26 April 2027 · Syro-Malankara Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malabar Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering” Hebrews 12:22
Yesterday the Church remembered St Mark the Evangelist, and today, fittingly, the Gospel comes from his book. Jesus is teaching by the Sea of Galilee, and the crowd is so large that “he got into a boat on the sea and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land.” The boat becomes a pulpit. And his first word is a command: “Listen!” Then comes a story every farmer in Kerala would understand. “A sower went out to sow.” Some seed falls on the path and the birds eat it; some on rocky ground, where it springs up quickly but withers in the sun “since it had no root”; some among thorns, which choke it; and some “into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” The sower is generous to the point of seeming careless: he throws seed everywhere, even where it may not grow. So God scatters his word on every heart, never first asking whether we deserve it. The question the parable leaves with us is not about the sower, nor about the seed, which is always good, but about the soil. St Ephrem the Syrian, our own teacher in the Syriac tradition, marvelled that no one can grasp even one word of the Lord fully: we are like the thirsty who drink from a spring, and what we leave behind is far more than what we take (Commentary on the Diatessaron 1, in substance).
The Letter to the Hebrews tells us where that word is spoken most solemnly: in the worship of the Church. It sets two mountains side by side. The first is Sinai, where Israel received the Law: “a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them.” Even Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” The second mountain is the one we have come to: “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” This is a picture of the Holy Qurbono. When our Church celebrates the holy mysteries, the veil is drawn back and we stand with the angels and the saints, singing with the Seraphim, “Holy, holy, holy.” The blood of Abel cried out from the ground for vengeance; the blood of Jesus, offered on the Cross and made present on the altar, speaks a better word: mercy, forgiveness, peace.
Put the two readings together and a practical question appears: what kind of soil do we bring to the Qurbono? Some of us arrive like the path, trampled by a hurried week, and the word is gone before we reach the door. Some are like the rocky ground: moved for a moment by a good homily, but with no root of daily prayer. Many are like the thorny ground: we hear, but the worries of money, exams, health and phones grow up around the word and choke it. The remedy is simple and old. Come a few minutes early and be still. Read the Sunday Gospel at home on Saturday night. After the Qurbono, keep one sentence from the readings and repeat it through the week. In this Qyomtho season the risen Lord is still walking beside us and opening the Scriptures, as he did on the road to Emmaus. Give him good soil, and he promises a harvest: thirty, sixty and a hundredfold.
Theme: “You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God.”
On Monday of the fourth week after Qyomtho: the generous sower, the heavenly liturgy, and the soil of our hearts.
“When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance” Exodus 20:18
“For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption.” Romans 8:15
Apply: At your next Qurbono, when “Holy, holy, holy” is sung, remember that you are singing with the angels.
“On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.” Isaiah 25:6
“After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb” Revelation 7:9
Apply: Come to the Qurbono five minutes early this week and spend them in silence.
“so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:11
“welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.” James 1:21
Apply: Write one sentence from today's Gospel on a card and read it each morning this week.
God sows his word generously; the harvest depends on the soil we give it.
At the Holy Qurbono we come to Mount Zion, where the word is spoken and the Blood of Jesus speaks mercy.
Take-home resolution: Prepare the soil of your heart before every Qurbono, and keep one word from the readings all week.
Dear friends, Christ is risen! Yesterday we honoured St Mark, and today we hear his Gospel. Jesus sits in a boat and teaches the crowd on the shore. His first word is: Listen! A sower went out to sow (Mark 4:3).
The seed falls on the path, on rocky ground, among thorns, and on good soil. Only the good soil yields grain, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold (Mark 4:8). The sower throws seed everywhere. God gives his word to every heart. The question is not the seed, which is always good, but the soil.
Hebrews tells us where the word is sown most solemnly. We have not come to the fire and fear of Sinai. You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering (Hebrews 12:22), and to Jesus, whose sprinkled blood speaks a better word than the blood of Abel (Hebrews 12:24). That is the Holy Qurbono: heaven and earth singing together.
So let us prepare the soil. Read the Gospel before Sunday. Come early and be still. Keep one word from the readings all week. Pull out one thorn of worry by giving it to God in prayer. And the Lord promises a harvest. Let anyone with ears to hear listen! (Mark 4:9). Amen.
Children, Christ is risen! Have you ever planted a seed? Jesus told a story about a farmer who threw seeds everywhere. Birds ate some; some dried up on the rocks; some were choked by thorns. But the seeds on good soil grew big and tall! God's words are like seeds, and your heart is like the soil. When you listen in church and remember what you heard, your heart becomes good soil. This week, try to remember one thing Jesus said, and tell it to someone at home.
Lord Jesus Christ, sower of the word of life, you scatter your seed generously on every heart. Break up the hard paths of our hurry, give root to our good intentions, and pull out the thorns of worry that choke your word. Make us good soil, that we may bear fruit thirty, sixty and a hundredfold. You have brought us not to a mountain of fear but to Mount Zion, to the angels in festal gathering and to your sprinkled blood that speaks of mercy. Let us stand in awe and joy at your holy Qurbono. You live and reign for ever. Amen.