January 29, 2025 – Wed. week 3 - even
H O M I L Y
Farming and gardening can be a good school of patience, confidence and letting go. Once we have put the seed into the ground and watered it, we can only wait with patience. For some time, there is no way of knowing for sure whether the seed will grow or not. We can act in various ways on the conditions that may foster growth. But there is no way for us of affecting in any manner the growth process itself.
The prophets of Israel, as well as Jesus himself, came from a people that was composed mostly of farmers and fishermen. This explains why they often use images and parables that deal with live and growth. when they speak about the Kingdom of God.
Something that is noteworthy in today’s Gospel is that we do not have only a parable, but at the same time a parable and its interpretation. This is very unusual, all the more since the classical use of a parable implied a technique according to which the rabbi or the master gradually brought his listeners themselves to draw the lesson of the parable. For that reason, most of the exegetes and commentators think that the second part of our Gospel, that is, the interpretation, was not from Jesus himself but is the interpretation of the early Church.
In the Gospel of Matthew, where we also find this parable, it immediately follows the narrative in which Jesus’ family wants to take hold of him and bring him back home, because they think he has lost his mind. This parable is, in reality, a reflection of Jesus on his ministry. His Word – God’s Word – is received in various ways. In some people, it finds a heart of stone and does not grow at all; in others, it grows with difficulty but grows all the same. When it will have reached its full growth, it will be the End. Globally it is a message of hope.
When that parable was told in the early Church, an interpretation was added that was attributed to Jesus. And, surprisingly, the accent was changed – from the seed to the ground that receives it. All the attention and all the preoccupation of Jesus was with the seed itself – the Word of God, or the Kingdom of God. For the first Christians, the preoccupation gradually becomes that of a ground that would be good enough to receive the seed.
Such a preoccupation is obviously legitimate and may find some foundation in the parable itself as it was narrated by Jesus. But this change of accent also shows our human tendency to be more concerned with ourselves and with the manner in which we receive the Word than with the Word itself. Jesus was preoccupied with the Word ! And his message is precisely that, in spite of our hardness of heart and our lack of cooperation, the Seed of the Kingdom will grow to full measure.
The reason for that change of preoccupation is probably our fear of suffering. We easily find all kinds of good reasons and pretexts to protect ourselves from the painful reality of growth and to take refuge in the more secure activity that consists in preparing the ground. We feel secure when we are busy with ploughing the ground, pulling the bad weaves, turning the earth in various ways. We are “doing” something, we are feeling good about it and we expect a reward for it. All this is necessary and good. But the Gospel reminds us of another dimension : the need to wait with patience when the seed takes time to grow – the need the make the experience of the death of the seed without being sure whether it will really grow and to what extent. We do not control the growth. And that is painful.
While remaining aware of our need for ascetical practices – of our need to clean the garden of our heart, and to water the plants, let us not forget to return to what was most important for Jesus : the Word of God – the Seed placed by the Father at the heart of humanity. And let us expect with faith its growth in each one of us and in the whole humankind. Let us also accept to go through the suffering that is a natural part of such a birth and such a growth.
Armand Veilleux