Word to the Wise
Thursday, January 27, 2011 - Sts. Timothy and Titus, bishops
[2 Timothy 1:1-8 or Titus 1:1-5 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]
The parable of the Sower and the Seed is a familiar one. It is also one of the few that features a direct interpretation. The hearer/reader is warned that parables are important ways of understanding the kingdom of God and a failure to understand them will mean remaining in ignorance. In the case of this particular parable, it would be easy to focus on the various types of listeners. All preachers are aware of the varying results of their labors. Each of us can be one of those various types of listeners at different times in our lives, or indeed during the same homily, depending on the distractions available! There is, however, one detail which, if missed, means losing the central meaning of the parable.
Why is it that in rich soil, the results are astoundingly high - more than generally expected even in the best of times? The reason is that the sower is Jesus! The "accepting soil" does better than normal because of the tremendous power of Jesus' word! The acceptance of the message about the kingdom means powerful results beyond what we can imagine. The combination of a receptive heart and a powerful word is what preaching is all about! Both preacher and listener need to remember that. A preacher who forgets that it is Jesus' word and the kingdom that is being preached is as irresponsible as the listener who fails to hear because of the many reasons given in the parable. We're all in this effort together! AMEN
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