Please read the Scripture passage before the homily.
It is normal for grain in a field to sprout more than one shoot per seed. It is a natural process called tillering. One can see it at work in freshly planted grass seed. It is part nature’s way of providing for its own continuation.
The story is about seed, seed that stands for the word of God. Will the seed succeed as Jesus tells the parable or will the seeds’ enemies triumph over it. Birds attack it; stones attack it; the sun attacks it. What happens in good soil?
Jesus says that the see will thrive in good soil, each grain, as usual, splitting into many offshoots, in what we call tillering. I understand that tillering can turn each stalk into thirty. Thus, one stalk would produce 30, two stocks sixty, three stocks, ninety, and so on.
In the proper circumstances, the soil will do its normal thing and grow wildly. In like manner, the word of God will produce it normal crop in its proper situation. Whoever has ears ought to pay attention and not be enemy to the word.
The parable is about the reign of God. It includes the sowing of the seed, the presence of adversity and the success of the fruitful planting.
We are part of this reign of God. We have the word broadcast to us, but we have adversity, hungry birds, stones, and super-hot weather. The seed, however, will succeed and bear fruit in us. “