Sowing the word of God

In the Gospels, Jesus was called a rabbi, a teacher of Jewish law. But there was something different about this rabbi as the words he spoke and the things he did were unlike any other rabbi before (and after) him.

Jesus taught with an authority and power that people had not seen before (cf. Mt 7:29, Mk 1:22 and Lk 4:31), and because of this, he drew large crowds continuously to himself, who gathered around him hungry to see and hear more.

In the Gospel for this 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Mt 13:1-23), we see this exact situation taking place, not for the first time. Jesus is surrounded by such a large crowd that he gets into a boat so he can teach to those gathered. In this scene, Jesus shares with the crowd the parable of the sower. This parable, which many of us are familiar with, tells of a sower who went to sow seeds. Along the way, some of the seeds fell onto different types of terrain. Depending on where the seeds landed, they experienced different types of growth. Some didn’t have a chance to grow before being consumed by birds, others experienced a quick but short-lived growth because they were quickly burned by the sun or choked by thorns. And lastly, those that landed on fertile ground were able to dig

FAITH FUNDAMENTALS | FATHER MICHAEL VAN SLOUN