Reflection for Sunday – July 12, 2026

Marilyn CatherineSunday Readings Homilies

Readings:  Isaiah 55:10-11; Romans; 8: 18-23; Matthew 13:1-23 
Preacher: Marilyn Catherine

Why parables indeed? Good question, Disciples; I was wondering the same thing.  Often the parable is more confounding than enlightening.

Am I one of the blockheads Jesus is describing in the parable of the Sower and the Seed? If I lived in Israel in Jesus’ era the image he uses would be familiar. Because it is recognizable it would give me an immediate personal connection. The parable is an engaging teaching tool.  But it’s additionally important because a concrete description will stick in our minds much longer than an abstract idea.  The concrete image Jesus paints acts as a gateway into layers of more complex and nuanced meaning. They appear to be plain and simple but parables are the ultimate example of simple is not simple.  We are drawn to ponder behind the scenes and engage in a deepening understanding of the massive truth at its heart.  

In Matthew chapter 13, a crowd has gathered on the shore of Galilee eager to hear what Jesus has to say. What follows are seven parables related to the Kingdom beginning with The Sower and the Seed, which, in essence, is a primer on the motions and notions of hearing and how it is that human beings so often fail to actually listen.  When we fail to focus our intent, to actively pay attention, to take in and make the effort to understand and absorb meaning, the “simple” Truth is lost on us.  When Jesus responded to the disciples’ question, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” he lets them know there is more to his story than meets the ear.  

When we (the “them”) begin listening, the parable of the Sower and the Seed can be heard as an invitation to self-examination:  

Am I conscious of the paths my thoughts take?  Is my mindset so well-trodden it has become lifeless? Has it made my heart impenetrably hard so that what is precious yet deemed unacceptable flies off on the wings of excuses? Have I forgotten what excites me? What gives me joy?  Do I appreciate The Giver and the gifts I’ve been given?  Am I rooted in God’s promise? Do I nourish hope?

Do I notice what is life-giving? Am I preoccupied in a tangle of worries?  Choked by misdirected desires? Do I exercise critical thinking and prayerful discernment?  Do I need to weed out fruitless pursuits that sap my energy?  

Good listening, like rich soil, has a well-balanced capacity to receive, take root, and support a dynamic harmonious relationship where Godlife can thrive beyond measure.  

The aim of a parable goes beyond thinking to enter imagination—to attach to feelings—to upturn perspective and induce transformation.  The more I engage and ponder this parable the more I come to focus on, and find peace and joy in, the image of the Sower broadcasting the seed. How delightful and comforting to imagine Our Sower flinging precious seed with wide sweeping motions.   God doesn’t meticulously, mechanically place the seed in straight furrows of only the most fertile acreage.  The Goodness of God is planted and flourishes in innumerable and miraculous ways. There’s fragrance in the rose that grows in the briar patch.  Desert soil yields the aloe vera plant and its healing balm. A miniature daisy growing out of a sidewalk crack has the power to amaze.

With each news bite we hear these days we encounter the hard and thorny reality of a dirt-poor world.  We suffer from painful contractions of civil discourse and quality of life for so many.  We would do well to remind ourselves—what is the life we are groaning for?  The good news is that the kingdom of God is a vast harmonious cosmic ecosystem Our Sower seeds and nourishes with broad ranging and lavish stokes of divine love, and with the utmost confidence in its fruitful return.

So let us set ourselves to the labor of growing and bearing God’s sacred will.  We can begin by listening well, intently and deeply, for the grain of Truth in each voice we hear—for God’s presence in each person’s story—for God’s word in Nature—unveiling the Wondrous Word a simple ordinary life can proclaim.

Marilyn Catherine
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