Readings: Ezekiel 17:22-24; Psalm 92; 2 Corinthians 5:6-10; Mark 4:26-34
Grace and peace to you my dear brothers and sisters in the Lord.
After prayerfully going through the readings of today, I sense that the Holy Spirit has these messages for us.
A.Knowing our sphere of influence.
I know many of us know the prayer called the Serenity Prayer. It is a prayer written by an American theologian named Reinhold Niebuhr. The prayer goes thus;
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.
There are some things in life that we can change and God has called us to change, there are some things that we can only do our best, only God can change in His way, at His time and according to His will. Unless we have the wisdom and discernment to know the difference, we may find life very frustrating.
In the first reading, the Lord says it is I who will do this and that, I will cause this and that to happen, only God can make some things happen.
Let me speak to someone who is used to being in control, who likes to fix people and things, who is frustrated that you can’t fix, change or control a situation, maybe you just need to know your limit, your sphere of influence.
Some of us are so much frustrated and bitter about a/our family member whom we want to return to the faith, some of us are beating ourselves because we have not succeeded in reversing a situation, ending a conflict in the family, we are angry because a family member dies and we are blaming ourselves for not saving them or for not doing more than we did, perhaps that will save them from death, we are blaming ourselves that our child or spouse is an alcoholic or our child is attracted to same-sex, we are unhappy because we can not solve someone’s problem or the problems of everyone in our family.
Some of us blame ourselves wrongly, we think we could have changed things if we did more, someone won’t have died, things could have been different if we did more.
While this may be true in some instances, in many cases, it is not. God will not blame us for what He didn’t give us control over and even if we did less than we think we should, God is still merciful and He can right our wrongs.
THE GOSPEL
In the Gospel, Jesus compares the kingdom to a seed that a man sows. A man sows the seed, God gives the growth.
Ours is to sow the seed, we have no power over how and when they grow.
In 1 Corinthians 3:6-7, Paul says He sowed, Apollos watered but God gives the growth.
Some of us after sowing, we want to do the watering and control the sprouting of the seed as well.
We can only do what God has given us the grace and permission to do, we must take a step back, understand that there are certain things we can’t control only God can.
Some of us find it difficult to even surrender to God because we want to be the ones to work everything out in our own ways. When we are forced to see that we are limited, we become broken.
We need the wisdom to know the difference between what we can change and what only God can, we need the wisdom to surrender to God what we can’t control, we need the grace to be patient with God and find peace while He does His work.
Lesson two
When a man sows, the seed sprout and grows and later the crop is ready for harvest.
Living is seeding. Every choice we make in life and how we live our lives can be compared to sowing. When we sow we shall reap. A person who is kind to others, who cherishes his/her family, who sows positivity, honours God, cares for his/her parents, who nurtures no evil against anyone but helps those he/she could, such a person is sowing.
Sometimes it is something small that is within our control, the seed we have is small, what we have is just a mustard seed, our gifts, kindness, resources are little, let us not complain, we just have to sow the little we have. God blesses and increases little things.
For a person who oppresses others, abuses the innocent, who is unkind to people, who is self-centred, a person who is unfaithful in marriage or vocation to the priesthood or religious life, someone who treats the parents with disrespect, who makes others sad and miserable, someone who treats God as secondary, such a person is also sowing.
In the second reading, St Paul says that each of us will get what we deserve for the things we sow whether good or bad.
Dear friends, let us be careful of what we sow, if we have been sowing bad seeds, the good news is that God can change things if we turn to Him and promise to make a change. If we are sowing good seeds and it seems our effort is wasted, do not be discouraged, sooner or later, we shall realise that it pays to sow goodness, the reward will be in time and eternity.
Sermon preached by Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Baraka-Gukena Okami on June 13, 2021