The Good Seed

The property surrounding our house contains four flowerbeds including a perennial border that runs along our driveway.  Each year in the spring and early summer we plant annuals to fill in the bare spots and bring out the colors of the season.  It is a labor of love and it usually takes a few trips to the nursery to purchase all the plants we need.

I also like to grow a few tomato plants in a container in our back yard.  I like tomatoes, especially those that have flavor and have not been so altered that all that remains is pale color, seeds and water.

The story we heard from Matthew’s Gospel says, "As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty."

This familiar Parable of the Sower is a very simple tale.  A farmer goes out to sow seeds.  They fall here and there.  Some germinate, thrive and mature; some doesn't: end of story.  We all hope that the plantings we do in our gardens thrive and mature.

Jesus' hearers would have had some clues about the story's meaning.  Images of plants, growth and harvest were deeply embedded in the Jewish religious imagination.  In the Book of Isaiah the image of Israel as a bountiful vineyard was used to speak of God’s desire.  There is a natural movement from seed to harvest, from intention to fulfillment.  Whenever he spoke about seed-sowing and harvest, barrenness and fruitfulness, Jesus’ hearers would understand it as a message about God's will.

Jesus said, "Let anyone with ears listen!"  Throughout the history of Christianity people have listened.  The wonderful and also challenging thing about this story is how rich it is with possibility.  This simple story has been read and explained, thought about, analyzed and interpreted by Christians in all circumstances of life.

Some of the questions raised are even profound: Who is God?  What does God want?  What separates and alienates us from God?  Whenever the ambiguity of a biblical story encounters the human experience of longing -- longing for assurance, security, faith, greater understanding -- then a true dialogue can happen.  Christians throughout the ages have allowed the Parable of the Sower to provoke conversations about striving for faithfulness, and they have found that the Parable of the Sower has the power to shape and reshape their thinking and understanding.

How should you and I experience this story in our lives?  Imagine the seed, the footpath, the rocky ground, the scorching sun, the thorns, and the good soil.  There is a sense in which we are like a seed, a small, hardly noticeable seed, but we are all full of potential, full of life.  Under the influences of nature and experience we grow, expand our horizons, become energized and vigorous, and produce fruitful and fulfilling lives.  We can be nourishing and enjoying who we are. 

Seeds planted in good soil sprout, grow and mature.  As you watch plants grow and develop they bring everything together.  Stems, leaves and flowers become a unifying force.  To carry on the metaphor of the seed we grow out of our infancy and adolescence into a greater oneness with our families, neighbors, nature, and God.  That is what redemption is all about.  Redemption is the result of God's persistence and perseverance in bringing all creation to fulfillment. 

Other components of this simple parable say something about us as well.  For example, a footpath, dry, hard, narrow, trampled on and uncultivated.  There is little opportunity for life growing and developing if we are or choose to be like a footpath.  Or, think about thorns, sharp, jabbing in all directions, totally in charge of the ground they cover, aggressively static.

Seed, footpath, rocky ground, thorns, scorched plant, good soil -- these are the many aspects of our lives.  We have potential for full and productive life or we can let our lives wither away.  We can choke ourselves with fear, or we can reach out to those who are different from ourselves with understanding and compassion.

The good news is that God is persistent.  God's work of redemption has to do with freeing the life we possess in seedling form.  It has to do with clearing the thickets, cultivating and opening up our hearts, the soil of our lives.  While the Parable of the Sower affirms that God will accomplish his purpose, it also challenges us to assess where we are in relation to God, to others, and to our environment.  As we sang the words attributed to St. Francis in our Gradual hymn let us sow the seeds of love, faith, hope, light, and joy.  "Let anyone with ears listen!"  Amen.