Wednesday in the Third Week of Ordinary Time, January 24, 2024

Mark 4, 1-20

On another occasion, Jesus began to teach by the sea.  A very large crowd gathered around him so that he got into a boat on the sea and sat down. And the whole crowd was beside the sea on land. And he taught them at length in parables, and in the course of his instruction he said to them, “Hear this! 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 had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep. And when the sun rose, it was scorched and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it and it produced no grain. And some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit. It came up and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” He added, “Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.”  And when he was alone, those present along with the Twelve questioned him about the parables. He answered them, “The mystery of the Kingdom of God has been granted to you. But to those outside everything comes in parables, so that they may look and see but not perceive, and hear and listen but not understand, in order that they may not be converted and be forgiven.”  Jesus said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables? The sower sows the word. These are the ones on the path where the word is sown. As soon as they hear, Satan comes at once and takes away the word sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground who, when they hear the word, receive it at once with joy. But they have no roots; they last only for a time. Then when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Those sown among thorns are another sort. They are the people who hear the word, but worldly anxiety, the lure of riches, and the craving for other things intrude and choke the word, and it bears no fruit. But those sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”

One aspect of the Lord’s ministry that St. Mark emphasizes again and again is the stupendous size of the crowds that come to him.  In the first three chapters of his Gospel, Mark mentions four very large crowds: they crowd around the house he’s in, they nearly force him into the sea, they make it so that he cannot eat.  Mark mentions four occasions for such crowds, not including his description of the crowd drawn by John the Baptist.  Through pointing these out time and again he shows that the opposition to Jesus, though vigorous, came from a small group of people while the people who followed him amounted to vast numbers.  Mark knew that his original audience of Gentile Christians needed to hear this.

The present Gospel Reading adds yet another account of a huge crowd to the list: “A very large crowd gathered around him so that he got into a boat on the sea and sat down.”  The Lord expects the numbers and so he has the Apostles keep a boat ready for him.  “And he taught them at length in parables.”  The Ancient Greek word translated as “parable” means a “comparison” or “similarity”.  Literally, it means “a laying beside”.  By using parables, interesting stories that illustrate the point he wishes to make, the Lord teaches the crowds the truth about God, faith, prayer, heaven, and themselves in ways they could understand,  but which would bear pondering to tease out the deeper meanings that are always present in the Lord’s words.  Now, the translation here says that he taught this crowd “at length” with parables but the Greek actually says, “with many parables”.  The Lord’s parables are not unbearably long.  They are just long enough for the average listener to take it all in.

“A sower went out to sow.”  This is a very familiar parable for those who attend Holy Mass and listen to the Gospel because it turns up every year.  All three of the Evangelists — Matthew, Mark, and Luke — who recount the Lord’s parables give us this one.  It is the only one which all three of these sacred writers give us, by which we understand its importance in the early Church especially for Gentile converts but also for the Jewish converts.  In this parable, which the Lord himself explains, the new or prospective Christian can learn the answer to a pressing question: Given the Lord’s powerful teaching and wondrous miracles, why did not all the Jews convert at the time and why was the faith often lost or rejected by the Gentiles?  The Lord provides not one but three reasons why this happens: hardness of heart; the trials of persecution or any tribulation; and attachment to the things of this world.

“But those sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”  The reader comes to the end of the parable and sees himself in its words: as the “rich soil” onto which the seed, the preaching of the Gospel, falls, and not only does a full-grown plant result, but this plant will produce abundant fruit.  We should understand grace as accompanying the hearing of the Lord’s preaching, for without grace nothing happens.  We might think of grace as the water that falls upon the seed that lay on the “rich soil”, the person who sincerely desires the truth and is open to it.  This plant is said to “bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold”.  Why does the Lord not simply say, “thirty-fold”, why these extra numbers?  Because believers have the varying levels of abilities, a limited number of years to exercise those abilities.  Some grow quickly in faith and virtue while others grow at a slower pace.  Some have greater zeal than others.  Some overcome obstacles more nimbly than others.  The main point is that all who would belong to Jesus Christ should bear fruit, bringing others to him through good example, opportune words, and especially prayer.