15th Sunday in Ordinary Time
This Sunday we hear the Gospel story of the sower who went out to sow the seed. For me the story is really about the seed of faith with Jesus the sower and you and me as the soil on which the seed that is the word of God lands. As the early church faced opposition and a seeming lack of success, the parable must have given encouragement to the first preachers and members of the early church a promise of fruit not yet visible to them. Jesus is speaking to a large crowd. They may be listening to what he says, but as it is in 2023 some will follow him and others will leave it all behind and go their own way. He is realistic as he seems to randomly cast his words out upon the crowd. What he says will not seem to bear fruit – not straight away. Often that wee seed of faith may take root many years after it has been planted and today we see many people returning to the faith or coming to the faith for the first time after someone or some event in their lives planted that first seed with others helping nourishing the seed and helping it to grow.
The bulk of the details in this story are about wasted effort and lost seed. But if we stop for a moment and think about it anything done for God in faith is never lost. Very often things that are happening in our lives don’t seem to be the way we want them to be but when we look at the problems with eyes of faith we see that things around are meant to be for the good of all despite our problems . We also get the strength to deal with the problems that go on through and in faith. Nobody really knows what’s beneath the surface of the soil we cast the seed of the word of god upon. Who knows the potential of the good soil? Do good and poor soil both exist in the same person I think that it most probably does much in the same way that a person can do good or be bad. Is there something we might say that will land on the interior good soil in a person and bear the “hundredfold, or sixty or thirtyfold” Jesus promises? While the gospel parable begins with and spends time on hardships and failure it ends in surprise and abundance. What was the source of this abundance? We look to what Isaiah told us today in the reading about the fertile, life-giving nature of God’s Word.
Despite any discouragement we might feel because our efforts on God’s behalf in many things seem futile and draining, we put our trust in the one who speaks to us a living word who sows the seed. The message of Jesus may not always be welcome especially in our modern world were faith and religion are constantly under assault by those who oppose the Catholic faith based outlook on life. That said we still have to sow the seed what we do and say and then we leave the rest up to God. The efforts we make are never futile and we don’t always see the fruit of the seed that is sown. Let us remember that tall oaks from little acorns grow.
Fullerton T 