RBWords

     Seeds and sowing are popular images in the Bible.  This is no surprise since agriculture was a major part of the daily life of so much of the population!  Jesus' audience would have included many subsistence farmers who just barely made it economically.  Recently, in the scriptures for the day from the Gospel of Matthew both on the weekdays and on Sunday the parable of the sower and the seed received a lot of attention.  (I chose to pay more attention to the Old Testament this time around!)  Today, in honor of St. Lawrence, both passages of scripture contain references to seed and sowing.  The primary thrust of both passages, from St. Paul and from St. John, aims at the kind of generosity that places one's total life on the line for the gospel.  The early Church certainly felt this way.  One of the Church Fathers wrote, "The blood of martyrs is the seedbed of the church!"

     As someone who enjoys gardening, I am particularly fond of growing things from seed instead of going to a store and buying seedlings.  The image of a seed "dying" in order to bear fruit is profound to me.  I am aware, however, that there are two kinds of "death" involved here because some seed does NOT sprout!  The latter kind of "death" is final.  The kind that "bears fruit" means not physical death but transformation of the most radical kind - to life.  The tiny speck becomes a large plant!  All of us will experience physical death at some point, but the kind of "death" that Jesus speaks of and which St. Lawrence experienced actually means a life that makes a difference to others - a life that transcends life.  A life that bears fruit is a life lived in faith for others.  AMEN