful to the death, especially if the oath of fidelity was given by him to a person who stands wholly in our love and complete reverence? If to an earthly tsar we give a sworn vow to serve him to the last drop of blood, and we consider it a disgrace not to keep our vow, and we remain faithful to him to the death, then how shall we not be faithful to the death to God the Savior, Who, having taken our nature upon Himself, poured out for us all His blood to the last drop, and to Whom we gave the pledge of our fidelity at baptism? O, let us not fall away from our Lord and Redeemer, whatever misfortune may befall us! For where shall we hide from Him? What shall we find without Him? He has the words of eternal life[4].

But there are also hearers of the word of God whose heart is burdened with the cares of this life, with attachment to wealth, and who is given over to the pleasures of life: they listen to the word of God, understand it, and seem to take it to heart; but when they leave the church, at once the cares of this life assail them, or the deceitfulness of wealth, or the pleasures of this life entice them: and so the word of God, which had barely obtained a narrow place in the heart, is choked by this, as by a leaden weight of the cares of this life, of attachment to wealth, and of the pleasures of temporal life; and alas, once again there is no fruit for eternal life, because the man strives to gather fruit for temporal life. Alas, beloved brothers, hearers of the word of God of this kind are the most numerous in our churches. Admit that many of you come to church with worldly distraction, with thoughts of satisfying your everyday needs—yes, if only it were even needs—but often of satisfying your passions and lusts; and so, when the sermon begins, you begin, apparently, to listen; the sermon ends, and your cherished thoughts and desires take possession of you, and you remain without fruit from the word of God. It even happens that passions and lusts drive you out of the church during the very preaching of the word of God, and you flee from the words of eternal life. O, may this never happen again in the future!

Finally, glory to God, there have been at all times, and there are now, listeners of just this kind who hear the word of God with a good and honest heart—wholly devoted to God and to His holy word—who live without attaching their heart to earthly things, without being weighed down by worldly cares, because they do not consider it necessary to kill the time given them for preparing for the heavenly fatherland on murderous and petty concerns about clothing, food and drink. It is precisely these listeners who, having heard the word of God with attention, keep it in their heart and strive patiently in their life, awaiting the coming Kingdom of God, until death at last opens the door into it for them. I know that such listeners are also among you, beloved brethren. May the peace and blessing of God rest upon you, and may the Lord vouchsafe you His heavenly Kingdom.

Beloved brethren! During the reading or preaching of the word of God, guard yourself with the utmost care against being distracted, and never sow upon thorns—that is, upon hearts overgrown with passions and desires. Hear all the word of God with a good and honest heart—that is, with a heart of living faith, of good and holy thoughts. Amen.