The days of summer are well along. Indeed some old timers used to insist that summer ended with the Fourth of July! Yes, time passes quickly. The season’s daffodils have faded and the begonias are well planted in the window boxes with the hope they will last beyond Labor Day. Certainly patchy areas on the front lawn were turned up in early spring to receive fresh seed and afford some hope of bright green blades throughout the property and throughout the season.
Earnest lawn care would demand that the earth be turned up first to receive the new seed. Scattering the seed helter-skelter atop the earth would seem wasteful to today’s home owner. But Scripture scholars insist that scattering first and then plowing the earth was the agricultural rule in the ancient world and was no doubt the custom Jesus had in mind when he preached his famous Parable of the Sower, which Matthew, Mark and Luke all report and which is the heart of this coming Sunday’s Gospel passage.
The American Catholic Bible offers the following observation as it introduces St. Matthew’s rendition of this, the first of Christ’s parables: “Since in Palestine sowing often preceded plowing, much of the seed is scattered on ground that is unsuitable. Yet while much is wasted, the seed that falls on good ground bears fruit in extraordinarily large measure. The point of the parable is that, in spite of some failure because of opposition and indifference, the message of Jesus about the coming of the kingdom will have enormous success.” So although the ancient practice might seem odd to today’s planter, it was apparently successful but still not without its shortfalls and deficiencies. And of course this is precisely Jesus’ point. His Gospel message will have a mixed hearing – sometimes with no effect, other times with a brief success, still again a stifled response. But, happily and assuredly, the scattered seed will produce a fruitful harvest!
Jesus’ ultimate optimism recalls the words of Isaiah in this Sunday’s first reading: “So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; my word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it. (55:11)” So Jesus is in accord with Isaiah’s God who does not see his creation as a waste of time and effort but rather as an noble opportunity that will certainly be fruitful. Psalm 65, which forms this Sunday’s Scriptural response is equally hopeful: “You have visited the land and watered it; greatly have you enriched it. God’s watercourses are filled; you have prepared the grain. Thus have you prepared the land: drenching its furrows, breaking up its clods, softening it with showers, blessing its yield. You have crowned the year with your bounty, and your paths overflow with a rich harvest; the untilled meadows overflow with it, and rejoicing clothes the hills. The valleys are blanketed with grain.” The psalmist is not only hopeful, he is certain!
Even more forcefully does St. Paul in his passage this week from his letter to the Romans display a powerful hope that the promises of God will be immeasurably fulfilled as sincere believers prove to be the firstfruits of an abundant spiritual harvest: “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us...and not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we also groan within ourselves as we await adoption, the redemption of our bodies.” Yes everyone, prophet, psalmist and apostle are anxiously but assuredly awaiting a bountiful harvest no matter how many obstacles and hindrances may seem to be hindering the crop and compromising the produce.
Jesus, when first preaching this famous parable, offers some sage advice to those who might be on the fence regarding the success of Christ’s preaching and of God’s Kingdom. Jesus advises, “Whoever has ears ought to hear.” Jesus is not naïve. He knows there will be challenges to the success of his Gospel message. There will be distractions, there will be deaf ears, there will be anxious moments. But there will also be the believer who “...hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a harvest one hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.” Jesus insists that alert ears attuned to his teaching, his Word, his Gospel, will attain spiritual success in this life and eternal triumph in the next life. Today, let us take Jesus at his word!
