---

PRAYER FOR THE WEEK
Jesus, help me to be a "seed that falls on good ground!" Amen.

Jesus told a story: "A farmer went out to plant seeds. Some seeds fell on the path and birds ate them. Some fell on rocky ground and grew quickly, then died because they didn't have deep roots. Some fell into weeds, where they grew but then got smothered by the weeds and died. But some seeds fell on good ground and gave huge crops." He finished by saying, "Whoever has ears, hear this."

Telling jokes takes practice. Little kids think they're telling a good joke when they repeat part of one, but they aren't even making sense! As you get older, you learn that many good jokes work their way up to the punchline - the ending, the line that's funny.

Stories can work the same way. In this week's Gospel (Matthew 13:1-23), Jesus tells a story like you tell a joke: by working His way up to the good part.

A good joke often starts with people trying to do something and failing, or making a wish that backfires and turns out to be something they didn't want. In the Gospel story, Jesus talks about seeds - the "seeds" or beginnings of faith - that way.

Some seeds never grow, He says, like some people never even hear about God. Some seeds grow quickly but die, like faith in God that crashes when a person is disappointed or doesn't understand what God is thinking. Some seeds grow but get choked by weeds, like people who change their minds about believing in God.

Then Jesus delivers the punchline: Though many seeds don't grow, some do. Some people believe in God and choose to follow Jesus and stick with it - and the "crop" they deliver is huge, because one person's faith always affects other people.

It's easy to imagine Jesus telling good jokes. He knew how to tell a good story - and, at the same time, to remind people to keep the faith![[In-content Ad]]

---