15th Sunday of Ordinary Time (13.07.14)
The Sower and the Seed
God is continually calling us to a better life through His Word.
Jesus compared the word of God to a seed which a man plants in the ground.
For a seed to grow it needs to be planted in good soil.
In the Gospels we hear Jesus speaking with authority. He commands. He rebukes. He orders.
When He speaks, something happens.
In His healing ministry, He speaks people better – so much so that the centurion can send Him a message : “Say but the word and my servant will be healed”.
People who are open to His creative word are seen to leave his presence changed. In that change, they see themselves differently. They see Jesus in a new light. They can face the future with new hope.
Jesus continues to plant His Word in each of us, if we but listen to His still small voice guiding and directing us throughout our lives. For this Word to be effective will depend on our individual response to it.
Like the parable of the sower in today’s Gospel, we are helped to consider a variety of responses we can make to these divine promptings of the Spirit in our personal lives.
Some of us might hear the Word without understanding its meaning, and are then in danger of abandoning it when challenged by those who are opposed to it.
Others might hear it with enthusiasm, but then may become too preoccupied with the cares and distractions of the world and so smother it with our own concerns.
True discipleship means trying to live faithfully according to God’s Word – making an effort to understand it – thus enabling the preached word of God to bear fruit, and not remain just a word.
Today, God’s Word is still scattered generously throughout the world, even in the most unlikely places, and despite apparent failure and repeated opposition, in the end it will not be an empty word but it will bear abundant fruit.
However, God is infinitely patient with us, and exhorts us to do likewise.
Like all seeds, the word of God takes time to grow.
Just as the sower knows he has to wait for the weather, the secret workings of the soil, the slow thrust of life, before he can see the crops emerge, how much more does God understand and make allowances for the slow process in our human development in our many and varied different situations!
Nourishing the word of God in our hearts and our lives could take a whole life-time, but what a harvest if we but persevere to the end!