First Reading: Isaiah 55: 10 – 11;
Second Reading: Romans 8: 18 – 23;
Gospel: Matthew 13: 1 – 23
God reveals to us and communicates with us continuously through persons, works and situations. The word of God comes gently and is never intended to remain suspended like clouds in mid-air, but to soak the earth and to be drawn back toward God after completing its purpose. The Word of God is eternal Word without beginning or end. Today the Word of God is compared to seed that sprouts and brings forth new life. The farmer is aware that he has to prepare the ground, weed it and water it to produce good fruit. We are invited to sow the seed of the Gospel with our lives. In the Gospel of today we have the parable of the sower. The farmer goes out to sow the seed and it is placed in varying types of soil. A person who hears the word of God and understands it reaps a rich and fruitful harvest.
The yield depends on soil type: A good spiritual yield in life depends on how fully and willingly a person accepts and responds to the word of the Lord. God’s word never blossoms alongside greed, snobbishness, self-centredness, and love of the “easy life.” Christ is the sower, and while we desire to be good soil, we know there are times when we are shallow, like the depth of soil along the path. There are areas of rock in our lives where God’s word has not taken root, and there are areas where God’s word finds difficulty in taking root. In his parable of the sower, Jesus uses four different soil-types to represent four separate responses people can give to God’s saving word. In fact, each one of us may display all four different types of soil at various time in our personal lives.
The soil along the path. This type of soil represents people whose hearts and/or minds are closed because of laziness, prejudice, fear, pride, the business of this world, or immoral living. You and I are called to “sow” God’s word in our children, and to live out the values that Jesus “sowed” in us through his Church; but first we must open our hardened hearts and become true disciples
The soil on flat circular pieces of limestone. This soil-type represents emotional people who are always looking for novelties but never take a permanent interest in anything. Jesus explains that this kind of person is at first impressed by the message but quickly loses interest because of the effort needed to keep the word alive.
The soil filled with weeds: This soil represents people addicted to evil habits and tendencies and those whose hearts are filled with hatred, jealousy, fear, and greed. They are interested only in acquiring money by any means and in enjoying life in any way possible. Jesus explains that these people are filled with worldly interests that undermine them. The classic example is Judas who follows Jesus for a long time, but in the end, it seems, could not let go of his worldly interests and so exchanged his Lord for earthly silver.
The good soil. This soil-type represents the people who hear the word of God and diligently keep it. They have open hearts filled with holiness and humility. They are eager to hear the word and ready to put it into practice. They are attentive to the Holy Spirit. Fortunately, the Gospel is filled with people who have accepted the Lord’s message and whose lives have been changed. In them, Jesus’ words, in spite of obstacles and barriers, will produce the Kingdom. Although the seed may seem scattered at random, it will nevertheless produce amazing results: thirty-fold, sixty-fold – even a hundred-fold, an enormous yield with modern farming methods, let alone with those of first century Palestine.
A challenge for examination of conscience. The questions we need to ask ourselves are: Am I merely hearing God’s word without understanding it? Does God’s word meet with a hard heart in me? Am I too anxious about money, security, provision for retirement or old age? Is God’s word not taking root in me? Not converting me? Not transforming me? Not enabling me to sacrifice? And what about the “fruits” that we are being invited to produce: justice and mercy, hospitality for the immigrant,, the dispossessed, the unborn, the single mother? By refusing to consider these things, we may be missing the healing that the Word of God can bring into our lives. The parable of the sower challenges us to see how deeply the word of God has taken root in our lives, how central God is to the very fabric of our day-to-day life. Jesus also invites his followers to embrace the Faith of the sower: to trust and believe that our simplest acts of kindness and forgiveness, our humblest offers of help to anyone in need, may be the seeds that fall “on good soil” and yield an abundant harvest.
What kind of soil are we? How do we respond to the Word of God and to the various Acts of God in our lives? Do we allow the trials and tribulations of this world to overwhelm the tender seed growing within us? Do we pull back when people harass us because we are believers? Do we decide, because things are not working out the way we think they ought, that God doesn’t care for us, or that He is powerless, weak, and not to be heeded? Do we allow the cares of this world, our ambitions, or our desires for success and happiness, to choke out the messages that God sends us through the various events of our daily lives and through the various people we encounter? How we respond to the Word of God is the key to how fruitful the Gospel is going to be in our lives. Unlike the situation in nature, we can, as it were, change the kind of soil that we are. God allows the seed to land on the hard paths, on the rocky ground, and in the thickets of our lives in the hope that in those places it will find a place to mature and bear fruit, that those things which impede growth will be removed, and that the soil may be just a little deeper than it at first appears to be in those rocky places. Jesus challenges us in the parable of the sower to sow seeds of encouragement, joy, and reconciliation regardless of how unpromising the “soil” on which it is scattered seems to be, and to imitate the seed’s total giving of self that becomes the harvest of Gospel justice and mercy.