Reflection on the 15th Sunday in ordinary time. Year A

Reflection on the Parable of the Sower

Mt. 13: 1-23

If I ask you who is the sower in today’s Gospel what would you say? some of us would say, God and some others would say Jesus. Those are the usual answers and they are not wrong. God is always sowing God’s life in ours. It’s true that God and Jesus are sowers of seed. But there can be other answers too. Is it possible that you and I be sowers of seed? When we hear or read this parable we judge ourselves or others as one of the four types of ground: the path, the rocky ground, the thorny bush, or good soil. But have we ever thought of ourselves as the sower in today’s parable?

All our lives we are sowing seeds, and often we don’t even know it. The seeds we sow reflect what is going on within us and who we are. We can only sow seeds that were first sown and cultivated within us. Jesus sows in us “word of the Kingdom” that word is love, peace, hope, joy, forgiveness, mercy, compassion, beauty, wisdom, encouragement, perseverance, courage, healing, reconciliation, and gentleness. Those are the seeds Jesus has sown within us, seeds that we are to cultivate within ourselves and sow in our relationships and the world. The four types of ground described in today’s parable are descriptive of our lives and the lives of others. No one is just one kind of ground. All four types of grounds are aspects of ourselves.

Sometimes, we sow the seeds of God’s love, care, and joy in our life that is fully occupied with worldly concerns. Our hearts and minds are closed with prejudice, laziness, and pride. Nothing will ever grow. Have you ever lived life on the path? Sometimes life can feel pretty rocky. Fear, envy, anger, or hard-heartedness can fill the soil of our lives. We can be so angry, or we can be so fearful or we can be so jealous that new life cannot take root. There’s no depth. We live at the surface. This is telling us something that our land needs to be cleared. There is work to be done. Let us ask ourselves what rocks fill the soil of my life?

Other times the thorns of guilt, shame, or regret fill the soil of our lives. New life cannot root. Our life becomes limited by the past. We are so much worried about the past that we don’t allow new life to take root in us. We need to remove the weed thorns of guilt, shame, and regret.  And then there are those times when our life is fertile, open, receptive, rich in nutrients, flourishing, and fruitful. The seeds within us yield “in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

We need to be careful that we do not make a conclusion or judgment about the ground in which we sow, whether in our own lives or in the lives of others. Jesus does not intend to condemn the four grounds. All four types of ground need attention and care whether clearing the land, weeding, watering, or fertilizing. The condition of the soil does not, however, stop the sower. The sower sows with reckless and indiscriminate generosity. The sower sows here, there, and everywhere without regard to where the seed might land or the quality or type of ground on which it falls. The sower sows not because of who or what the ground is but because of who the sower is. Where and with whom do we sow? In what ways have we withheld seed because we deemed the ground unworthy? What would it take for us to be as generous as the sower in today’s gospel?

The sower does not worry about the harvest or how much it will yield. That he or she sows anywhere and everywhere tells us that. He or she simply sows. This isn’t the way of our culture. It’s not what most of us have been taught or come to believe. We want a return on our investment. We want to make good use of our time and effort. We strive for efficiency and success. We don’t want to waste resources or spend ourselves on a hopeless cause. We measure productivity, keep score, and seek to maximize profits. That’s not how the sower into today’s parable lives. Again, the sower sows not because of an expected harvest but because of who the sower is. How would your life be different if you stopped measuring and keeping score? What would change if you trusted the seeding of this present moment more than you worried about the future yield?

What has God sown in your life? Are you tending and cultivating new growth? Where and what are you sowing? What does the land of your life need? “Let anyone with ears listen,” Jesus says. What do you hear in all this? What in today’s gospel makes your life more meaningful, lets you live a more sacred life, frees you to be your better, truer, and more authentic sower-self?

Story of the day.

There is a story about a young man and an old preacher. The young man had lost his job and didn't know which way to turn. So he went to see the old preacher. Pacing about the preacher's study, the young man ranted about his problem. Finally he clenched his fist and shouted, "I've begged God to say something to help me. Tell me, Preacher, why doesn't God answer?" The old preacher, who sat across the room, spoke something in reply - something so hushed it was indistinguishable. The young man stepped across the room. "What did you say?" he asked. The preacher repeated himself, but again in a tone as soft as a whisper. So the young man moved closer until he was leaning on the preacher's chair. "Sorry," he said. "I still didn't hear you." With their heads bent together, the old preacher spoke once more. "God sometimes whispers," he said, "so we will move closer to hear Him." This time the young man heard and he understood. We all want God's voice to thunder through the air with the answer to our problem. But God's is the still, small voice... the gentle whisper. Perhaps there's a reason. Nothing draws human focus quite like a whisper. God's whisper means I must stop my ranting and move close to Him, until my head is bent together with His. Then, as I listen, I will find my answer. Better still, I find myself closer to God.