Daily Gospel Reflection

Sowing the Seed

What's the greatest thing in your life? What's the greatest thing in your life? Throughout the gospel, Jesus has these parables about the Kingdom of God. Today, we got two. We got one about sowing of the seeds, and we got one about the mustard seed. But all of the Kingdom of God parables have the same point. Every time Jesus says, "The Kingdom of God is like," He's essentially asking us a question. He's saying, "What's the greatest thing in your life? What's the most important thing in your life? What's at the center of your life?" And He's trying to convince us that wisdom is to make the Kingdom of God the most important thing in our lives, to make the Kingdom of God the greatest thing in our lives and to place the Kingdom of God at the center of our lives, or rather, to place ourselves at the center of the Kingdom of God.

I love these two parables. The first one's about the sower. There are several parables about sowers in the gospels and the sower has a job to do. And the sower's job is to go out and sow the seed. Sow the seed. Now, does the sower worry about, if the seed will grow? Yes. Does the sower worry about, if there'll be a storm? Yes. Does the sower worry about, if there'll be a rich harvest? Yes. But God essentially says, don't extend your personal responsibility beyond where it belongs. We do it all the time. We make ourselves responsible for things we're not actually responsible for. Meanwhile, neglecting things that we are actually responsible for. We worry about things we're not actually responsible for, and we use that as an excuse for not actually doing the things we are, in fact, actually responsible for. And God says, "Hey, be mindful of your own personal responsibility. Your job's to sow. Let me worry about what sort of dirt it falls in. Let me worry about the weather patterns. Let me worry about what the harvest will be. You focus on the one thing you can actually affect because that's when you have the most effect." When we affect the things we can actually affect, that's when we live in our power. That's when we live connected to God. That's when we're most impactful. It's when we start focusing on things we can't actually affect, we can't influence, we can't change that, we become like a leaky tire. We just lose all the energy, all the air just sucked out of our lives. And so what's God saying to us today? Focus on sowing the seed. Focus on sowing the seed. Bring the message to as many people as possible. Share the message with as many people as possible. Some of them will respond to it. Some of them won't. That's life. Might not be their time. That's okay. Just keep sowing the seed. Just keep sowing the seed. It's the first parable.

The second parable is about the mustard seed, which is the smallest seed and yet becomes the greatest of all the trees, shrubs, et cetera. There's a line here that I think a lot about, and I think we sort of graze over it sometimes or slip past it. Jesus says, "Yet when the mustard seed is sown, it grows up and becomes the greatest of all the shrubs and puts forth large branches so that the birds of the air can make their nests in its shade." See, when we make the Kingdom of God the most important thing in our lives, what happens is God grows us. He gives us those large branches. And those large branches, that goodness, the goodness of your life is like those large branches. It brings comfort to other people. It brings shade to the birds. It brings shade, a place for them to make their nests. Your goodness comforts people in their lives. And life is a long, weary journey. Life is a long, weary journey. And sometimes, in the midst of that long, weary journey, all people need is to spend a few minutes in the shade of your goodness. To spend a few minutes in the shade of your goodness can completely transform their day, can restore their hope in humanity, can restore their hope in their own lives. So what's Jesus saying to us? He's saying, "Allow me to grow you. Allow me to grow you. Allow me to give you big branches. Allow me to fill you with my goodness so that you can go out and share that goodness with weary people in this weary world and restore their hope in themselves, their lives, and humanity.