Friday in the Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time, July 24, 2020

Matthew 13:18-23

Jesus said to his disciples: “Hear the parable of the sower. The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the Kingdom without understanding it, and the Evil One comes and steals away what was sown in his heart. The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy. But he has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away. The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit. But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”

We had this reading on a recent Sunday, but much remains for us to reflect on.

Jesus does not describe the sower in the parable apart from his work.  He scatters the seed and, as far as the parable goes, he has no further part in the fate of the seed.  But Jesus explains later that the sower is the Son of man.  Because of this, we know that as the Sower, he causes the seed to germinate and to grow into a plant.  He causes growth according to the soil the seed lands on.  The seed fails not because of the fault of the Sower or the Seed, but due to the soil.  Also, we note that the Sower tosses seed in all directions so as to cover the entire field, even so that some of it falls on the path: no one is excluded from the possibility of salvation.  At the same time, in real life, each person’s moral choices make it the type of “soil” that he or she is.  

We can also glean from the parable that it is not easy or perhaps even possible to determine what person will convert and become a zealous follower of the Lord and who will not, that is, what patch of soil is rich and what is not.  In tossing seed, a sower uses up all the seed that he has.  It cannot be stored for the next season, and so he has extra incentive to cover his field entirely.  He also wants to spread it as evenly as possible over the field so that no patch of it receives too much or too little.  From this we learn how the Lord does not begrudge his grace to anyone, but everyone is offered it, as much as he needs.

The Seed which is sown has power and life.  In all the cases Jesus describes, except for the seed that falls on the path, it germinates, although it may last a short time, perhaps a moment or a few days. Although path does not receive the seed, the Seed lingers.  The Seed does everything it can do, but it cannot force itself to take root if the ground does not allow it.  It lasts only until trouble and persecution come. The Seed that falls among the thorns struggles to take root and grow, entwined as it is by anxieties and ambitions.  It is finally choked and dies.  The desire to advance in the world or to possess some temporary good outweighs the love of Jesus Christ and even of one’s own soul.  We recall the Lord’s words, “What does it profit a man of he gains the whole world but suffers the loss of his own soul?” (Matthew 16, 26).  And then the rich soil gives the seed a proper home, and abounding in the love of God and taking to heart his word, the soil produces many times as much fruit as the seed that went into the soil.  It is the miracle of seed that from it can grow a pumpkin that contains hundreds of seeds, or an apple tree that produces bushels of apples, each containing more seed.  As for the Seed that falls on the path, we see the terrible responsibility of the human will, which can even set itself against God and ultimately lose its power in hell.