SOWING AND GROWING

Isaiah 55:10-11; Ps 65 The seed that falls on Good ground will yield a fruitful harvest; Rom 8:18-23; Matt 13:1-23

When growing up on the farm it seemed that we were always planting something. There was never a season in which we weren't in the field planting, at least it seemed that way when i was young.

We were constantly buying seed, planting seed and waiting.  Then we were harvesting and then back to planting.  The cycle never ended.  Dad would always be checking his Farmer's Almanac to make sure his timing was right both for planting and harvesting.

There was one thing that was guaranteed.  Dad hated to waste good seed.

He would watch us like a hawk when it came to putting seed in the grain drill or in the planter boxes.  We had to be meticulous about getting every seed in the right place and spilling none one the ground.

If that wasn't enough we had to make sure to come to complete stop at the end of each row and raise the planters or switch off the grain drill or lift the hydraulic so as to not put seed where we all knew it didn't have chance to grow.

It wasn't this way for the big crops it was this way for the garden as well.


Seed meant money.  And neither could be wasted.  Period. Exclamation mark.  There was no getting around it.

Yet, when we read today's gospel things just don't add up in my mind coming from my experience.  Why would the one who sows, sow so recklessly, carelessly?  Why just broadcast seed anywhere and everywhere?

Why not be a little more meticulous and even calculating?

The sower is prodigal like.

He scatters seed all over the place without calculation, with out manipulation, with our holding back.

All places get the opportunity to receive the seed regardless of the terrain being hard, rocky, thorny, or good.

The focus seems to be on sowing not reaping.

We can certainly learn a lot from sower.  How often in our life do we focus on reaping as opposed to sowing?  How often do we focus on what we are getting as opposed to giving?  How often do we judge who or what is worthy rather than bestowing generously regardless?

It seems the kingdom of God is to be found in the sowing not in the reaping.

Is this not our task as Christians?  Is this not what our marching orders are all about?  Are not to go out and spread the seed generously and recklessly and even wastefully and leaving the reaping up to God?

Too many times we look at how we are being compensated for the work we do or the seed we sow rather than getting true joy and satisfaction in the mere sowing.

The more we sow the more the seed we have received grows.  St Paul puts it best we reap what we sow.

Thin about this small fact.  Isaiah says that God's word goes forth from his mouth  and does not return until it has achieved the end for which it was sent.

It is said that the average person speaks any where from 10,000 to 20,000 words a day, so figure the average mark is 15,0000 words daily in a 24 hour period.

How many of those words are remembered?  How many of those words are effective?

How many of those words are graceful, encouraging, kind?  How many are harsh, painful, degrading? How many build up and how many tear down?

What if we were to take those words and intentionally try to infuse them with God's life, love, and mercy?  What if we intentionally infused them with God's truth and direct them to everyone equally?

How would that effect the mission of sowing in a more heavenly way?  How would that allow the sowing lead to more growing of the kingdom?