Humbly Welcome the Word That Has Been Planted in You

James 1:19-21 (NABRE)

“19 Know this, my dear brothers: everyone should be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath, 20 for the wrath of a man does not accomplish the righteousness of God.21 Therefore, put away all filth and evil excess and humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls.”

In the Old Testament, the Almighty GOD spoke through prophet Jeremiah that HE will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel, a different covenant HE made with their ancestors the day HE took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. The New Covenant is this: GOD said “I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people. They will no longer teach their friends and relatives, “Know the Lord!” Everyone, from least to greatest, shall know me—oracle of the Lord—for I will forgive their iniquity and no longer remember their sin.”

Going to the New Testament, GOD the Word, became flesh in Jesus Christ and made His dwelling with His people. (John 1:1,14) John the Baptist was sent to call for repentance in preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ to sow the Word of GOD to the hearts of the people. (Matthew 3:2) He began to sow by teaching them the words of GOD. (Matthew 5:2) In His planting, there are many kinds of people who received the seeds and Jesus did not only chose good soil. He spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”

In The Parable of the Sower, it is clear that GOD had done His role as the Sower based on His promise through Jeremiah long time ago without partiality. The problem is, not every field became the good soil. Not every heart became a good heart. Some fields are hardened because of people stepping on them, and some have rocks and thorns according to Jesus in the parable. These people have hard hearts because of the way the people treated them over and over again, while there are some who has pride, bitterness or hatred in their hearts. Those kinds would not and could not be able to receive the word that has been planted in them. Only humble and repentant hearts could be able to accept and could make it able the word to grow and bear fruit in them.

But GOD is omniscient God. HE knew this problem coming, that’s why HE planned also a long time ago that it was of Him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said:

“A voice of one crying out in the desert,

‘Prepare the way of the Lord,

make straight his paths.’” (Matthew 3:3)

HE knew HE needed to prepare the soil first.

When the New Covenant came to its fulfillment, GOD called everyone for repentance through the baptism of water so that everyone would become a good soil. Everyone must humble themselves so that like a field to be planted, the sower could remove all the rocks and thorns and could soften the soil once the field submits its condition to the authority of the sower. This is the righteousness of GOD. Jesus Christ even set an example. He showed it by submitting Himself to be baptized by John. John tried to prevent him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?” Jesus said to him in reply, “Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matthew 3:14-15) But true humility is a prerequisite of salvation. James 4:6 and 10 says, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”

Jesus delivered this message and made it clear that unless we all repent, we will all be lost in our claim to the eternal gift of salvation. He spoke in Luke 13:3, “ But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” But to welcome the word, we must not only repent but also believe the Word. (Mark 1:15) ‘Humbly welcome’ simply means, ‘repent and believe’. To believe is to start confessing Jesus with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9) Our welcoming is not temporary, but continue to hold fast and keep believing in Jesus for the rest of our lives. 1 Corinthians 15: 1-2 says “Now I am reminding you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you indeed received and in which you also stand. Through it, you are also being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.”

My brothers and sisters in Christ, I will close this with Jesus Christ speaking in John 12:44-50, “Whoever believes in me believes not only in me but also in the one who sent me, and whoever sees me sees the one who sent me. I came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness. And if anyone hears my words and does not observe them, I do not condemn him, for I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world. Whoever rejects me and does not accept my words has something to judge him: the word that I spoke, it will condemn him on the last day, because I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. So what I say, I say as the Father told me.” AMEN