Gospel Reflection on Matthew 11:1-23

July 12, 2026

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat there; and the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched; and since they had no root they withered away. Other seeds fell upon thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.”

Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to him who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which says:

‘You shall indeed hear but never understand,

and you shall indeed see but never perceive.

For this people’s heart has grown dull,

and their ears are heavy of hearing,

and their eyes they have closed,

lest they should perceive with their eyes,

and hear with their ears,

and understand with their heart,

and turn for me to heal them.’

But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

“Hear then the parable of the sower. When any one hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in his heart; this is what was sown along the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the delight in riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is he who hears the word and understands it; he indeed bears fruit, and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

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If we have eyes to see, nature is teeming with life: fertile, overabundant, even wasteful; why else do we have 90% more brain cells than we need? And why is nature scattering billions of seeds all over the planet every second?

If life is so prodigal, what does that say about God, the author of life?

God, as we see both in nature and in our own story, is overly generous, overly lavish, overly extravagant, overly patient. If nature and experience are to be believed, God is the absolute opposite of everything that's stingy, miserly, frugal, calculating.

We see that in the parable of the sower. God goes out to sow and he scatters his seed generously, almost wastefully, everywhere. On the road, among the rocks and thorns, bad soil, rich soil. No farmer would ever do this. Who would waste seed on soil that can never produce a harvest? God doesn't ask that question, but simply keeps scattering his seed everywhere without calculating whether it's a good investment or not. And it seems God has an infinite number of seeds to scatter.

If we look back in our lives and are honest, we have to admit that of all the invitations God has sent us, we've probably accepted and acted on only a fraction of them. There have been countless times we've turned away. For every invitation to maturity we've accepted, we turn down a hundred.

The comfort is that no matter how many of God's invitations we ignore, there will always be more to come. New ones awaiting us each moment.

Jesus tells the story of the sower to encourage us to keep going even when we can't see the fruits of our labors. 'Keep on planting,' he says; 'be bold, sow lots of seeds, even if many seem to die.'

He's telling us a story to give us hope that this deeper spiritual growth for others will be our experience too. We may never know what seeds we've sown. Each of us can point to ways in which seeds sown in our lives have borne fruit later on. Whether it was a word spoken to us at the right time, a book, an opportunity given, or words of encouragement from someone else, all of us can remember things that have changed the course of our life.

Often that growth happens in secret. It might take years to come to fruition. God works patiently like the seed coming to fruition in the darkness of the soil, bringing it into the everyday life. We want to see the results instantly, but often we have to wait a long time. While the planting is bold, the growth is not sudden, but takes place slowly. What matters is how open we are and what nourishment we bring. What soil do we offer the seeds God has planted in our lives, regardless of who they are, where they came from, how they got there? To receive them, God asks us to let go of some things, and love asks us to let go often. We have to stop defending our little corner before the Word of God. It is better to say with Mary, 'Let it be done to me according to your word.' This summer, may we welcome the Word that comes to us without so much resistance.

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https://youtu.be/t6RKJvxyOPQ