On the occasion of the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, the Church focuses our attention on the Parable of the Sower.
The Setting
Jesus teaches from a boat as crowds gather to listen from the shore. God’s desire is that through Jesus, all can hear the Gospel and understand that He, as our Saviour, wills all of us to be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth. (Cf.: 1 Tim 2: 3-4).
Two agricultural images
Using familiar local imagery Jesus reminds His listeners that the harvest of a farmer does not depend so much on the seed that is planted, but instead on the condition of the soil that receives it. As such, the seed that represents the Word of God and God’s will for a great harvest, is the same wherever it might fall – but the resulting harvest for the Kingdom of Heaven is dependent instead on the condition of the soil rather than a variance in the seed.
The seed therefore represents the salvific message while the various types of soil, like the path, the rocky ground or thorny ground, help illustrate the different attitudes and conditions of the receiver’s heart.
Matthew in the same chapter at verses 18-23 explains the differences in soil condition that receive seed and the differing results.
Our hope lies in the fact that our hearts can change and that God, like the farmer who seeks a crop, spreads good seed even on our soiled hearts. There is hope for everyone who hears and is willing to nurture His seed within them.
Looking also at the agricultural passage that follows
There is much to learn from another parable concerning weeds and wheat. In Matthew 13:24-30 which follows our Gospel today, we encounter good seed planted by a farmer seeking the finest wheat and the reality that even good soil can be subject to defilement by the evil ones, who wish that we not be saved. There, the evil ones plant weeds among the wheat hoping to ruin God’s crop.
The Apostles note that the Good News would preach much better if the weeds were pulled leaving only the good wheat. Jesus wisely suggests that in our fallen world both will need to grow side by side, such that only at harvest time will the wheat be taken to the barn of eternal life, even as the weeds are burned in fire.
The magic of Grace!
Why wait before the harvest to segregate wheat from weeds? Grace is the answer that can transform hearts, and we have all experienced seeing its effect.
If the Apostles had prevailed in pulling the weeds before the harvest, I personally would have been discarded years ago when my soiled heart was not receptive to loving Christ or submitting to His commandments as evidence of my love. Yet, through His Amazing Grace, weeds can be transformed into wheat. Also because of our freedom, wheat can become a weed by rejecting His Grace.
Grace has transformed me
God gave me a long life -not simply in a measure of years, but in the measure of permitting my life to be long enough to find Him and embrace his Gift of Salvation. Now I need to focus on holiness persevering in His Grace as transformed wheat, until the angels come for me to take me to the Kingdom of Our Father.
[Readings: Isaiah 55:10-11; Romans 8:18-23; Matthew 13:1-23]
