Reflection - Seeds

By Steve Hall

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091920.cfm
1 Corinthians 15:35-37, 42-49
Luke 8:4-15

You may or may not remember Johnny Carson. He was the host of a late night TV talk show for thirty years. Among his more notable creations was that of Karnak the Magnificent. In the regularly recurring sketch, Carson would appear from behind the curtain with a large feathered turban and a flowing cape. His sidekick, Ed McMahon, would inform the audience that Karnak would psychically ‘divine’ the answers to questions that had been hermetically sealed, each in its own envelope, and stored in an empty mayonnaise jar that had been locked in a closet in Funk and Wagnell’s basement. 

Karnak, the ‘mystic from the east,’ would then proceed to draw a sealed envelope from the mayonnaise jar, hold it to his forehead and then answer the question sealed inside the envelope. Most bordered on the inane. For example: Answer - “Scalli-wags” Question - “What does your scalli do when it’s happy?”

We’ll return to Karnak in a minute.

In the current Gospel reading, Jesus both tells and explains the parable of the sower. In the course of his explanation we hear that the seed is the Word of God. Then we are told that the outcome for the seed which fell on the footpath describes “the ones who have heard [the Word of God], but the Devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts.” 

The fate of the seed that fell among thorns is comparable to “the ones who have heard [the Word of God], but as they go along, they are choked by the anxieties and riches and pleasures of life.” The consequence for the seed that fell on rocky ground is seen in the lives of those “who, when they hear, receive the word with joy, but they have no root; and it [the seedling] withers.”

When Jesus told the parable he was speaking to a people who believed in God. Moreover, they were a people who believed in the active presence of God in the world and who expected to hear God’s Word both in the Scriptures and through holy men like the prophets. The current diversity of thought in matters divine would not have occurred to them. Consequently, I’m going to be so bold as to suggest that the circumstances of modern times provide a new way of receiving the Word. 

That new and modern way images the seed falling into the hands of a traveler. The traveler sees the Word, finds it different and unique, perhaps even a curious artifact, so he places it in an envelope which is hermetically sealed and then stored in a mayonnaise jar that is subsequently locked in a closet in Funk and Wagnell’s basement. From time to time he may retrieve from the shelf the curiosity he has so carefully preserved, turning it over and over, examining it and wondering whether it might benefit him and if so, how. He seldom looks inside. His familiarity with the relic of a previous age is cursory at best and has little to contribute to his life. Soon the relic is returned to its envelope, its jar, its closet, its basement.

In the meantime the traveler continues his struggles with life, going about the business of being a father or mother, a laborer or a professional, a spouse, a friend, a neighbor and a citizen. His life is governed by approval — family, friends, society, or his own. He carries with him a mishmash of platitudes learned in his youth, neither knowing where the dictums came from nor wondering why they seem to so accurately express common truths. Maybe they originated in Aesop’s Fables or Poor Richard’s Almanac. 

In any case, he is prone to pick and choose from among the written wisdom of men while the seed — the curiosity, the Word — lies securely hidden and well protected, only being retrieved as an object for display or as something suitable for a class in literature. Maybe the traveler attempts to himself be the Mystic from the East and utilizes the old high school/college perplexing practice of placing the item under his mattress (or by his bedside table) in the mistaken belief that he can absorb its knowledge while he sleeps.

Where does the seed fall? It doesn’t fall on Church or Synagogue floors. It falls on the earth. It falls on the nitty, gritty part of life. It falls on the very ground where we live.

If all this sounds peculiar, that’s because it is. Karnak was given the questions in sealed envelopes. He was only asked to reveal the answers. We, on the other hand, have all the questions. The answers are what we’ve been given; and they’re not in sealed envelopes.

They even come with a spiritual guide if one is requested.

B rief
I nstructions
B efore
L eaving
E arth