Gospel: Mt 13:1-23
On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore.
And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some 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. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”The disciples approached him and said, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” He said to them in reply, “Because knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted. To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand. Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says:
You shall indeed hear but not understand, you shall indeed look but never see. Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and be converted, and I heal them. “But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it,
and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. “Hear then the parable of the sower. The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it, and the evil one comes and steals away what was sown in his heart. The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy. But he has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away. The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit. But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”
Homily
Many years ago a young man was named head teacher of a little town in the Trinidadian countryside. This town had never produced anything or anyone of note and in fact was noted for being a difficult place in which to work. This young man however was determined to make a success of the school to which he was assigned. He brought in all sorts of new innovations and soon enough this school began to excel academically. It produced scholarship winners, many of them becoming leaders in their chosen professions, while others were valued as solid workers in their chosen fields.
I thought of this story when I began to prepare for this weekend because one of the lessons of the readings for this weekend is precisely that in the midst of apparently barren surroundings, one can find or create the environment to produce good results.
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The story we know well. It is that of the sower, who goes and scatters his seed indiscriminately or perhaps is in so much of a hurry for the seed to germinate and produce fruit that he sowed the seed certain that some of it would fall on good soil and so produce fruit, enough to satisfy or to give assistance to those who needed. “But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.” Going back to the story with which I began we can say that that is precisely what the young head teacher did. In an environment which others shunned, he was able galvanize that environment to produce, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
This Gospel passage is in fact a call to the church, which all of us together form with Christ, the head, to evaluate the way in which we go about doing ministry. Ministry in the church can be defined as putting people into contact with the saving grace of God as revealed in Christ Jesus.
I have often said that the sower is not a good agriculturist. A good agriculturist would never have just thrown seed around in land that had so many obstacles to good growth. A good agriculturist would ensure that all the seed was sown on good soil so the yield in proportion to the seed sown would be maximized. Unfortunately we tend to operate out of the same principles. We preach the Gospel in safe neighbourhoods, neighbourhoods in which there is no danger to life or limb, neighbourhoods in which the Gospel already has acceptance. Neighbourhoods in which there is likely to be rejection, we avoid. In avoiding these neighbourhoods however, we miss the strips and small pieces of good soil, interspersed between the rocks and shallow soil and brambles and thorns, which have the potential to produce a hundredfold and sixty and thirty.
A look at the history of the Church however will show us that the saints operated out of a different principle. They went to the difficult places and environments. St. John Bosco went to the youth and juvenile delinquents living on the streets of Turin, Mother Teresa went to the street dwellers of Calcutta. While not canonizing them here in T&T we have had persons doing the same, Fr. Gerry Pantin in Laventille and Sr. Rosario in Matelot. Such persons make the words of the first reading from the prophet Isaiah come true; “so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; my word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.” That word however depends on you and me, members of church to reach every single person on this earth, no matter the neighbourhood in which they find themselves. May all of us, You and I take this responsibility seriously. It is an obligation in justice.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God, you seek to save all who are lost and you give up on no one. Help us to be like you. Give us the grace to sow the seed of your word not only in places where there is the potential for growth but also in places where it seems there is little good soil so that in the smallest portion of soil capable of bearing fruit your word may take root and produce fruit a hundredfold and sixty and thirty. We ask this through the intercession of Mary our Mother and your Son Jesus. Amen
