Today we have the shorter version of the Gospel heard at Mass on Sunday.
Jesus left the house and sat by the lakeside, but such large crowds gathered round him that he got into a boat and sat there. The people all stood on the beach, and he told them many things in parables.
He said, ‘Imagine a sower going out to sow. As he sowed, some seeds fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on patches of rock where they found little soil and sprang up straight away, because there was no depth of earth; but as soon as the sun came up they were scorched and, not having any roots, they withered away. Others fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Others fell on rich soil and produced their crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Listen, anyone who has ears!’
Matthew 13:1-9
Many homilies on this gospel become moralising, quizzing us on what sort of soil are we to receive the seed that is the word of God.
The question is worth pondering, but too often the answer is rather depressing and does not necessarily lead us anywhere.
It is interesting, at least, that Jesus does not say ‘Imagine the soil in a field…’, though of course he does suggest various types of soil and their consequence for the seed scattered on it.
He says ‘Imagine a sower going out to sow…’
Who is the sower who sows the seed that is the word of God in our lives? He is no hired hand, in for the day on a bit of piece work. He is the living God who seeks to plant the word more and more deeply in our lives, that it may flourish and bear fruit, every day of our lives.
When the soil of our hearts is hardened, surely it is mostly he that resorts to the spade to turn it over, and make it more fitting. When there are weeds, he’s down there trying to clear the ground, when its right to do so, but when the time is not right, biding his time. The sower who becomes the gardener will appreciate a little help from us, of course, a little cooperation. But sometimes we are so flattened by life, so distracted by a thousand things: he does not then abandon us to our own devices, he is the sower who longs to see even our poor soil be restored to what it is intended for.
- When/how has God tended to the soil of your life?
- What fruit does the word of God bear in your life?