29th January >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Mark 4:1-20 for Wednesday, Third Week in Ordinary Time: ‘Imagine a sower going out to sow’. (2024)

29th January >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Mark 4:1-20 for Wednesday, Third Week in Ordinary Time: ‘Imagine a sower going out to sow’.

Wednesday, Third Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Mark 4:1-20

The parable of the sower

Jesus began to teach by the lakeside, but such a huge crowd gathered round him that he got into a boat on the lake and sat there. The people were all along the shore, at the water’s edge. He taught them many things in parables, and in the course of his teaching he said to them, ‘Listen! Imagine a sower going out to sow. Now it happened that, as he sowed, some of the seed fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some seed fell on rocky ground where it found little soil and sprang up straightaway, because there was no depth of earth; and when the sun came up it was scorched and, not having any roots, it withered away. Some seed fell into thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it produced no crop. And some seeds fell into rich soil and, growing tall and strong, produced crop; and yielded thirty, sixty, even a hundredfold.’ And he said, ‘Listen, anyone who has ears to hear!’

When he was alone, the Twelve, together with the others who formed his company, asked what the parables meant. He told them, ‘The secret of the kingdom of God is given to you, but to those who are outside everything comes in parables, so that they may see and see again, but not perceive; may hear and hear again, but not understand; otherwise they might be converted and be forgiven.’

He said to them, ‘Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables? What the sower is sowing is the word. Those on the edge of the path where the word is sown are people who have no sooner heard it than Satan comes and carries away the word that was sown in them. Similarly, those who receive the seed on patches of rock are people who, when first they hear the word, welcome it at once with joy. But they have no root in them, they do not last; should some trial come, or some persecution on account of the word, they fall away at once. Then there are others who receive the seed in thorns. These have heard the word, but the worries of this world, the lure of riches and all the other passions come in to choke the word, and so it produces nothing. And there are those who have received the seed in rich soil: they hear the word and accept it and yield a harvest, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.’

Gospel (USA)

Mark 4:1-20

A sower went out to sow.

On another occasion, Jesus began to teach by the sea. A very large crowd gathered around him so that he got into a boat on the sea and sat down. And the whole crowd was beside the sea on land. And he taught them at length in parables, and in the course of his instruction he said to them, “Hear this! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed 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 and it produced no grain. And some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit. It came up and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” He added, “Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.”

And when he was alone, those present along with the Twelve questioned him about the parables. He answered them, “The mystery of the Kingdom of God has been granted to you. But to those outside everything comes in parables, so that

they may look and see but not perceive,

and hear and listen but not understand,

in order that they may not be converted and be forgiven.”

Jesus said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables? The sower sows the word. These are the ones on the path where the word is sown. As soon as they hear, Satan comes at once and takes away the word sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground who, when they hear the word, receive it at once with joy. But they have no roots; they last only for a time. Then when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Those sown among thorns are another sort. They are the people who hear the word, but worldly anxiety, the lure of riches, and the craving for other things intrude and choke the word, and it bears no fruit. But those sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”

Reflections (3)

(i) Wednesday, Third Week in Ordinary Time

Many scholars hold that, whereas the parable in today’s gospel reading was spoken by Jesus, the interpretation that follows reflects the experience of the early church. The focus has shifted from the sower to the various types of soil which have come to represent various responses to the preaching of the gospel. How might Jesus have intended this parable to be heard? When Jesus saw the farmer going out to sow seeds, it reminded him of the way God was at work in his ministry. Jesus noticed that the farmer scattered the seed with abandon, not knowing what kind of soil it would fall on. Inevitably, a great deal of the seed that was scattered never germinated. Yet, some of the seed fell on good soil and produced an extraordinary harvest. In a similar way, God was scattering the seed of his life-giving word through Jesus’ ministry. God’s favour was being scattered abroad in an almost reckless manner. God gave the most unlikely places the opportunity of receiving the life-giving seed of his word. Jesus’ ministry had something of that scatter gun approach of the sower. There was nothing selective about Jesus’ company. As with the farmer in the parable, much of what Jesus scattered was lost; it met with little or no response. Yet, Jesus knew that some people were receiving the seed of his word, and that would be enough to bring about the harvest of God’s kingdom. In speaking this parable, Jesus may have been speaking a word of encouragement to his disciples, ‘Despite all the setbacks, the opposition and hostility, God is at work and that work will lead to something wonderful’. The seed of the gospel is good and powerful. Whatever the odds against us, we must keep sowing.

And/Or

(ii)Wednesday, Third Week in Ordinary Time

There are times when our efforts to do something worthwhile don’t appear to get very far. The opening lines of the parable of the sower in this morning’s gospel reading reflect that reality. Much of the seed that the sower scattered produced nothing; it was taken by the birds of the air, choked by thorns, scorched by the sun. Yet, some of what he sowed produced a wonderful harvest. In spite of much frustration and failure, there was a great crop at the end of the day. The Lord appears to be saying through that parable that his own efforts, his words and his deeds, would eventually bear great fruit, in spite of many setbacks, including misunderstanding, rejection and, eventually, crucifixion. The parable is a word of encouragement to those who might be tempted to lose faith in him. It is also a word of encouragement to all of us as we try to share in the Lord’s work and mission. It is as if Jesus is saying to us, ‘if the seed is good, the crop will be good, in spite of setbacks and failure’. We do have good seed, the good seed of the gospel. We can be confident that in scattering that seed, in witnessing to that gospel, the Lord will work powerfully through us.

And/Or

(iii) Wednesday, Third Week in Ordinary Time

The parable of the sower was probably spoken by Jesus as an encouraging word to his disciples. As Mark has been telling the story of Jesus’ public ministry prior to Jesus speaking this parable, Jesus and his disciples have been encountering many difficulties and obstacles. The religious leaders have accused Jesus and his disciples of breaking the Sabbath; they have claimed that Jesus heals by the power of Satan. Jesus’ own relatives have tried to take him in hand because of the general impression that he had lost the run of himself. In that context Jesus draws the attention of the disciples to the farmer sowing seed in Galilee. The farmer has to deal with all kinds of obstacles, with the result that much of the seed that he sows never takes root, or if it does it never reaches maturity. Yet, in spite of obstacles and setbacks, the harvest is great. Jesus is saying, look beyond the obstacles, the set-backs, the disappointments; God is at work in my ministry and the harvest will be great in the end. We can all become absorbed by what is not going well, by the failures, the losses all around us. The parable encourages us to keep hopeful in the midst of loss and failure that our good efforts seem to yield, because the Lord is always at work in a life-giving way even when failure and loss seem to dominate the landscape.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

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