Watch Your Roots

Whether we are ‘born’ into the Church or come to the Church later in life, one thing remains constant. We must have faith deep enough to hold us up against the battles with Satan and his angels. Our lives are spent on Earth, faced daily with temptations and burdens. Shallow faith is not enough to keep us strong.

At that time, when Jesus was alone, the disciples, with the twelve, asked him concerning the parable of the sower. And he said to them, “To you has been given the secrets of the kingdom but for those outside everything is in parables; so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand; lest they should turn again, and be forgiven.” And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown; when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word which is sown in them. And these in like manner are the ones sown upon rocky ground, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; and they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones sown among thorns; they are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world, and the delight in riches, and the desire for other things, enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. But those that were sown upon the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” And he said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a bushel, or under a bed, and not on a stand? For there is nothing hid, except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret, except to come to light. If any man has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Mark 4.10-23

In today’s reading from the Gospel of Mark, we understand two main things about faith. The first is that God considers us to be ‘on the inside’ for matters of faith. The fact that we are even reading this passage reveals that we have been allowed in. “To you has been given the secrets of the kingdom.” Today, that is us!

We have the benefit of being told what the parables mean, and today’s is among the most important for our faith. I suggest that we hear this passage, as with others in the Scriptures, as being about us. Christ and His Church have sown the Word of God in our hearts.

At times in our lives, our hearts manifest the different examples outlined in the parable. Sometimes the Word is taken from us before we even get a chance to think about it. Sometimes we hear the Word and get really excited, but our faith fades in times of struggle. Sometimes the faith is interwoven with temptations and our faith never really bears much fruit. On rare occasions our hearts are rich and fertile soil for the Word of God.

One of my hobbies is my garden. I enjoy working the soil, pulling weeds, planting seeds etc. I will admit I don’t ‘eat from’ my garden beyond a few bites, but it has helped me understand this parable. If I don’t keep up with the weeding and soil, I don’t even get a few bites.

The second point today is for you to watch your roots. When you hear the word of God, are you allowing the seeds to sprout and send roots deep into the soil, or are your seeds in the rocky dirt? When a seedling first opens, most of the nourishment comes from what was stored in the seed.

One thing a gardener learns is when to water and fertilize a seedling. Once a seedling is established, a good gardener holds off water and food. This sends the roots in search of food and water. If there is always constant food and water available, the roots remain shallow. As the crop grows, the shallow roots are not strong enough to support the weight of the plant, let alone the winds. The plant falls over and dies.

Just how does this translate to our faith? In my nearly thirty years of ministry, I have witnessed many people get burned out and fade away from Church. We hear a ‘good sermon’ and are suddenly on fire for the faith.

We pray more than we should. We fast more than we should. We attend more church services than we should. Next thing we know, we run out of spiritual nourishment. If you have been a fan of Be Transfigured Ministries for any length of time, then you know I always encourage prayer, fasting, and attending Church. You may be wondering how I can say any of these can be too much?

Just like a seedling needs to struggle to find food and water, our souls need to struggle to find Christ. Here’s one example. If we attend so many church services that we ‘don’t get out’ in the world enough, once we are faced with real world temptations, we don’t know how to fight them. Like the shallow roots, our soul doesn’t know where to turn for strength because it hasn’t learned to endure a drought.

If on the other hand, we learn that the life of the Church is about helping our roots run deep, then we understand that never leaving the Church is impossible. We learn to see the Church as a safe haven and come for spiritual nourishment, so we are strong enough for the world. Every Divine Liturgy sends us out ‘in peace’ so that we can live in the world as Christians rather than in the Church as recluses.

One final comment about our roots. It is our spiritual father’s responsibility to help us nurture deep roots and not shallow. It is his love for us that causes him to hold us back every now and then. He does this so we can search for God’s nourishment rather than always being spoon fed. It makes us stronger.

The disciplines of the Church are what our spiritual father uses to tend our soil. The ‘gardener’s tools’ are prayer, fasting, almsgiving and the sacramental life of the Church. Watch a gardener and you realize too much of any tool can harm the roots and kill the crop. Not enough can do the same. It requires spiritual balance with your spiritual father and God’s grace.

If it has been ‘a while’ since you met with your spiritual father about your roots, make an appointment with him soon. Your soul will be stronger and more prepared for the next temptation and spiritual battle you face. It all depends on how deep your roots run. Ask him and together you can watch your roots.