The Gospel/Word of God will always meet with a mixed response. The Parable of the Sower could very well be Jesus' own reflection on the failure of his mission to the people as a whole. Most of the Jews refused his message, some were perhaps attracted for a time; only a few accepted whole-heartdly, but in these few his joy was complete: a hundredfold, in fact!

There is confidence and optimism in the powerful and fruitful working of the seed which, at first sight, appears to be fragile and threatened, but later produced much desired crop.The nature of the Kingdom is perfectly captured in this parable. God is ever liberal in the way he scatters his gifts - rain that falls to the ground and does not return empty!

The seeds that fall on good soil return a "hundredfold".The followers of Jesus might easily have been shaken and begun to turn away from following Jesus.To those who remained faithful the sower is given as an example; for even though some seed is lost the sower is not discouraged because he is sure that some will produce a bountiful harvest!

To have confidence in the spread of God's Kingdom in these difficult times; to persevere inspite of opposition is our challenge. Trusting in God we carry on spreading the Word, enthusiastically giving ourselves, in spite of what appears to be meagre results!

Only God gives the increase (1 Cor. 3:6); we give our all!