Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (A) [Mt 13:1-23]
16.07.2023
The Parable of the Sower
1. Theme in brief:
Faithfulness in spite of doubts
and failures
2. Focus Statement:
(1) In spite of poor response and discouragement,
we should not lose heart and be faithful to the task of sowing the seeds of
God’s Word. OR (2) Reception and response to the Word of God depends on the
type of soil.
3. Explanation of the text
In the strict sense, a parable is a fictitious story or illustration to explain one single truth; the details in it have no separate meaning. Jesus uses parables to explain the various characteristics of God’s Kingdom. But sometimes the evangelists understand and apply the parables to their missionary situations as allegories; that is, each detail or point in them is given a separate (inner) meaning. The Parable of the Sower in today’s gospel text is one of the parables which is allegorized. Hence, it could be understood in both ways: in original sense (13:3-9) and in allegorized sense (13:18-23).
First, let us consider
the Parable of the Sower in the strictly original sense, that is, according to its
single spiritual truth (13:3-9). Originally, this parable must have been given
by Jesus to instil encouragement and hope in the disciples in the face of
failures and discouragement. The reason was most of the Jewish leaders and the
elite of Jewish society were totally rejecting Jesus and his message. Hence, the
disciples had a doubt
whether Jesus’ great project about God’s Kingdom would succeed at all. In
answer to this doubt, Jesus told this Parable of the Sower to instil hope in
them. He wanted to drive home this message: they should not be discouraged or
disappointed even if most of the ‘seeds’ sown by them go wasted or fail to germinate. The seeds
refer to the Word
of God regarding the
In the second part we get an allegorized version of this parable (13:18-23). It focuses on reception of the ‘seed’ by various kinds of ‘soil.’ It explains the hidden meaning of this parable point by point and applies it to life-situation of the hearers (13:18-23), or their varying responses to "the word of the kingdom" (13:19). Though it is not mentioned directly, it is clear that the sower is Jesus himself who sows the seeds of the Word (of God’s Kingdom, 13:19). The soil or the ground is human heart or the receivers and hearers of the word. The parable contrasts first three types of wasted seeds or fruitless ground with the fourth fruitful one, and explains the reasons why most of the seeds go wasted. The seeds go wasted precisely because they fall on bad or unfit soil, namely footpath, rocky and thorny ground. Therefore, reception and response to the Word of God depends on the type of soil. Here are the different types of receivers who are compared to four types of soil or ground:
(1) Footpaths are those who do not understand the deeper implications of the Word because of which the evil one is able to snatch away easily what is sown in their hearts (13:19).
(2) Rocky grounds are those who have no roots because of their superficial faith. Their initial enthusiasm withers away (13:6) and they do not endure when trouble and persecution comes (13:20-21).
(3) Thorny grounds those who allow the Word to get chocked due to worldly cares and the lure of wealth (13:22).
(4) Good soil refers to those who are free from all these three obstacles. They take the Word seriously and live by it. They are the ones who bear abundant fruits (13:23). It is clear that the good soil stands for receivers with proper dispositions; and bad soil refers to hearers with improper dispositions.
4. Application to life
Taken in its strict sense, this Parable of the Sower applies to all the sowers – teachers and preachers – of the Word of God. Preaching of the Word, imparting faith to others and inculcating values of God’s Kingdom are like sowing seeds into people’s hearts. There they sprout, grow and yield fruits. As parents, teachers, leaders (religious and civil society’s), guides, pastors, administrators and animators, we are like sowers who sow the seeds of God’s Word or seeds (values) of God’s Kingdom. We also sow seeds of faith in God, good conduct, human and spiritual values, order and discipline in the hearts of those whom we care. But the hearers or receivers – our children, students, subjects, parishioners, co-workers, audience, etc. – are like various types of soil. Most of our words, advice, guidance and directions may go wasted or unheeded. Very little of it may be obeyed or followed up by very few. Nowadays we hear most often parents/ teachers/ superiors complaining about the disobedience of children/ students/ subjects which creates a lot of frustration and discouragement in them. When asked about the reasons for such behaviour, parents mostly cite children’s pride derived from better/higher education, or the bad influence of TV, ‘filmy culture’, mobile phones, computer, video games, internet and bad companions.
Though this is true to a great extent, there are far deeper reasons of which many of the ‘sowers’ may not be aware: (1) What they preach/teach may not be matching with their personal example, due to which children/ students/ subjects do not respect their word and disobey them. Respect to authority is essential for obedience. For example, if children often hear their parents telling them not to fight among themselves but see their mummy and daddy fighting with each other regularly, or hear their teachers telling them not to smoke or drink but see them doing the same things, they lose respect towards them. This loss of respect for their authority results in disobedience. (2) Parents/ teachers/ superiors and those in positions of authority may be regularly criticizing, blaming, condemning and lowering the image of their higher superiors in workplaces or in the Church in front of children/ students. This may create in children disrespect (disobedience) towards any authority by saying or thinking like this: “After all, we know what type of persons these authorities are!” In this situation, today’s parable tells all the above-mentioned ‘sowers’ to make a decision of the mind to practice what they preach, at least to some extent. As they too are weak mortals, whenever they fail to do so (especially when their failure is known to children, students, etc.), if they can cultivate the habit of expressing regrets for their bad example, they will be respected. Instead of going through this humble exercise, many of them yield to the temptation of giving up any advice or correction to anybody out of frustration. Then they go on repeating the same ‘litany’: “Nowadays nobody listens….”
Second type of discouragement comes from repeated failures – failure to succeed in spite of our hard efforts; to get immediate and expected answer to our continual prayers; to reform those who have gone astray or gone wayward; to change people of bad character or disobedient/rebellious behaviour; to get a decent job; to overcome our bad habits; etc. Sometimes all our efforts seem to be useless. When we look at the record of our own spiritual life we wonder how much progress we really have made over the years. When I give homilies during the Holy Mass, I wonder whether it is worth the trouble, since hardly anybody (including myself) changes. A question arises in my mind, why to preach at all and why to take the trouble of writing and publishing these “Gospel Reflections for Life-Promotion.” A thought comes in my mind: What or whose life am I promoting? There is a similar doubt in the minds of many parents whether the trouble they take to bring up their children in the best way possible is worth, since they are not sure whether their children will repay their love in any way.
Failures and disappointments in life may even create doubts in our minds whether there is an Almighty God who rules. The message of today’s parable tells us that there is no quick-fix solution for many problems of life. Change and reform is not like instant coffee or fast food. When we become pessimistic after facing failures after failures, the Lord tells us: “Instead of crying, ‘What wrong have I done to get this,’ be patient and trust in me. Do not give up. Be faithful to your work of ‘sowing’ in season and out of season and leave the result in my hands. I am the Master of your destiny and understand your problems more than you do.” What is our response to God’s assurance?
Further, this parable tells us that we should not lose heart and give up hope at the lack of response to God’s Word or to our efforts to work for his Kingdom. We have to be faithful to our duties and responsibilities and go on doing our good work in spite of indifference, lack of response and rejection from those who are under our care and lack of support from them for our innovative ideas or initiatives. We have to leave the fruit in God’s hands because it is he who brings about his Kingdom. As Mother Teresa used to say, we should always think that we are called by the Lord to be faithful to our tasks and not always to be successful. We need to regret for the times we gave up our efforts and good works at the lack of instant or immediate result – a sign of our faithlessness.
Alternately,
the allegorized
version of this parable (as explained above) speaks about the fate
of the seed in different types of ground or soil. It teaches us that response to
God’s Word or to his Kingdom varies according to the type of soil. Footpath
refers to those who allow the evil one (devil), bad companions, bad effects
of the mass media, to snatch away the values of God’s Kingdom sown
in human hearts. Rocky ground refers to those disciples who do not endure
as disciples. The reason for their stumbling is the lack of deep roots or depth of faith in
them that makes them too weak to resist trouble and persecution on account of
God’s Word. When the values of God’s Kingdom conflict with the dominant values
of the world or the prevailing culture, they fall away. For example, when God’s
justice conflicts with world’s unjust structures and exploitative tactics, they
choose the safest and more comfortable ways of the world. Thorny ground refers to those
who allow the Word to be chocked by the cares of the world and the lure
of wealth. The former refers to our tendency to allow anxiety to drive us instead of
God, and the latter our attempt to look for total security in money or wealth by permitting
it to rule over our hearts without any reference to God or his providential
care. St. Paul warns us that “the love of money is a root
of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away
from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains” (1 Tim 6:10).
Good soil refers to those who fight the devil, are willing to face
troubles and persecutions for God’s Kingdom, and are not driven by money or
wealth but by God. They hear, understand and obey the Word of God. They bear
fruits that prove that they are committed disciples and faithful servants or
stewards of God’s Kingdom. There is a clear indication in this parable that
initial enthusiasm and joyful reception of God’s Word need not necessarily be a
sign of true and committed discipleship. The question is whether a disciple is
able to win over the tests of faith or temptations to dilute one’s
commitment. True discipleship is measured by perseverance till the end.
As sowers of the seeds of the Kingdom-values, this parable asks us: “Do we carefully prepare the ground or soil in the hearts of receivers of the ‘seeds’, so that they may sprout, grow and yield plentiful harvest?” As receivers or hearers, this parable invites us to examine whether we, like the footpath (wayside), allow the evil power/ bad companions/ secular values to take away the Kingdom-values sown in our hearts; whether, like the rocky ground, our faith is superficial or lacks real depth; whether we, like the thorny ground, allow worldly cares (like taking our work, business and wealth as if these were our gods) to choke those values; or whether we, like the good soil, receive God’s Word with total disposition and live by it.
5. Response to God's Word
Do we take our responsibility of sowing the seeds of God’s values into the hearts of children and those who are under our care? How often have we given up our efforts and good initiatives because there was no immediate result? As sowers of good values, does what we preach and teach match with what we practice? What kind of soil are we? Is it not true that something of all the four types of soil is found in us, and we need to struggle everyday to increase the percentage of the fourth type – the good soil?
6. A prayer
Grant, O Lord, that I may
place unshakable hope in you when I face doubts and failures. Keep me faithful
to my duties and responsibilities without looking for instant success. Amen.
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