Mt 13:1-9
That same day, Jesus left the house and sat down by the lakeside. Many people gathered around him. So he got into a boat, and sat down, while the crowds stood on the shore; and he spoke to them in parables about many things.
Jesus said, “The sower went out to sow; and, as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path; and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where there was little soil, and the seeds sprouted quickly, because the soil was not deep. But as soon as the sun rose, the plants were scorched; and they withered, because they had no roots. Again, other seeds fell among thistles; and the thistles grew and choked the plants. Still, other seeds fell on good soil and produced a crop: some a hundredfold, others sixty, and others thirty. If you have ears, then hear!”
REFLECTION
When God called Moses to become the leader of his people and charged him with the mission of bringing the people out of the land of Egypt into a land of freedom, Moses was far from enthusiastic about his mission. In fact, he raised not less than six objections to God’s plan (his age, among others, because he was already 80 years old at the time). Yet God overruled all his objections by telling him: “I will be with you.”
God reassured with the same words, “I will be with you,” many great figures of the Old Testament who were overwhelmed by God’s plans on them: Joshua (Dt 31:23), Gideon (Jgs 6:12), Solomon (1 K 11:38), the general Johanan (Jer 42:11), the people of Israel (Jer 46:28), Zerubbabel (Hag 1:13; 2:4), the Church (Mt 28:20), Mary (Lk 1:28), Paul (Acts 18:10).
In today’s first reading, God again overrules Jeremiah’s objection that he is too young and is not gifted as an orator to become a prophet by the words “I will be with you.”
God does not change. All of us are charged by him with a great mission. If we feel unequal to the responsibility he entrusts us with, let us remember that, through it all, he shall always be at our side.
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