July 10, 2011 – 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Is 55:10-11 Rom 8:18-23 Mt 13: 1-23

The following is an excerpt from a dialog between second century catechumen, Respecta, and her teacher, Petras.

Respecta stood looking over the apricots deciding which ones to pick for dinner. As she completed her purchase, she spied Petras in the marketplace. “Yoo hoo! Petras. How are you?”

“Just fine, Respecta. How about you?”

“All’s well with me and mine. What brings you to the market today?”

“Oh, it’s my daughter’s birthday, and I want to find something special for her. Would you mind giving me some advice?”

“Sure. Young women love pretty things. Why don’t we look at the cloth merchant’s goods?”

“Okay. Let’s go. In the meantime, I have a story to tell you. It’s one that Jesus taught the crowds in Capernaum. He said, ‘Listen. A sower went out to sow. As he sowed, some seeds fell on the path and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they didn’t have much soil, and they sprang up quickly since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.’”

“For heaven’s sake, Petras! This has to be fiction. No sower would sow seed on paths, rocky ground or among thorns. The sower would be fired for such waste if he were a peasant. After all, the grain only yields four- or fivefold. You know, if the sower were a slave, he would be sold along with his family for such waste. And worse, if the sower were the land owner, no one would respect him or want to work for him. The very idea of wasting seed while his neighbors can barely eke out a subsistent living would bring shame on the land owner. Why would Jesus tell such a fable?”

“You’re on the right track, Respecta. Listen to the rest of the parable. I think you’ll know why He used such an impossible situation. Jesus said, ‘Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone who has ears listen!’”

“Oooh! Of course. Jesus wasn’t really talking about a farmer, He must have been talking about God’s lavish efforts to get such a harvest. But, Petras, what is God sowing? Do you suppose Jesus meant the word that He was preaching?”

“You got it! When Jesus went inside, his disciples didn’t understand what Jesus was telling them, so He explained that He was sent to bring the good news to the world. He was preaching to everyone, regardless of how well they understood or accepted the word. Some would never understand the gospel, so the word couldn’t grow in them. Others welcomed Jesus’ preaching, but when they saw the persecution they would suffer if it became known they were disciples, they dropped away from Christianity. Some of those early disciples welcomed the word, but the daily grind of work, deaths in the family, worries about taxes and all took over their lives so that their faith withered and they fell away from the Faith. But, for some, the word of Jesus was the word of life. Everything else was secondary. They welcomed the gospel and let it take root in their lives so that they brought forth an abundant harvest of good works and joyful faith.”

“Hmmm. I wonder, Petras. Could there be another meaning? I wonder if the hard ground, the rocky ground and the thorny places are in everyone’s souls? Really, sometimes I carry around grudges from wrongs that friends or neighbors committed against me and my heart can be very hard. Sometimes, I’m working on forgiveness of an injury and past injuries spring up like rocks to stop me from being fully reconciled with a friend. So, I feel like the rocky ground. I dig out one rock only to find older ones right beneath it. Living our Christian faith is wonderful—even joyful for me—but it always challenges me to be more loving, more ready to extend my acceptance of others as they are. I’d like to yield a hundredfold life, but I have such a long ways to go.”

“You know, Respecta, you are right in imagining that the parables have many layers of meanings. There are jewels for the most mature Christians to find if they only ponder the gospels more deeply. Can you imagine what the Church would look like if we looked at all of our relationships as opportunities for love? I mean, what if God wanted us to see our relationship with the Roman Empire as an opportunity to love? What would that look like in practice? Or what if we looked at our relationship to creation as an opportunity to love? I believe that Christian love, forgiveness and reconciliation could be applied to every relationship we have. Perhaps that is why St. Paul tells us in the letter to the Romans that ‘all creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only creation, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.’”

“Oh, yes, Petras! I can imagine that Jesus would envision an entire world where we see ourselves and other creatures as sons and daughters of one God. Then there would be no war, no destruction of the land. Then we all would respect for the rights of others. I suspect that God is sowing the seed even today through us. This parable has really caught my imagination. I’ll have to pray on it some more and ask the Lord how I can better yield a harvest for Him…..Look! There’s something that your daughter would love. Let’s take a look at it.”

And Petras and Respecta turned their attention to a lovely piece of brown yardage that had blue flowers woven into it.

How might you yield a harvest for God this week as you deepen your understanding of this parable?