Though we have eyes, for the times we have failed to see you, Lord have mercy...
Though we could hear, for the times we have failed to listen to you, Christ, have mercy...
In so doing, for the times we have failed to bear much fruit in you, Lord have mercy...
If there was a day that I would prefer skipping the homily during the Mass, today would have been one of those days – for two reasons:
First, it is because, in the gospel text we have just heard, Jesus not only speaks of a parable, the famous Parable of the Sower, but he also explains it to his disciples in black and white. In other words, Jesus himself gives a homily on the parable that he has just spoken of.
So, if I am going to talk about something about the parable or Jesus’ own explanation of the parable, I am afraid that what I am going to do is nothing but explain what is already explained by Jesus, and I am not even sure that I would do a better job than Jesus.
Secondly, coming from an agrarian culture, and being born and raised in an agricultural environment, I do not think it is difficult for you to understand the crux of the readings today…
If we summarize all the readings of this Sunday, we might want to remember these few words: parable, sower, seeds, and different types of ground on which the seeds are fallen; and I am sure none of these words are foreign to us.
Nevertheless, I should say something. What should I say then?
Now, it is interesting to notice that the parable takes an abrupt twist from its beginning to the middle, and from the middle to its end.
In the beginning, it is the sower who takes precedence, as the parable begins by saying “A sower went out to sow…”
However, even though the parable is titled “The Parable of the Sower”, and even though it begins with the word “sower”, the word “sower” appears only twice in the entire discourse: once right at the very start of the parable and then at the beginning of Jesus’ explanation of it..
And that’s it.. Since then, the word ‘sower’ does not appear at all… Instead, what takes center stage is the word ‘seed’… And the word ‘seed’ or any reference to it is mentioned 8 times in the entire discourse.
For example, “Some seeds fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate them up; Others fell on patches of rock where they found little soil and sprang up at once because there was no depth of earth; Others fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them; Others fell on rich soil and produced their crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”
Then, as much as the seeds are given importance in the parable, equal or even more emphasis is given to the ground on which they are fallen. It is because the seeds and the grounds are intrinsically connected, and Jesus speaks of this fundamental connection in one phrase as follows: “Anyone who has eyes should see and anyone who has ears should listen”.
Put together, my dear sister and brothers, there are at least 4 types of soil in which the seed falls, it is LOST in three types (rocky, thorny, and shallow ground) and bears fruit in only one type (fertile). This indicates that while three-quarters of the effort are lost, only a quarter is the gain.
However, the focus of the parable is not on the loss but on the gain that is yielded by that one-quarter. The parable is pointing out the fact that this is how life often is. Three-quarters of our efforts are often wasted and it is possible that when this happens we may give in to despair. However, we are called to focus not on the majority of loss, but on that one-quarter of our effort which indeed brings fruit.
In other words, if we take the Sower to be Jesus Christ; Seeds to be his word; and the fields on which seeds are fallen to be ourselves (or our hearts), any ground which is receptive of the word of God, fertile, processing and yielding, will bear much fruit.
If we think deeply, isn’t this dynamic relationship that has ever existed in the economy/history of God’s salvation, that is among the sower (God the Father), the seeds (the son/the word of God), and the grounds (ourselves)? Doesn’t it hold true for our faith journey even to this day as well?
To give a gist, it was God who created us and everything around us, just by his word. But, on the way, we have not been so receptive of his word, we didn’t see him well, we didn’t hear him well, and so we have not been so fertile, we have not been so reflective of the ways we could be better effective and, thus, we have been yielding differing fruits.
Then, just as the sower disappears from the parable scene right after the beginning, when the time came, God, the sower, scattered his precious seed, the Word, the Word became flesh, Jesus Christ in the fields of our hearts.. But, again, we have been receptive of neither him nor his word: we didn’t see him well, we didn’t hear him well, we scorched him, we suffocate him, we made him suffer and die, and in so doing we have not been so fertile, we have not been so reflective of the ways we could be better effective and, thus, we have been yielding differing fruits.
And then, he left us with his Word, the living word of God, and the paraclete, the Holy Spirit… Since then, just as the seed and the ground take precedence in the parable, it is with us too even today, the word of God is scattered in our hearts even at this very moment in history, giving importance to God’s words and our hearts…
So what matters today, is how we bear fruit in our own soil through the help of the Holy Spirit…
Do I usually focus more on the reaping than on the sowing? Do I focus more on the result than on the action? How do I react when most of my effort seems to be in vain? Do I throw up my hands in despair? Do I get despondent? Or do I carry on with perseverance? What are my efforts today to make my ground more receptive, fertile, processing, and yielding?
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