My dear parishioners,
God is Good!!! All the Time!!! And All the Time!!! God is Good!!!
Scripture Reflection: Up to this point, the oracles of Isaiah have challenged a weary people to put away their cherished illusions and to replace them with a real relationship with God. The pride of mortals, which inevitably led to the collapse of the kingdom, is at last replaced by dedicated service to God. With the bond between people and God restored, the nation can, at last, enjoy the ideals that were always part of God’s plan for them.
Matthew 13 is the third major discourse of that Gospel and it contains a collection of Jesus’ parables. The classical definition of a parable offered by C.H. Dodd in his The Parables of the Kingdom is still worth pondering. “At its simplest the parable is a metaphor or simile drawn from nature or common life, arresting the hearer by its vividness or strangeness, and leaving the mind in sufficient doubt about its precise application to tease it into active thought” (p. 5).
The sower. The focus of this parable is on the seeds that the sower sows. They are sown in four different kinds of soil and each produces a different harvest. The seeds represent Jesus’ words about the kingdom. They are accepted by some but rejected by others. Nevertheless, so long as the sower continues sowing, some of the seeds grow. The task of the sower is simply to sow the seed. Only God can make the seed grow. Therefore, the sower should not be discouraged about the amount of the harvest because that is not his responsibility. If you sow it, somehow God will make it grow.
Why speak in parables? Matthew 10:10–17 addresses the problem of who accepts and who rejects the message of Jesus. Jesus compares his situation with that of Isaiah who was told that his words of salvation would be rejected by the very people who needed them (Is 6:9-10). For Matthew’s community, this points to an inner-Jewish conflict between those Jews who accepted Jesus and his teaching (Jewish Christians), and those Jews who rejected it. For a variety of reasons some people have hardened their hearts, and the seeds of the Gospel cannot penetrate them.
The interpretation of the sower. The interpretation of the sower takes on an allegorical tone and focuses not on the seed, but on the different kinds of soil. The hard worn-path soil resists all aspects of the seed. They understand nothing (scribes and Pharisees). The rocky ground soil receives the seed with joy, but when hardships arise because of the seed, they quickly fall away (disciples). The thorny soil sprouts a tiny bit, but quickly gets entangled and choked off bearing no fruit (Herod, Pilate). Finally, it is the good soil that allows the seed to grow and bear much fruit (faithful followers of Jesus). How the seed grows depends on its type of soil. Excerpts from “Sunday Homily Helps”, is used by permission of Franciscan Media. www.FranciscanMedia.org.©2016. All rights reserved
Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Aloysius