Week 24 Saturday (Year 1)

Readings: 1 Timothy 6.13-16; Psalm 99; Luke 8.4-15

Once again we hear the parable of the sower going out to sow his seed, and once again we hear the interpretation of the parable which is given also in Matthew 13 and in Mark 4. It is not complicated - seed falling by the side of the path, on rock, among thorns, on good soil. There are various ways we can receive it, assisted by the interpretation.

It is so clear that one wonders what the point of Jesus's 'health warning' is - let those listen who have ears to hear. Why would anyone have a difficulty accessing the parable, at least as soon as they hear the explanation also? What else might Jesus be offering the disciples along with this interpretation?

Unless what is to be accessed by the disciples is not just the meaning of a parable received as an allegory but the meaning carried within the seed itself. Because it is the word of God, the seed carries within itself 'the mysteries of the kingdom of God'. A small thing destined to grow into something extraordinary: this is what a seed is. The final reality of its life is far beyond its initial form. So anybody can understand the interpretation of the parable - the seed is the Word of God - but not everybody understands the life that the seed contains - the mysteries of the kingdom of God.

For the moment the disciples can keep going, thinking they are grasping something. Mark's gospel is stronger on the fact of the messianic secret (that the full truth of Jesus's person and mission remains hidden) as well as on the obtuseness of the disciples (they continually fail to understand). Soon Jesus will speak to them of his paschal experience yet to come, the exodus which he is to accomplish in Jerusalem, and they will enter into a new level of incomprehension, showing that even if they understand 'the seed is the Word of God', the mysteries of the kingdom of God are still out of their reach.

In fact the heart of those mysteries remains hidden to all, no matter how open their ears or how keen their eyes. These are realities that will only be shown to us finally by God who, Paul tells us in the first reading, inhabits inaccessible light. We cannot get into that light, we can only be brought into its radiance.

So we have been given much and have been introduced somewhat to the meaning of the parable, to the call of the Word of God, and have even glimpsed the mysteries of the kingdom of God. But we remain largely deaf, blind and uncomprehending. Even for sincere and good hearts, the good soil on which the seed falls, their eye has not seen nor their ear heard nor has it entered into those sincere hearts, the good things God has prepared for those who love him.

Those who believe know that the seed is the Word and that the Word contains the mysteries of the kingdom. Only by God's Spirit can we enter those mysteries, however, to see the Cross as glorious, to understand the divine love that is revealed in the mystery of the Cross.