Word to the Wise
Sunday, June 13, 2021 - 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time - B
[Ezek 17:22-24; 2 Cor 5:6-10; Mark 4:26-34]"This is how it is with the kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and through it all the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how. Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear." [Mark]
Jesus' parables concerning sower, seed, soil and crop resonate well out here in West Texas where agriculture is a major industry! Here at our university parish, I know students who are majoring in various aspects of agriculture! Even the airport here is next to cotton fields! I grew up in a small town in northwest Louisiana where agriculture remains a big part of the life of the rural civil parish (county). Last, but not least, I keep a garden and continually marvel at the ability of the seeds I plant to germinate despite my clumsy efforts to help them!! Jesus preached to audiences that were familiar with all these things. Many of them were subsistence farmers whose very lives depended on what they could grow. A bad crop year could mean starvation! It was a matter of life and death! It is this ultimate concern that Jesus tries to convey to potential preachers of the word!
The success of a crop depends on a lot of things: weather, soil, quality of the seed and the method of sowing. These may vary from place to place but one thing is certain. If the seed is not sown, there is no crop! I may marvel at the ability of the tiny petunia or basil seed to produce such a large and wonderful flower or herb, but unless I plant that seed, I'm not going to have either flower or herb! And I must be humble enough to recognize that the results will not always be what I want. No matter how expert the farmer may be, there is still the element of mystery and the uncontrollable (i.e. the weather). If we are baptized, we are called to be sowers of the seed of the word of God. Time and again we must sow that seed and not be discouraged if from time to time the results are disappointing. The kingdom of God, like that of the crop, is a matter of ultimate concern. No sower, no crop. No crop, famine! It is a matter of ultimate concern! AMEN