For anyone who has ever spent any time farming or gardening, the illustration in today’s First reading, and Gospel will ring very true. You can take every step to amend the soil and choose good seeds or seedlings, and have people working the soil, but if there is nothing worthwhile produced, it may be time to try a different approach.
I think that our Lord may feel the same kind of frustrations at times when dealing with us. He gives us His words and commands, and sends us His prophets, even his own Son, and yet we still sometimes choose to rebel and to cast aside all that we have been given in favor of our own ways and ideas. We seek to cheat rather than stay true to what we know to be right, we lie and spread what we know to be false (or at the very least allow others to speak these lies without rebuffing them). We allow ourselves to forget that His Son, our Lord gave up everything, even His life, for us and act as if we are entitled to or are owed a life that meets our standards of happiness or fulfillment. In other words, we would rather behave in such a way that we are devoid of gratitude or humility. We choose to look to ourselves rather than to God for fulfillment and peace.
Yet our Lord has not given up on us, He still looks for those who believe, and who love Him and value the care He has taken of us, and who treasure the Son that He sent to us. He seeks those who will produce good fruits and will seek to live their lives in such a way that they reflect His teachings. Who long for the contentment that can only come from guarding their minds and hearts so that they stay focused on Jesus Christ. He seeks those who are humble enough to cast aside self, and instead trust Him enough to seek their peace and happiness through Him alone.
We can choose to spend our lives trying to do things our own way, and to feel the frustrations and failures that will inevitably come from those inadequate efforts. Or we can choose to accept a peace and happiness that surpass our ability to understand and trust our God and surrender all our cares and needs over to Him. We are, or are not the fertile soil and its fruits, we simply have a choice to make.
The Deacons Bench 