Reflection for February 23

Mark 4:1-20

 Again he began to teach beside the lake. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the lake and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the lake on the land. He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: ‘Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.’ And he said, ‘Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’

When he was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, ‘To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables; in order that “they may indeed look, but not perceive,  and may indeed listen, but not understand; so that they may not turn again and be forgiven.” ’

And he said to them, ‘Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy. But they have no root, and endure only for a while; then, when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are those sown among the thorns: these are the ones who hear the word, but the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing. And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.’

Reflection – Karen Hile

As a gardener I’ve always felt a connection to this passage. A seed, like a word or an idea, needs the right conditions to take root and flourish. A realtor might say, “location, location, location,” to explain it. A gardener would get technical, explaining how in addition to the correct exposure you need the right balance of sand, silt, and clay (with perhaps a bit of vermiculite thrown in); the correct amount of water and sun; the right timing to make sure you aren’t planting too late or too early; some mulch and a gardener’s loving hand to keep weeds out and pests away.

Likewise, a word or an idea needs the right conditions to take hold and thrive. Rosa Parks, the Little Rock Nine, and the Sit-In Movement made the soil fertile for the March on Washington and Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Mary M’Clintock [sic], and Lucretia Mott, working together at the 1848 Seneca Falls Women’s Right Convention, laid the groundwork for women’s right to vote, ratified more than 70 years later.

Jesus, too, needed the right timing, the right conditions, for his word of love and forgiveness to take root and grow. He knew that some people – those who were open, yearning, or in despair – would be accepting of his healing and preaching, and allow it freedom to flourish, while others – those who were negative, doubting, or controlling – would deny it space to grow.

As I start this year’s planting, I think about what conditions my plants need to thrive and pray that I will cultivate the right mindset to be open to, and grow, Jesus’s love. I like to imagine Jesus’s hand as the loving hand keeping the pests and weeds away from all as we strive to grow in love.

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