Welcome to another opportunity to "hear" -- the command of Jesus to his followers recorded in the gospel reading for today's sacred liturgy for his disciples and for us today. How many times have you heard the parable of the sower and the seed? How many different insights captured your heart, your soul, as you imagined watching a farmer or gardener going about his/her plantings, their sowing the hopes of a bountiful or bloom-filled crop?
Surely Jesus' work as his Father's missionary to humankind involved a daily spreading of the Word of God. A wise gardener is not apt o plant seeds in bad soil, on a well-worn pathway or among weeds. Yet we find growth in the most unexpected places. The clover in the picture above has sprouted between pavers in my "hermitage." How so? Winds, rain, droppings, especially from the birds who hop around the garden area -- of these and many other examples are ways a seed travels from the blossom.
So, what is it that Jesus might be trying to instill in the disciples' hearts and ours? The Word of God is the seed Jesus labors to plant in bad soil, worn-down soil, among the weeds, even in the small area of ground between hard, stone pavers!
Jesus might be teaching that he is a most unusual gardener. He doesn't necessarily follow a design for his garden. He spreads the Word of God in must unusual places as well as in good soil. He labors in this unusual manner to enrich his Father's kingdom. What kind of garden would he have produced if it were planted only in good soil? Would we ever had had a St. Paul? Would our community of believers have been enriched with "sinners" who experienced the seeds of his redemptive graces? Would we have returned to our God as saints despite our "sinner" status?
Jesus' plantings are amazing! Consider how his many graces have been the seeds that have renewed the face of the earth. Wow! So, listen again: "Whoever has ears out to hear."
