Did you spot it?
The seed is the word of God.
But we know Who the Word of God is –
Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
So if we reread this parable
knowing that what is being sown
is not just the words of the gospel,
but Christ Himself,
doesn't His parable suddenly take on
a subtly different meaning?
[PAUSE]
We remember Our Lord’s words,
“Except a corn of wheat
fall into the ground and die,
it abideth alone:
but if it die,
it bringeth forth much fruit.”
We know that He refers
to Himself here.
He cannot fulfil
His mission of Salvation,
without dying and rising again.
We also know that Our Lord
refers to Himself
as the true vine
and that we are the branches.
All the way through His ministry,
there is an idea that
in some way Jesus is a seed
that requires growing.
But surely Jesus doesn't have to grow?
His humanity says that he must:
how can he become a man
from a baby without growing?
We too have to grow in order to become perfect.
We have to grow
in order that
we may be who
God wants us to be.
So we look at this
parable of the sower again.
We see God the Father
sowing His Word into the world.
And happens to our Lord in this world?
First this the seed falls by the wayside
where it is trodden down
and the fowls of the air devour it.
And our Lord tells us that
this is they who hear and
the Devil takes away the word
out of their hearts
lest they should believe and be saved.
These are the people
who do not love the Lord their God
with all their heart.
There is nowhere for the word of God
to begin grow within them.
Then there are those
who are like the seed
that falls upon the rock
which grows up
but withers
because it has no root.
How can Jesus wither?
He says they on the rock
are they which
when they hear
receive the word with joy
and these have no root
which for a while believe
and in time of temptation fall away.
These are they
which neither love the Lord
with all their soul
nor their mind
for they do not truly want
the Word of God
to become part of who they are
in their innermost being.
And then there are those
who are like the seed
that falls among thorns
which when the seed grows
it is choked up.
Our Lord says these are they
which when they have heard
go forth and are choked with cares
and riches and pleasures of this life
and bring no fruit to perfection.
These are they who do not
love the Lord their God
with all their strength
And so we see that
Christ does grow.
He wants to grow within us
for Christ is love,
and we are to love the Lord our God
with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.
It is the seed of love
that must grow within us to bear fruit
because God is love
and for God to grow in us
means that we become like him,
and because we become like him
we have the potential for learning
and living in eternity with him.
To fail to love the Lord God
with all our heart, soul, mind and strength
means that we fail to grow
that eternal presence.
We do not fit ourselves for eternity.
We can look at another parable
in which our Lord compares the world
to the wheat and the tares.
The wheat is gathered up at the end
and the tares are gathered up at the end.
The wheat bears fruit of eternity,
the tares bear no fruit,
are consigned to the fire
and burnt away.
The key to Our Lord’s life
and work is His Love for us.
And this is no secret.
For His love for us is our good,
it is what we strive for,
it is our happiness,
it is our purpose,
it is our joy.
[PAUSE]
Our perfection lies
in our capacity
to love and to grow in love.
We do this through
the grace of Christ
Who is the Sacrament of Sacraments.
For Jesus Christ
truly is the outward sign
of the invisible God.
It is His image that we must bear.
We are born with that image
blotted and blemished,
but through grace
and through a life of devotion and love
those blemishes and blots are wiped away.
Then we resemble more truly
Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Then we become part of the vine.
Then the seed that is Christ Himself
grows in us
having died for our sins,
He raises Himself in us.
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