Familiar Parable Needs Our Attention

Homily for Wednesday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time

The parable that Jesus uses in the Gospel text for today is very familiar to all of us. It is almost too familiar. Consequently, we find it hard to expect anything fresh coming from this parable. We even may find it difficult to listen to the parable because we assume that we know everything that there is to know about the sower and the seed.

Perhaps it would do us well to pay attention to the fact that some of his disciples as well as the twelve apostles question Jesus about this parable. Isn’t the meaning fairly obvious? How could they miss the meaning of this story? Could it be that the evangelist tells us about these disciples as a way to get us to probe deeper, to reflect upon it, and to ask questions? Any Scripture or anything we read should prompt questions in our hearts. For instance, is there some application for this story in our own life?

All of us need to be more attentive to what we hear not only from the Scriptures but also from the people around us. There is a danger that is inherent in aspects of our lives that are routine. How do we keep our prayer lives from becoming routine? How do we avoid becoming numb when we are celebrating the Eucharist?

We must avoid letting our relationship with God and with others from becoming routine. Each time the Scriptures are opened to us, we should look for something new, something fresh, even something that startles us. Is that not what this parable is about? Isn’t Jesus asking exactly this of us through this parable; namely, to give our full attention to God’s voice as well as the voices of others with whom we are talking. We can all do better at paying attention and looking for fresh ideas each time we turn to the word of God.