CALLED TO YIELD A HUNDREDFOLD
Introduction
Jeremiah asks the people to repent and not to rely on false securities. They have to return to God, under the leadership of good shepherds.
When he began to tell the parable of the sower, Jesus said: “listen.” When Matthew explains it and adapts it to his community, we are told again: “Hear.” We have to listen to the parable and see how it applies to ourselves. By listening we have also to listen to the signs of our time, how the word of Christ the sower applies to our time and our people, that the word may be accepted and bear fruit.
1 Reading Jeremiah 3:14-17
Return, rebellious children, says the LORD,
for I am your Master;
I will take you, one from a city, two from a clan,
and bring you to Zion.
I will appoint over you shepherds after my own heart,
who will shepherd you wisely and prudently.
When you multiply and become fruitful in the land,
says the LORD,
They will in those days no longer say,
“The ark of the covenant of the LORD!”
They will no longer think of it, or remember it,
or miss it, or make another.
At that time they will call Jerusalem the LORD’s throne;
there all nations will be gathered together
to honour the name of the LORD at Jerusalem,
and they will walk no longer in their hard-hearted wickedness.
Responsorial Psalm Jeremiah 31:10, 11-12abcd, 13
R. (see 10d) The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.
Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,
proclaim it on distant isles, and say:
He who scattered Israel, now gathers them together,
he guards them as a shepherd his flock.
R. The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.
The LORD shall ransom Jacob,
he shall redeem him from the hand of his conqueror.
Shouting, they shall mount the heights of Zion,
they shall come streaming to the LORD’s blessings:
The grain, the wine, and the oil,
the sheep and the oxen.
R. The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.
Then the virgins shall make merry and dance,
and young men and old as well.
I will turn their mourning into joy,
I will console and gladden them after their sorrows.
R. The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.
Alleluia Luke 8:15
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are they who have kept the word with a generous heart
and yield a harvest through perseverance.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel Matthew 13:18-23
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Hear the parable of the sower.
The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the Kingdom
without understanding it,
and the Evil One comes and steals away
what was sown in his heart.
The seed sown on rocky ground
is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy.
But he has no root and lasts only for a time.
When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word,
he immediately falls away.
The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word,
but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word
and it bears no fruit.
But the seed sown on rich soil
is the one who hears the word and understands it,
who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirty fold.”
Commentary
“Blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears, because they hear.” But can we have eyes and not see, and ears and not hear? Unfortunately, yes. We find Jesus complaining that despite having eyes, some people do not see (Mk 8:18). Jeremiah too complains of the same (Jer 5:21). The Psalmist laments the same as well (Ps 115:5; 135:16). Jesus often ends his parables with the punch line, “Those who have ears, let them hear” (Matt 11:15; Mk 4:9).
It takes a certain kind of openness, commitment, and attitude of the heart to see and to hear certain things. Take a mother who is in deep sleep: she does not hear the sound of a truck passing by, but she picks up the slightest whimper of her baby, and is awake. Or a person who lives in the world of business: even in his sleep, he is alert to the ring of the telephone. What is my heart attuned to, and what do I see and hear? How do I hear the Word, live it out and be hundredfold fruitful?
Blessing
God sows his word among us. Let it fall in good soil. He wants us to continue sowing his word. We ask him to dispose people well so that they are receptive to that word. May almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!