Please read the Scripture passage before the homily.
We may have a problem here. Earlier in chapter 13 we learned that the word of God, like good seed, would sprout and grow in great quantities. We may be asking why the whole world does not yet follow Christ. Today’s reading tries to explain this. The question answered here is a question that would arise in the early ages of the Church when persecution, indifference and lack of faith kept people from entering the ranks of believers.
The path, the rocks, the shallow earth and the thorns now represent the challenges facing the Church from the culture, from the local people, from without and from within the community.
The word of God has gone out, but it has met serious challenges. It is for us to hear the word by listening for it, to understand it by praying over it, and to bear fruit as the word is designed to produce.
Wednesday, I described the process called tillering, how plants can divide or multiply into thirty or more sub-shoots per grain. God’s word is like this.
If we were given a penny on the first of the month and had it doubled each day for the whole month, we would have over three million dollars by the end of the month. The word of God is like this in the world and in us. If our lives had the richness God intends it to have, we would see the whole world Christianized. We must do our part by hearing and understanding the word of God. When we live according to the word of God, we may find our problem solved.