THE WORD
2 Sm 7,4-17 / Mk 4,1-20
On another occasion he began to teach by the sea. A very large crowd gathered around him so that he got into a boat on the sea and sat down. And the whole crowd was beside the sea on land. And he taught them at length in parables, and in the course of his instruction he said to them, “Hear this! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep. And when the sun rose, it was scorched and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it and it produced no grain. And some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit. It came up and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” He added, “Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.”
And when he was alone, those present along with the Twelve questioned him about the parables.
He answered them, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been granted to you. But to those outside everything comes in parables, so that ‘they may look and see but not perceive, and hear and listen but not understand, in order that they may not be converted and be forgiven.’”
Jesus said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables?
The sower sows the word. These are the ones on the path where the word is sown. As soon as they hear, Satan comes at once and takes away the word sown in them.
And these are the ones sown on rocky ground who, when they hear the word, receive it at once with joy. But they have no root; they last only for a time. Then when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.
Those sown among thorns are another sort. They are the people who hear the word, but worldly anxiety, the lure of riches, and the craving for other things intrude and choke the word, and it bears no fruit. But those sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”
IN OTHER WORDS
We are all, by virtue of our baptism, mandated to spread the Word of God. Unfortunately, we also share in all the pitfalls enumerated in the Gospel for today. What are we to do?
It is not by accident that Jesus chose the imagery of sowing the seed. Just as the field is, at first, not ready yet to receive the seed so is the world not ready at the start. A farmer has to invest time, effort and his experience in making the field fruitful.
Second, the planting during Jesus’ time involved plowing the field after sowing. Thus strange is the seeming waste of seeds falling on all kinds of terrain. Finally, life always finds a way to grow. But if it starts wrongly, the results are not optimal.
We, as sowers of the Word, do not “own” the Word. Nor are we the source of growth. We are “only” bringers of the Word, everything else is God’s. It may not make sense, for example, if we waste good seed on non-christians or unbelievers; God will always reach out to all and will take charge of nurturing the fragile seed. May St. Angela Merici accompany us in the sometimes lonely mission of spreading the Word of God.
- Fr. Reynaldo Jimenez, SVD | DWC, Laoag City, Ilocos Norte
An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience. The Word in other words 2016
