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Wednesday – Third Week – OT1
Readings: Heb 10:11-18; Mk 4:1-20.
1/ First Reading (Heb 10:11-18): Every priest stands daily at his ministry, offering frequently those same sacrifices that can never take away sins. But this one offered one sacrifice for sins, and took his seat forever at the right hand of God; now he waits until his enemies are made his footstool. For by one offering he has made perfect forever those who are being consecrated.
The Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying: This is the covenant I will establish with them after those days, says the Lord: “I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them upon their minds,” he also says: Their sins and their evildoing I will remember no more.
Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer offering for sin.
2/ Gospel (Mk 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.”
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I. THEME: God’s words have the potential to give unlimited profits for people.
Our ancestor used to teach us that to be successful we must have all three elements: providential timing, earthly advantage, and concord among people. Or there must be four right things: right person, right product, right time, and right place. If there is lacking one of these four things, one shall not be successful nor achieve a desired result.
Today readings emphasize the collaboration between God and human beings. In the first reading, the author of the Letter to the Hebrews compares the sacrifices’ effectiveness between the Old and the New Covenant. According to him, the New Covenant and Christ’s sacrifice are more effective than the Old Covenant and people’s sacrifices. In the Gospel, Jesus compares God’s words as seeds of wheat; they have unlimited potential to yield fruits; but to yield, they depend on the place which seeds are sowed in.
II. ANALYSIS:
1/ First Reading: “Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer offering for sin.”
1.1/ The effects of Christ’s sacrifice: The author described the Old Testament’s system of sacrifice as follow: “Every priest stands daily at his ministry, offering frequently those same sacrifices that can never take away sins.” These can be seen what happened in the Temple: the priests must offer two lambs or sheep daily, one in the morning and one in the evening; not counting yet the killing of animals in the Day of Atonement every year by the High Priest.
The author also described Christ’s sacrifice as follows: “But this one offered one sacrifice for sins and took his seat forever at the right hand of God; now he waits until his enemies are made his footstool. For by one offering he has made perfect forever those who are being consecrated.” Christ’s sacrifice can’t be repeated and also have no need to repeat because of its effectiveness.
1.2/ The effects of the Old and the New Covenant: The Old Covenant is the covenant which God established with the Israelites at Mt. Sinai through Moses, their mediator. The Old Covenant is written in the two stony tablets (the Ten Commandments). It has no perfect effect because it came from outside of people and gives them no power to keep perfectly the Ten Commandments. Because of this ineffectiveness, God promised with Jeremiah that He shall establish with people a New Covenant which Jeremiah described as follows: “31 See, days are coming—oracle of the Lord—when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. They broke my covenant, though I was their master—oracle of the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days—oracle of the Lord. I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 They will no longer teach their friends and relatives, “Know the Lord!” Everyone, from least to greatest, shall know me—oracle of the Lord—for I will forgive their iniquity and no longer remember their sin” (Jer. 31:31-34). The author of the Letter to the Hebrews also illustrated this New Covenant in his own words: “This is the covenant I will establish with them after those days, says the Lord: “I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them upon their minds,” he also says: Their sins and their evildoing I will remember no more. Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer offering for sin.”
2/ Gospel: The effect of God’s words depends on the places which seeds are sowed in.
Jesus’ parable aims at two main points: First, the seeds are God’s words, they have potential to yield fruits as many other seeds. Secondly, the places where the seeds are sowed in, are human minds; God’s words can yield fruits or not, and how many can they yield, depend on human effort.
2.1/ Four places which the seeds are sowed in:
(1) Along the path. Jesus said: “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.” He explained: “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.” They are indifferent type of people; they regard God’s words as unimportant in their life.
(2) Stony ground. Jesus said: “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.” He expalined: “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.” This type of people doesn’t spend time to deepen and to live God’s words; that is why they easily to give up God’s words after a short time.
(3) Thorny bush. Jesus said: “Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it and it produced no grain.” Jesus explained: “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.” This is the type of people who did not apply God’s words in their life; instead, they chase after fame, power, or satisfying their flesh.
(4) Fertile ground. Jesus said: “And some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit. It came up and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” Jesus explained: “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.” These are people listening, understanding, and applying God’s words in their life. Depending on the way they apply, they can bear thirty, sixty, or a hundredfold.
2.2/ The mystery of the Kingdom of heaven: 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.”
When people hear these words, they can reason that the mystery of the heavenly kingdom is only preserved for those who belong to God, and easily falling to predestination doctrine which believe that if God determines for anyone to be saved, he will be saved no matter what one does. Understanding as such is wrong because of the two following reasons:
(1) Mark quoted Isaiah 6:10 from LXX, but not the whole verse which said: “10 Make the heart of this people sluggish, dull their ears and close their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and their heart understand, and they turn and be healed.” One of differences is that the LXX used the verb at the passive voice for the first verb: “to sluggish” and wants people understanding as such for the next two verbs, “to dull and to close.” The use of passive verbs wants to say that those who are responsible are people, not God. The MT uses these verbs at the command voice which can be translated to English as follows: “Let go and say to this people that listen but do not understand, see but do not recognize. Make these people’s mind dull, their ears deaf, their eyes blind so their eyes will not see, their ears will not hear, their mind will not be understood, and they will not repent and to be healed.” The MT seems to impute the blame for God.
(2) Indeed, if we consider the whole Scriptures, this is only the Jewish way to express which they understand all things happened belong to God’s providence. However, if we consider experiences of both Isaiah and Jesus’ teachings, they tried to preach God’s words; but if people didn’t open their heart and mind to receive, their ears to listen, their eyes to see; how can they understand and live according to the preaching? And if they don’t understand, how can they yield fruits? This point is the goal which today passage aims at.
III. APPLICATION IN LIFE:
– God’s words have potential to yield unlimited result for people.
– God’s words can yield fruits or not depending completely on people’s attitude and their capacity to receive.
– We must prepare our souls to listen to God’s words, spend more time to study and to meditate them, and let them to guide all things in our life.