20260128 THE MYSTERY OF GOD’S GRACE AT WORK IN OUR LIVES
28 January 2026, Wednesday, 3rd Week in Ordinary Time
First reading | 2 Samuel 7:4-17 |
'Your house and sovereignty will stand secure'
The word of the Lord came to Nathan:
‘Go and tell my servant David, “Thus the Lord speaks: Are you the man to build me a house to dwell in? I have never stayed in a house from the day I brought the Israelites out of Egypt until today, but have always led a wanderer’s life in a tent. In all my journeying with the whole people of Israel, did I say to any one of the judges of Israel, whom I had appointed as shepherds of Israel my people: Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” This is what you must say to my servant David, “The Lord of Hosts says this: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be leader of my people Israel; I have been with you on all your expeditions; I have cut off all your enemies before you. I will give you fame as great as the fame of the greatest on earth. I will provide a place for my people Israel; I will plant them there and they shall dwell in that place and never be disturbed again; nor shall the wicked continue to oppress them as they did, in the days when I appointed judges over my people Israel; I will give them rest from all their enemies. The Lord will make you great; the Lord will make you a House. And when your days are ended and you are laid to rest with your ancestors, I will preserve the offspring of your body after you and make his sovereignty secure. (It is he who shall build a house for my name, and I will make his royal throne secure for ever.) I will be a father to him and he a son to me; if he does evil, I will punish him with the rod such as men use, with strokes such as mankind gives. Yet I will not withdraw my favour from him, as I withdrew it from your predecessor. Your House and your sovereignty will always stand secure before me and your throne be established for ever.”’
Nathan related all these words to David and this whole revelation.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 88(89):4-5,27-30 |
I will keep my love for him always.
I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to David my servant:
I will establish your dynasty for ever
and set up your throne through all ages.
I will keep my love for him always.
He will say to me: You are my father,
my God, the rock who saves me.
And I will make him my first-born,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
I will keep my love for him always.
I will keep my love for him always;
with him my covenant shall last.
I will establish his dynasty for ever,
make his throne endure as the heavens.
I will keep my love for him always.
Gospel Acclamation | 1S3:9,Jn6:68 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Speak, Lord, your servant is listening:
you have the message of eternal life.
Alleluia!
Or: |
Alleluia, alleluia!
The seed is the word of God, Christ the sower;
whoever finds this seed will remain for ever.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Mark 4:1-20 |
The parable of the sower
Jesus began to teach by the lakeside, but such a huge crowd gathered round him that he got into a boat on the lake and sat there. The people were all along the shore, at the water’s edge. He taught them many things in parables, and in the course of his teaching he said to them, ‘Listen! Imagine a sower going out to sow. Now it happened that, as he sowed, some of the seed fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some seed fell on rocky ground where it found little soil and sprang up straightaway, because there was no depth of earth; and when the sun came up it was scorched and, not having any roots, it withered away. Some seed fell into thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it produced no crop. And some seeds fell into rich soil and, growing tall and strong, produced crop; and yielded thirty, sixty, even a hundredfold.’ And he said, ‘Listen, anyone who has ears to hear!’
When he was alone, the Twelve, together with the others who formed his company, asked what the parables meant. He told them, ‘The secret of the kingdom of God is given to you, but to those who are outside everything comes in parables, so that they may see and see again, but not perceive; may hear and hear again, but not understand; otherwise they might be converted and be forgiven.’
He said to them, ‘Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables? What the sower is sowing is the word. Those on the edge of the path where the word is sown are people who have no sooner heard it than Satan comes and carries away the word that was sown in them. Similarly, those who receive the seed on patches of rock are people who, when first they hear the word, welcome it at once with joy. But they have no root in them, they do not last; should some trial come, or some persecution on account of the word, they fall away at once. Then there are others who receive the seed in thorns. These have heard the word, but the worries of this world, the lure of riches and all the other passions come in to choke the word, and so it produces nothing. And there are those who have received the seed in rich soil: they hear the word and accept it and yield a harvest, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.’
THE MYSTERY OF GOD’S GRACE AT WORK IN OUR LIVES
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [2 SM 7:4-17; PS 89:4-5,27-30; MK 4:1-20]
We are all called to build the House of God and to establish His kingdom on earth. This is the theme of today’s Scripture readings. The parable of the Sower speaks of the call to sow the seeds of the Kingdom. Like the disciples and the apostles of our Lord, we go about proclaiming the Good News through our words and deeds. In the same way, David had the intention of building a House for God, partly out of gratitude for what the Lord had done for him, and partly out of a sense of unease that he was living in a palace while the Lord dwelt in a tent. As the king said to the prophet Nathan, “See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent” (2 Sm 7:2).
The danger for us is that we may be wrongly motivated when we serve the Lord. When our service originates from a position of strength, we can allow pride to take control of what we do. In the case of King David, he thought that he could return the Lord’s favour by building Him a house. So too, for some of us, when we serve the Lord, we think we are being generous by giving our time, resources, and service to the Lord and His people. Unfortunately, this is how many people feel when they serve in Church ministries and humanitarian organisations, whether as full-time or part-time volunteers. As a consequence, when their service is not appreciated or recognised, or when their way of doing things is not accepted by others, they resign and leave with resentment, and often in spite. The truth is that when we think we are the donor, we assume the right to call the shots, expecting others to be grateful and to submit to us.
Precisely, the Parable of the Sower is told not so much to explain why different people respond to the Word of God in different ways, but to give encouragement to the sowers of the seed, reminding them that receptivity to the Word of God is ultimately a matter of God’s grace. It is not so much due to our hard work that people respond to the Word of God. We can work very hard for the Kingdom of God and for the spread of the Gospel, but we should not be surprised when our hard work alone does not necessarily guarantee success in bringing about the conversion of hearts. There are many factors involved in enabling the hearer to receive the Word of God. We may have the best and most eloquent teachers and preachers, and yet the message may still not be well received.
This is because much depends on the circumstances in which and the time at which the Word of God is preached. The truth is that we do not all share the same circumstances that make it possible, or easier, for us to hear and receive the Word of God. We all come from different backgrounds, upbringings, challenges, opportunities, and capacities. The image of seed falling on different kinds of soil shows precisely that many factors are beyond our control. It is not within our power to decide where we are born or the circumstances we are given in order to receive the Word of God. As the parable says, when the sower sows the seed, “some of the seed fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some seed fell on rocky ground where it found little soil and sprang up straightaway, because there was no depth of earth; and when the sun came up it was scorched and, not having any roots, it withered away. Some seed fell into thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it produced no crop. And some seed fell into rich soil and, growing tall and strong, produced a crop and yielded thirty, sixty, even a hundredfold.”
Indeed, the receptivity of the Word of God depends on the soil–that is, the capacity of the person to hear the Word of God–as well as the external challenges he or she must face, such as the weather, the heat, the thorns and weeds, and the pests. This is how the Lord explained to His disciples the different levels of receptivity to the Word of God. Accordingly, “Those on the edge of the path where the word is sown are people who, no sooner have they heard it, than Satan comes and carries away the word that was sown in them. Similarly, those who receive the seed on patches of rock are people who, when they first hear the word, welcome it at once with joy. But they have no root in them; they do not last. Should some trial come, or some persecution on account of the word, they fall away at once. Then there are others who receive the seed in thorns. These have heard the word, but the worries of this world, the lure of riches, and all other passions come in to choke the word, and so it produces nothing.” All of us, too, receive the Word under different circumstances and situations in life.
In other words, life itself is a gift, as are many of our talents and resources. Our health, our wealth, our opportunities, our family, our teachers, and our friends are all given to us. We do not determine where we are born or who will enter our lives. Of course, this is not to say that our efforts and cooperation do not matter–they certainly do. The capacity to hear the Word also depends on the docility of the recipient, even though this capacity is influenced by the conditions surrounding the person, as well as by his or her intelligence, availability, and faith. But even before we can begin to cooperate, these factors must already be present; otherwise, we cannot even make a choice. Consequently, we must not be arrogant in thinking that if we are good and holy, if we know our faith well, or if we know the Lord, it is solely due to our hard work, generosity, or receptivity. It is equally dependent on the grace of God, who provides all these means. If there is anything we should feel, it is gratitude and humility–for the grace of God at work in our lives, for the opportunities to hear, and for the capacity to receive the Word of God.
This is the same message given to King David when he thought he was being magnanimous in wanting to build a House for God. The Lord told the prophet to say to David, “Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? I have never stayed in a house from the day I brought the Israelites out of Egypt until today, but have always led a wanderer’s life in a tent. In all my journeying with the whole people of Israel, did I ever say to any one of the judges of Israel, whom I had appointed as shepherds of my people: ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?'” The truth is that the Lord is self-sufficient. He does not depend on us for anything; rather, we depend on Him for everything. God is content to be with us and for His people. He journeys with us and walks with us. He does not dwell in man-made dwellings, for the universe itself is His dwelling place. The Lord said to David, “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be leader of my people Israel; I have been with you on all your expeditions; I have cut off all your enemies before you.”
He is a God of surprises and a God of grace. Instead of our providing for Him, He provides for us. He told David, “I will give you fame as great as the fame of the greatest on earth. I will provide a place for the people of Israel; I will give them rest from all their enemies. The Lord will make you great; the Lord will make you a House. And when your days are ended and you are laid to rest with your ancestors, I will preserve the offspring of your body after you and make his sovereignty secure.”
But the Scripture readings are not addressed only to the recipients of the Word of God; they are also addressed to the sowers. If we become frustrated or disillusioned because of failures, we must realise that not all failure is due to our fault or lack of competence, but also to how the recipients receive the grace of God. Grace is the beginning and the end of all that we do. This is the ultimate mystery we must learn from the parable about the growth of the Kingdom of God. Jesus said, “The secret of the kingdom of God is given to you, but to those who are outside everything comes in parables, so that they may see and see again, but not understand; otherwise they might be converted and be forgiven.” Only those who are humble enough to accept the grace of God will understand the mystery of His kingdom. So long as we think we can control our lives, God will humble the arrogant and the proud of heart. We must rely on God’s fidelity to us. As He said, “I will keep my love for him always; with him my covenant shall last. I will establish his dynasty forever, make his throne endure as the heavens.” Those of us who remain receptive to His grace are “those who have received the seed in rich soil: they hear the word, accept it, and yield a harvest–thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”
Best Practices for Using the Daily Scripture Reflections
- Encounter God through the spirit of prayer and the scripture by reflecting and praying the Word of God daily. The purpose is to bring you to prayer and to a deeper union with the Lord on the level of the heart.
- Daily reflections when archived will lead many to accumulate all the reflections of the week and pray in one sitting. This will compromise your capacity to enter deeply into the Word of God, as the tendency is to read for knowledge rather than a prayerful reading of the Word for the purpose of developing a personal and affective relationship with the Lord.
- It is more important to pray deeply, not read widely. The current reflections of the day would be more than sufficient for anyone who wants to pray deeply and be led into an intimacy with the Lord.
Note: You may share this reflection with someone. However, please note that reflections are not archived online nor will they be available via email request.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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