There is a story told about an Irish pastor in a small town in Ireland who one morning was making his usual rounds through its streets. His name was Fr. Murphy. In short order, he came upon Mr. O’Reilly, who had recently purchased a home and was working in his garden, to which the previous owner had not tended for years. Fr. Murphy took a minute to admire the garden and said to Mr. O’Reilly, “Well, Mr. O’Reilly, I must say, you and God have done a marvelous job bringing this garden back to life. Mr. O’Reilly, immediately shot back, “But Father, what do you mean, ‘me and God’ brought this garden back to life?” Father Murphy said, “I simply mean that I think it is wonderful how you and God are working together on this project.” Mr. O’Reilly then retorted, “Well pardon, me, Father, but do you remember this garden when only God was tending to it?”
I suppose that Mr. O’Reilly’s point should be well taken. His effort certainly was integral to the success of his garden. He planted the seeds, and he tended to them by cultivating and watering them, etc. But he did not make them grow. God did that. And God did that without Mr. O’Reilly ever knowing how he did it. Mr. O’Reilly’s hard work and effort was totally based on his faith that somehow God was going to make growth happen. In our Gospel today, Jesus makes the point that we need to approach our faith and the Kingdom of God in the same way that we approach tending to our gardens and so much else that we do in our daily lives. We are to do the work, we are to plant the seeds, to water them, to cultivate them etc. and trust that God will provide the growth without us needing to know how He does it-just that He will and that he will do so according to what is best for our spiritual growth, for our salvation.