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SUNDAY’S GOSPEL – July 16, 2017

SUNDAY’S GOSPEL – July 16, 2017

Untitled design (14)“Blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear.”

Matthew 13:1–23

It’s no wonder the parable of the sower left the disciples mystified. It’s a crazy story! The sower is a wild man. Instead of plowing fertile ground and responsibly planting it, like a normal farmer, he wanders down an unlikely path and throws seed in the most random way imaginable. Fistfuls of seed land behind him on the path, on rocks to the right and among thorns to the left. Only by accident does any seed wind up on soil that can be expected to produce a yield. If the sower worked for me, he’d be fired before the end of the day.

What’s most confounding about this parable is that Jesus doesn’t say: don’t be like this careless farmer. Instead, Jesus compares himself to the sower! Apparently it’s his will that the Gospel be shared not just in cathedrals, but also in prisons and back alleys and casinos and boardrooms. The Gospel is a capricious seed!

Are you free with your sprinkling of the Gospel seed? What unlikely places have you taken this news?

(Reflection and questions by Alice Camille in Exploring the Sunday Readings)

Since the Sunday Gospel is the heart of the Gospel Weeklies, an important part of preparing to share the Gospel with children is to read and reflect on it in advance of your class session. The Gospel at Home and the Gospel for All Ages (see Gathering Rituals/Questions) are resources on our website that can help you do this. While these resources take a break in the summer months, we’ll be drawing our weekly reflections from Exploring the Sunday Readings.

 

Image credit: askib/Shutterstock

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