15th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Romans 8:18-23
Matthew 13:1-9
“Other seeds fell on good
soil and produced a crop
…Listen, anyone who has ears!”
The reign of God is certainly revealed to simple ones.
Such is the wisdom of God which we meditated on last Sunday. Closely related to
it, this Sunday’s gospel invites us to ponder on the Word of God. As Jesus
himself explains later in the same gospel, the parable of the sower shows the
dialectics in the proclamation of his Word. Such would characterize the
development of the
1. The parable opens simply as: "The sower went out to sow. For all intents and purposes, a good sower must know what, when and where to sow. Here, the parable suggests that there is no problem about the what to sow. The problem, however, lies on the when to sow. Per experience, one has to prepare the ground before sowing. In fact, farmers spend considerable time for it. He weeds it out and makes sure that the soil is fertilized enough. Lest he simply wastes his good seeds. Much more, common sense would tell us that a hardened or rocky ground gives no good returns. But the parable over looks all these basic considerations and portrays the sower to scatter his seeds whenever and wherever he wants. Thus, some seeds fell on hardened paths, others on rocky places, and still others on weedy ground. Good enough, there are still those which fell on good soil.
The first point of the parable wants to teach is God's indiscriminate love. This indiscriminate love enables him to go out into the open and spread out his universal salvific will. Certainly, the sower overlooks what a good farmer or sower must do because first and foremost he intends to over look them. He does not mind whether the soil is good or bad, as God gives and spreads his Word to all the world, to all people and to all creation for that matter. Indeed, his love and mercy reach out to one and all, as his sun rises and shines over the good and the bad alike.
2. Unfortunately, God's indiscriminate love is treated discriminately in return. This is the second point the parable wants to impart. Although the road to salvation and the way to heaven is offered to all, there are just those who can never get into it simply because they discriminately refuse God's gratuitous offer in favor of another “way.” Such is the sad fate of the Word of God that has never flourished in these three different kinds of heart:
a. "Some seeds fell along the path and the birds came and ate them up.” As anyone knows, a path is a hardened ground. So, any seed that falls on it has no chance to grow, not even the chance to take initial roots. This allegory refers to the heart of a hardened sinner. At the time of Jesus, the personality that did best befit it was that of the Pharisee. The Pharisees had become the stereotype of hardened sinners because of their self-righteousness. They always believed that they were correct and could never be wrong. That is why no amount of teaching - however deep and profound, noble and great - could ever enter into their hearts. Their hearts were simply closed, hardened as a path. No wonder, the devil (bird) would just be so happy to snatch the Word of God away from them. They didn't care, anyway!
This kind of heart is still so visible today. People with pharisaical hearts take themselves as standards of everything, including perfection. Thus, they can never afford to listen to comments nor adapt to changes. That is why the Word of God has no chance to work in them. It is not even given a chance to be heard
b. "Other seeds fell on rocky ground where there was little soil.” - - This, on the other hand, reminds us of the many people who used to grab every opportunity to listen to God's word and received it with joy. True, God's word is a melody to one's ears. And this was the experience of Jesus himself. Not only by tens but by hundreds, or perhaps by thousands, did people follow him. Why? They loved to listen to his sermons. Such was the case of the crowd who tailed after him wherever he was. But surely like them, too, they drifted away little by little, group by group, one by one, when told about and being confronted with the real price of following him
We must not be surprised, therefore, when programs, movements, and others hit the parish like a fever. They blaze like fire and catch many into them. Once involved, people burn with eagerness and enthusiasm at the start. But when confronted with the real challenges of faith, either individually or as a group, they wither out and make many excuses. They just don’t have enough roots to sustain.
c. “Others seeds fell among thistles; and the thistles grew and choked the plants.” - - - If we take these thistles to mean every earthly desire, perhaps, this is an experience most common to all believers. Even in the slightest sense, they always choke us. And the truth of the matter is so understandable since no one can pray with an empty stomach. But what the parable intends to mean is that inordinate desire which causes us to worry a lot and lose sense of the real priorities in life. We may remember Judas as a typical example to this. Notwithstanding his closeness and familiarity with the Lord, the lust for gold enslaved him even at the expense of betraying his Master. Of course, we know that desire did not enrich him nor did make him a master himself. But it was surely sinful since it was inordinate. It was just that choking!
3. But thanks, "other seeds fell on good soil and produced a crop.” --- This is the consolation the parable wants to assure. Even in the midst of a pretentious world and too many ungrateful hearts. God's indiscriminate love will always triumph. His Word will never be in vain since there will always be grateful hearts that receive, keep and nurture it. History attests to this. And both time and eternity have listed the names of those poor simple fisher folks who left fathers and nets just to let the seeds that fell on them spread and grow.
Hardened paths? Rocky grounds? Thistles? All of these were no foreign to them. Each temptation they faced must have reminded them of these allegories in the parable their Master once told them. That is why despite the tests of time, they proved to be the good soil that yielded a harvest of a hundred or of sixty or of thirty. Indeed, love is never sterile!