For many centuries the ark of the covenant played an enormous role in Israelite doctrine and worship. It was the material testimony to the covenant made between God and Israel—a covenant under which God assumed responsibility for the people's destiny, while the people promised to fulfill God's law given through Moses. The ark confirmed the saving work of God, who brought His people out of Egyptian slavery, and the righteousness of His law. The ark was sacred!

Then Jeremiah prophesies that the ark will lose its significance, that it will even be lost, and that it will no longer be remembered. This will mean not a rupture in the relationship between Israel and God but, on the contrary, its restoration and enrichment. It is revealed to the prophet that a time will come when the symbol of salvation will no longer be the exodus from Egypt but the Messiah-Christ's way of the cross, and when God's law will be borne not by tablets of stone but by human hearts.

Among the parables about the Kingdom, the parables of the sower occupy a special place. In today's Gospel reading Jesus speaks of what prevents a person from entering the Kingdom. And the first obstacle on this path is the "road," the lack of attention to the words of the One who bears witness to the Kingdom (vv. 4, 19). It would seem that distraction is not characteristic of everyone. But in this case the matter is evidently attention of a special kind, that inner sensitivity which makes a person listen and stop before what he usually passes by without thinking.

In the Gospel period, words about the Kingdom and about the Messiah sounded often, and for many people, especially those living an intense religious life, they had probably already become somewhat stale. Perhaps this is precisely what moved Jesus to address the people in parables: such language always attracts attention, often forcing people to look at well-known and familiar things from an unexpected side, allowing them to see what would otherwise have remained unnoticed. But it is not enough merely to notice and turn; one must also remain faithful even when the enthusiasm of the newly converted passes and the world demands its own, so that the matter may even come to persecution (vv. 5-6, 20-21). Here feelings alone will not suffice, nor reason alone; faith not rooted in the will will hardly withstand strong external pressure, for feelings pass away and reason is pliable.

Yet there is something in the world more dangerous for spiritual life than pressure and even persecution, although compared with them this danger appears unserious: worldly cares and everyday bustle (vv. 7, 22). Can cares and bustle break those whom persecutions did not break?

But during persecutions the situation usually looks completely clear, and the will gathers itself into one by itself. Times of peace and quiet are another matter, when there seems to be no danger and one can relax, drifting with a current that promises no rapids or whirlpools ahead. Meanwhile everyday bustle quietly shifts attention to itself and, if one does not catch oneself in time, easily swallows a person whole, gradually forcing him, if not entirely to forget God and spiritual life, then at least to push them into the background. Only the one who can withstand both persecutions and everyday bustle becomes good soil that bears abundant spiritual fruit (vv. 8, 23).

In life we are most often guided by human laws. So too God's relationship with people is described in Scripture as the relationship of a husband with a wife (compare Eph. 5:22-33). According to Old Testament law, a wife divorced from her husband can no longer return to him, and a woman who has betrayed her husband must be punished by death. But God Himself says incredible things in this prophecy: unfaithful Israel can return to God and receive forgiveness. Let us remember that His love is stronger than the law, and imitate Him in this.