Wednesday in the Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time, July 20, 2022

Matthew 13, 1-9

On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore. And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

The Lord himself is sowing seeds with this Parable.  The crowds to whom he was speaking would not have understood its full meaning as is clear from the fact that even the Apostles felt compelled to ask for an explanation of it.  The image the Lord sowed in the minds of the crowd would have remained with very many of them.  They would have wrestled with its possible meaning as with any tricky puzzle — simple in appearance, and thus deceptive, but deep in its implications.  Later, as the Apostles formed the Church after Pentecost, they would have opened the mystery of the sower and the seed to them.  Later, that is, when they needed to understand why the Pharisees and their leaders in Jerusalem rejected and killed the Lord, and why others gave up their precious gift of faith under threats or actual persecution.  Also, the mystery of how they held on despite all the forces arrayed around them.

While tomorrow’s Gospel Reading will consist of the Lord’s explanation of his Parable, we can wonder now at certain of its aspects which he does not cover.  For instance, the sower sows seeds in all directions.  He does not try to keep his seeds for one particular part of the field or for particular quality of soil.  He broadcasts his seeds in all directions.  A seed sown even in an unlikely seeming area might still sprout, grow, and produce fruit.  Thus, the Lord offers his Gospel and his grace to everyone.  He does not hide it from some and reveal it to others.  It is not his fault or the seed’s fault if the soil does not allow a plant to grow and to bear fruit.  It is the fault of the soil, that is, the person to whom the Gospel and the grace of God are offered, who rejects these.

We also notice that the sower has abundant seed.  Every part of the field receives seeds.  The Lord does not cease sowing until the whole field of the world is covered.  People even receive more than one opportunity to accept the Gospel and grace.  

The sower works for the landowner.  The sower seeks “fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold” for the profit of the landowner, the Father, not for himself.  And when it comes time for the harvest, the sower becomes the harvester, who gathers the wheat for the heavenly barns of the Father.

Finally, the Lord uses the phrase, “Whoever has ears ought to hear.”  This was an idiom used to inform the listener that the story is over, and when the Lord Jesus uses it, he means that all who hear need to think hard about what he has said so that they might learn something valuable for themselves. 

The Lord speaks in this way, using parables, because he can teach us more, and teach us more effectively, than if he delivered a treatise on the subject to us.  His manner of speaking and teaching using ordinary things teaches us about how well he knows us and how much he wants us to know him.