Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Mt. 13:1-23) “Being the Seed”
Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Mt. 13:1-23) “Being the Seed”
The farmer went out to sow. The parables of Jesus don’t have precise messages, but they are more like riddles. Riddles usually get our attention. When we hear a riddle, we get engaged with that riddle. We want to solve it. But Jesus’ parables are meant to be paradoxical, to keep us off balance. We might always have questions about what he said.
Today, we read the Parable of the Sower. We might have heard this parable many times, but that makes no difference because each time we hear it we can carry away a different lesson.
When we hear about sowing seeds our imagination might turn to the modern farming that goes on in our area. We are the home of John Deere, the biggest farm machinery producer in the world. We also sit in the middle of the corn belt. When a farmer goes out to plant today what is it like?
As a farmer climbs onto his tractor his land could be tilled beforehand. But then again, the farmer may have a no till planter. The planter can plant many rows at a time. The planter might be guided by satellites which can feed information to farmers and to their machinery. Satellites take pictures from space to tell the farmer the soil moisture, how much fertilizer to use, the satellite might even tell the farmer how much weed killer is needed. Someday soon a farmer may plant his fields remotely, because the artificial intelligence in the computerized tractor will steer it so that the optimum number of seeds will be planted for the highest yield. Wasting seed is unthinkable. Crop failure seems like a remote possibility.
I would imagine if a farmer were to hear the Parable of the Sower today, they would think that the farmer in the parable was bound to fail. A farmer that would go out to scatter seed on rocky ground, on gravel roads, or in a weed patch would be considered incredibly foolish. What a waste of resources! Still, we know that with all our modern agriculture a lot of the world is still starving. The answer is not just more technology; we need a conversion of heart in our world.
Jesus wasn’t describing planting corn. He was talking about spreading the kingdom of God. How is this project different? The sower is different. The seed isn’t the same. The soil isn’t either. The Sower is God. The soil represents the different regions of the earth. The seed might be all the people who present Christian to others.
Usually, we think of the seed as the Gospel message. We might believe that if the message is misunderstood, we are doomed to fail. Some in the church seem to look at evangelization as selling a product. We think we need to market the Christian message correctly. If people know the right information about Jesus, then they will line up to follow him. Corporate America is the model. If we have the right statistics, if we have the right media, if we adapt to the culture where the message is proclaimed, we will succeed. But the seed may not be a bunch of information. The seed could be the people who proclaim the message.
Jesus could be saying to his disciples, “You are the seed.” You will be scattered throughout the world. The soil is the people of the world. If you want to be evangelists, you will bloom where you’re planted as Christian women and men. Sometimes it will be tough to be Christian, other times you will find a friendly audience. But it is about relationships.
A story is told of a church that was working in mission territory in a poor rural country. The missionaries took a simple approach. As Jesus instructed, they went out two by two. The Christians would go into a village where they would set up a home. The missionaries would go about the mundane tasks of life; cooking, washing clothes, raising food in their small garden plot. If neighbors needed basic medical care, they would provide it. If they could offer other knowledge that was helpful, they would extend it without charge. And they would take time to listen to their neighbors’ wisdom. But mostly the missionaries took care of each other. The two missionaries would model true friendship and caring for each other. After a while the people would ask them about Jesus. Who is this Jesus you believe in? Why do you live the way you do? With that, the missionaries knew they had established roots. And a church community might begin.
We are the seed in our neighborhoods, in our workplaces, where we go to school, in the places where we recreate with others. Does the life we lead attract others to Jesus? Our Christian life isn’t just for our benefit, but it is about producing a rich harvest for Jesus. Somehow it seems so inefficient. Building relationships is messy. But people are starving for such relationships. The question is whether we are willing to be the seed.
Reflection Questions:
1. What is my favorite Jesus parable? Why is that?
2. Did someone encourage me to follow Jesus at an important moment? Who were they?
Dear Parishioners,
In the fall, we usually have a parish wide event to build community. Usually we have food, games, etc. and call it a festival. This year we will be doing something different. This will be another event to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Sacred Heart Church.
Chicago sports personality Wayne Messmer, the man who often sings the Star-Spangled Banner at baseball and hockey games has another passion. He performs in one act plays. One of the persons he portrays is St. Damien of Molokai who is the patron of our Gathering Center Construction project.
Mr. Messmer performs in many church settings telling the story of this Belgium immigrant saint. He will be coming here on October 1st at 1:30 p.m. and will be performing at Sacred Heart Church. He has heard about our beautiful building and is very happy to come to the Quad Cities.
Please place this event on your calendar. It should be a special afternoon. We have asked St. Damien to pray for us throughout our building project. I feel he has been a great advocate for us and much of our success can be attributed to him. More information will be forthcoming.
May St. Damien continue to pray for us as we raise money for our Centennial Campaign.
Fr. Mark
P.S. We have been offering Eucharist under both Species at our 8 a.m. daily Masses. This has gone well. On the weekend of July 16th, we began to offer the cup at our 9:15 Mass on Sunday. We are presently offering two cups, but we need to expand to four. This requires more Eucharistic ministers. If you have never been a Eucharistic minister and would like to be one, please give me a call and we can see if you would be suited for this most important ministry. We have not been able to offer the cup to our First Communion children in the last few years. I would encourage parents to talk to young children about whether and how to receive communion from the cup since they might not have had basic instruction.