This blog follows the daily bible readings of the Catholic Church

Reading 1, Jeremiah 1:1, 4-10

1 The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests living at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. 4 The word of the Lord came to me, saying: 5 ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you came to birth I consecrated you; I appointed you as prophet to the nations.’

6 I then said, ‘Ah, ah, ah, Lord God; you see, I do not know how to speak: I am only a child!’

Only at the end do we understand the beginning

7 But the Lord replied, ‘Do not say, “I am only a child,” for you must go to all to whom I send you and say whatever I command you.

8 Do not be afraid of confronting them, for I am with you to rescue you, the Lord declares.’

9 Then the Lord stretched out his hand and touched my mouth, and He said to me: ‘There! I have put my words into your mouth.

10 Look, today I have set you over the nations and kingdoms, to uproot and to knock down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.’

Michelangelo's thoughtful Jeremiah

The prophet tries to speak the truth of God, and has no other power. Nevertheless, that truth is in itself more powerful than all the power of nations, because it comes from the One-Who-Is-Not-The-World, the creator of all life. This penetrating truth, which sees the evil and weakness of earthly powers, will not bring success to the one who utters it, but rather failure, unpopularity and pain. The book of Jeremiah is much more like a play on the life of Jeremiah, than it is an autobiography, but the playwrights represent the beginnings of Jeremiah’s calling from the point of view of its end: it’s only out of long experience that we can see the nature of God’s call to us. Only now, in semi-retirement am I beginning to understand God’s history with me; and even at this stage, no, especially at this stage, if God requires me to speak, I will say, “Ah, ah, ah, Lord God, I am only a child.”

Gospel, Matthew 13:1-9

1 That same day, Jesus left the house and sat by the lakeside, 2 but such large crowds gathered round him that he got into a boat and sat there. The people all stood on the shore, 3 and he told them many things in parables. He said, ‘Listen, a sower went out to sow.4 As he sowed, some seeds fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate them up.5 Others fell on patches of rock where they found little soil and sprang up at once, because there was no depth of earth; 6 but as soon as the sun came up they were scorched and, not having any roots, they withered away. 7 Others fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Others fell on rich soil and produced their crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

In the kingdom it is always springtime

9 Anyone who has ears should listen!’

The parable of the sower has to be rescued from its use as also the parable of the soils, which is found in the so-called explanation of the parable (the soils represent different kinds of response to the word). No, originally we have a parable which is about God’s sowing. In the kingdom it is always springtime, and the sower is always sowing the seeds of the kingdom. He scatters it lavishly, knowing that the ground on which it is sown has still to be ploughed (The Palestinian custom.). Certainly this means that some is wasted, but plenty falls on good soil where one seed can produce 100 grains.

Jesus is talking about the God’s rule in the world. The seeds sown could be thought of as deeds or even as people. God is not meticulous about where these are sown, nor should disciples try to second- guess a harvest. They are part of a sowing of goodness which will inevitably be fruitful. But don’t expect the harvest in springtime! Get on with sowing and being sown. There are obvious lessons here for the contemporary church.