NOTES for Mar 4:1-9

In their polemic against believers, atheists often use various statistical data as an argument. For example, they compare the number of believers according to surveys in academies and universities with the percentage of believers in the country as a whole, and show that the first figure is much smaller than the second. This, they say, proves that faith belongs to uneducated people. The parable the Lord tells us in today's Gospel reading shows the absurdity of calculations of this kind. The small seed, insignificant and unnoticeable... many like it perish, but when placed in gracious soil it bears fruit many, many times greater than itself.

In ancient times, a sevenfold harvest was considered very large, while Christ speaks of a thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and hundredfold harvest. Many think this is hyperbole typical of the language of parables. Maybe so. But it may also testify to how different the laws of the spirit are from the laws of material nature, and how much more grace-filled and blessed they are. Think about it: at our origins stand one Christ and twelve people. And how many of us are there now! Then thirty and sixty and a hundred will seem to you not an exaggeration, but a modest understatement.