Wednesday – 3rd Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel – Mark 4:1-20

Potato – Potaaaho!

Mount of the Beatitudes

I admit it!  Despite living in the country for a good chunk of my life, if I were a full-time farmer, I would quickly die of starvation.  These days my only farming experience consists of harvesting zucchini – no muss, no fuss!  The only time I ever actually farmed – from planting to harvesting – happened when I was in 4H and my brother George and I tried growing potatoes.  It did not go well!

We planted ‘seed’ potatoes and then we just waited!  I don’t remember watering the ground or weeding, much less making any sort of daily check on the progress, or lack thereof!  When it was finally time to dig up the crop (thanks to Dad alerting us), it was a meager harvest.  Many of the potatoes were unusable because we ‘skewered’ them, trying to dig them up with the pitchfork.  What few were left, we gave (sold) to Dad to sell in the store.  I think we expected a great bounty of cash for our ‘hard work’.  Unfortunately, once Dad subtracted the cost of the original seed potatoes and other items, we each earned a total of about 50 cents – which we immediately spent on ice cream and candy.  Thus ends my farming life!

I have to wonder about the farming skills of the sower in today’s Gospel. I mean he must be the worst Sower ever.  He scatters seed everywhere!  He seems to have no concern where it lands or how much seed he has.  He is wasting seed left and right!  No Sower in their right mind would waste precious seed like that.  A real sower would be careful, maybe even individually placing seeds in the rich soil to get the best results!  But not this guy!  He throws it everywhere as if he doesn’t have a care in the world.  Just get the job done and leave!

Or maybe not!  Maybe the Sower (God) is not so much wasteful in His efforts but extravagant in His love!  Maybe the message here is that God loves every single one of us; He wants all of us to hear His Word and respond!  Maybe this is a lesson of how boundless God’s love and generosity is for us!

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