Gospel
Mk 4:1-20
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."
Reflection
I heard a homily from the Second Sunday of Ordinary Time, and it helped me to dig deep and see that the Words we listen to in the Gospel are not just words, they are the living Words of God. However, we will not understand and see clearly what God is telling us until we actually allow the Holy Spirit to take them into our heart, mind and soul, so we can chew on them and actually digest them in order to use them as fuel for our actions.
In this Gospel Jesus tells his disciples,
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."
Why would Jesus do this? Why would he allow people to look and see but not perceive, and hear and listen but not understand, in order that they may not be converted and be forgiven. What is going on? I thought Jesus loved everyone, and wanted everyone to be converted and forgiven.
I am not sure what this part of the Gospel means, it definitely has me thinking. My thoughts went back to what I learned in our Zoom Bible Study last week. Where the disciples were seeking for the dwelling place of Jesus (the Kingdom of heaven), and Jesus says, come and see. We actually have to take action and go and see. We have to make the effort to seek, we ourselves need to make the sacrifice to follow Jesus, to deny ourselves and take up our own cross to follow Jesus. Jesus makes His home in us, and our actions can become actions for Jesus.
My thinking is that Jesus says that some people 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, because there are some people who do not let the Word of God take root by making the conscious decision to allow the Words to take root by studying, contemplating, and living out the Word of God. There are people who use the Words of scripture to further their own agendas, without even realizing, that is what they are doing.
God gave us our free will. He loves us so much that He allows us to make our own decisions. He does want everyone to be converted and forgiven. The decision is ours, what will we decide today? Will we decide to allow the Word of God to take root in our heart, mind and soul and live out our call to follow Jesus?
Comments