Cardinal Tagle once shared that a farmer complained to him about this parable. The farmer said that a real farmer would have tilled the land before sowing. Plowing the soil, adding fertilizer and enough water would create the conditions help the seed germinate. By scattering the seed, was the sower wasting seed?

Those of us who have dabbled in gardening know that sometimes, despite good soil and seed, pests, fungal growth, and the weather influence how the seedlings grow. I am currently trying to raise an herb garden in the Jesuit residence. Some herbs like basil and mint are flourishing. Yet the coriander seems to be melting in the Tokyo heat. I am thinking perhaps I may have overwatered it or maybe it is just not yet the time.

There’s an online gardening forum I regularly browse. One gardener in the forum decided to grow tomatoes from seed. She meticulously followed the instructions of the seed packet and was met without anything growing. The gardener just gave up and abandoned the pot in the corner of her garden and forgot about it during the pandemic. This year, after some days of rain, the gardener was surprised to see something growing out of the pot. Yet could not remember what she had planted. Upon examination, she realized that the tomato seeds she had sowed and abandoned two years ago had sprouted. Weeks later, she posted pictures of the tomato bearing fruit.

Was the sower wasting seed? Perhaps we are focusing so much on how we can be the perfect soil to the seeds of the gospel. We know that sometimes due to stress of a new environment, and adapting to a new culture our hearts be like rocks. Or perhaps thorns of grief and loss choke our faith. Yet the sower continues to sow the seeds of faith.

We can see this most clearly in today’s second reading. Paul wrote to the Roman church of the struggles of growth—of suffering, but still maintaining that hope. Paul himself was that that rocky ground who even persecuted Christians. Yet that rocky ground through a personal encounter with Jesus became fertile and has borne the fruit of the gospel to not just the Jews but the gentiles as well.

According to Fr. Boris Repchinski, a Matthean scripture scholar, one of the keys to interpret passages from Matthew is to realize that following Jesus would mean having high expectations. The standard of discipleship is to be perfect like the heavenly Father is perfect. However, Repschinski argues that these expectations are balanced by a generous and trusting God.

We strive to become good soil but oftentimes we fail. The challenge for us Christians therefore, is not to wallow in our failure of meeting these expectations, but rather being able to continuously clear away the hindrances in receiving God’s generosity. Moreover, it is to trust that God has sowed far and wide, and thus hope in a time when it will bear fruit.

How much do we trust this generous God? Would we prefer to take comfort in the predictable by setting limits to God’s generosity? For example, would we choose not to attend mass because we do not like the presider? Would not God’s grace be planted despite the priest’s imperfections? Would we insist on receiving communion from people we like? As if receiving the sacrament from another eucharistic minister would not be as effective.

On the other hand, how can we help the sower scatter the seed even farther like the rain and snow? What are the ways we can communicate the good news in our places of work--where there is an absence of a Christian context. Are other people able to get a glimpse of a generous, loving, and merciful God in the way we encounter them?

In today’s mass I would like to pray for the grace of trust. As we cultivate our hearts to be receptive to God’s seed, may we, like the sower, never lose trust. Amen.

Fr. Jody Magtoto, SJ