Word to the Wise
Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - Wednesday in the Third Week in Ordinary Time
[2 Samuel 7:4-17 and Mark 4:1-20]And some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit. It came up and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold....[Mark]
A lot of elements go into an eventual harvest. The weather, soil and seed are certainly the primary ones. Jesus uses a parable here that would be familiar to his listeners, many of whom would be subsistence farmers. The parable is designed to help the disciples understand why the acceptance of the gospel could be uneven amongst the people and what the consequences might be. Acceptance (rich soil) of the seed will lead to a harvest beyond ordinary expectations (third, sixty, hundredfold) because the seed is a quality seed and more than that. It is the very word of God. This great yield comes about also because of the sower, Christ! The consequences of not accepting the seed are also dramatic - not being included in the harvest. Since the Lord makes sure to say, "Let the one who has ears to hear, hear!" we must recognize that we bear some responsibility for the way in which we receive the seed of God's word. If we fail to make the connection in the parable between Jesus and the sowing of the seed, we may not be able to respond in the abundant way that he promises. AMEN
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