Jesus burst onto the scene in such a way as to cause an immense amount of questioning and speculation. There were exorcisms (see Matthew 8:28-9:1), healings (Matthew 9:2-8), other miracles (Matthew 8:23-27), crowds of onlookers, close followers and opponents. He taught his disciples to replicate his ministry (Matthew 10:1-42). Not everyone became a disciple and not everyone approved of his actions or his teaching (Matthew 9:34). Some even sought to kill him. Even his closest followers began asking, ‘Who is this man?’ (Matthew 8:27).
Jesus clearly wanted to explain to his followers how it was that people could react to him and the arrival of the kingdom of God in such unpredictable ways. That’s why he told them the so-called Parable of the Sower. In fact, although the sower is important to the story, we could also call it the Parable of the Seed as it demonstrates how God’s words and actions are received in the world. Best of all it could be called the Parable of the Soils because the real focus is on how the path, the rocks and the soil are either unable or able to receive the good seed. This was true of Jesus’ ministry; it is also true for the Church across the ages. Some people hear, grow and live. Others, for various reasons, do not.
When Jesus told this parable people didn’t get it. Even his disciples needed to have it explained. Then it becomes so obvious that it hardly needs any more explication. Or does it? Maybe we can help one another to apply it. So just some comments.
The sower is anyone spreading Jesus’ message. So know that anytime you’re spreading Jesus’ message you’re going to get a variety of reactions. Expect that and spread the message anyway.
The seed is the message.
The soil is the people hearing the message who respond in various ways. So who are these people? and what kind of soil are we?
The hardened path represents unresponsive people; people who dismiss the message as irrelevant, out of date, or too hard. That’s none of us here. We have all taken in the message of Jesus. But we probably know someone who seems to be this kind of soil.
Nor are we rocky ground because we have all lasted. We’ve not only accepted Jesus’ message but we’ve stuck with it for years, and it hasn’t always been easy. But we probably know some who haven’t lasted.
That leaves two options. Notice that both the weedy soil and the productive soil are both well able to support plant growth. The difference is that the plants in weedy ground have a hard time of it while the plants in weed-free soil grow to fruition.
I planted 5 cauliflower plants in my garden a while back. They got established but I neglected them until I couldn’t see them for weeds. After some more time I got in there and removed the weeds. I found that only three had survived and they’d been chewed almost to extinction by slugs and snails. So I dealt with the pests and now the caulis are growing again. Without the setback they would be ready for harvesting by now but, although maturity has been delayed, they will grow and I expect to harvest my cauliflowers – as long as I keep them weed and pest free.
The ground in which I put my plants was weed-free, but the weeds grew faster than the veges and now there’s another crop of weeds that I will have to remove soon. They won’t get bigger than the caulis but they do harbour slugs and snails and keep things wet.
A couple more comments about soil and seeds.
It’s not for us to decide who is good soil and who isn’t. That’s God’s prerogative. We can’t even do much about ourselves – soil can’t change itself. It’s the farmer’s job to condition the soil. That’s what ploughs and forks are for. The Holy Spirit has ways of softening hard hearts. Also, the soil doesn’t decide what it will grow – that, too, is the farmer’s job. Weeds are the default setting in the case of neglectful farmers like me, but Jesus is not neglectful.
The soil doesn’t grow. It’s the seeed that grows. But the soil nurtures the seed – or not depending on the nature of the soil. We don’t know who will and who will not nurture the message of Jesus. Therefore we have to do what Jesus did: give the message to everyone – the likely and the unlikely, those we deem as suitable and those who would surprise us greatly if they were to respond positively. Jesus also invested a lot of time and energy with seemingly unpromising people. Never give up. Plants grow even in the cracks in concrete.
So, returning to Jesus’ picture, I wonder about the weedy soil and the good soil. It seems to me that we are all like the soil in my garden – quite capable of supporting good seed and weeds too. The weeds Jesus spoke of are inside us – worry and cares, illlusions of getting more than we have and wanting everything under the sun. And here’s where I nearly came unstuck – until I realised that I was imposing on Jesus’ analogy. I would have had the soil rejecting the weeds. In fact we are incapable of removing from our lives the things that choke Jesus’ message. We have to let the Holy Spirit do that.
This parable is only an analogy and only one analogy among many and yes, we do have a role in our progress in discipleship. However the parable of the soil does bring in a necessary perspective on our power in this process. Paul presents the big picture on this in Romans 8. Here he explains that Christians are not condemned by God or by any law and a righteous life is possible because God has sent his Son (Romans 8:3), setting them free from slavery to sin and death and fulfilling all that the Law intended for God’s people (Romans 8:4). However there is still a battle on. Human beings, even Christians, are still troubled by sinful thoughts and desires and the Spirit is in conflict with this state of affairs. But Christians are on the winning side! The Spirit gives power to live that life (Romans 8:9). Indeed he is the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 8:11). That’s real power!
God gives us clear instructions about how he wants us to live and we need to obey them. But we often find ourselves struggling to do things on our own. We always have the Holy Spirit within us to help us listen and obey, however tough life may seem, so if we clarify what needs to be done and accept God’s offer of help, our task becomes much easier. Read again Romans 8:9-11.