Daily Mass Gospel Reflection - The Jesus Seed

Word on Fire Ministry ^ | 7.26.23 | Bishop Robert Barron

[MurphsLaw]

Memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne,
Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Matthew 13:1–9

Friends, our Gospel for today is the parable of the sower and the seed.
It has to do with the growth and development of the kingdom of God.
We hear that Jesus "went out of the house and sat down by the sea"
and that large crowds gathered around him.
This is Jesus speaking to the whole world.

Sitting down, he is, again, in the attitude of the ancient teacher and judge,
and he speaks the parable of the sower.
The sower sows far and wide, some of the seed landing on the path,
where the birds eat it up;
some falling on rocky ground, where it is scorched in the sun;
some sown among thorns, where the life is choked off;
and some sown on rich soil, where it bears thirty, sixty, or a hundredfold.

Keep in mind that Jesus himself,
in person, is the seed sown.
Jesus is the Logos that wants to take root in us.
This seed is sown far and wide, through all sorts of means, but in you,
let the seed be sown deep, where it can’t be stolen, scorched, or choked.

[MurphsLaw]

+++On that day,
Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea.
Such large crowds gathered around him
that he got into a boat and sat down,
and the whole crowd stood along the shore. "A sower went out to sow.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path,
and birds came and ate it up.
Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil.
It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep,
and when the sun rose it was scorched,
and it withered for lack of roots.
Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up
and choked it.
But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit,
a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.
Whoever has ears ought to hear."+++