Matthew 13:18-23
“Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But 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.”
Now that we have come to the explanation to the parable of the sower, do you notice the shift of focus to the soil? There are a variety of explanations of this shift, most centering around the idea that while the original parable probably comes from Jesus, its explanation may come from later church traditions that the evangelists inherited. This shouldn’t be too alarming for us, as we’ve noted a number of instances where the author of a Gospel takes “creative license” in working with various traditions connected with Jesus in order to address the core Christian story to changing circumstances.
In this case, the theory is that as early Christian communities grew they experienced some significant challenges. Some communities may have been rattled by the destruction of the Temple by the Romans, while others faced increased opposition from the Jewish synagogues from which they sprang. Whatever the case, the thought is that the evangelists shared this explanation of the parable to encourage their people to be “good soil,” allowing the word to sink in deep and to nurture a harvest of faith, perseverance, and good works.
There’s no way to prove such a theory, of course, but it makes some sense to me, and I’ve noticed that in reading this part of Matthew’s story of Jesus I often privilege the “original” parable over it’s explanation because the emphasis on the reckless grace of the sower seems to connect most directly with the center of Jesus’ message. But I’ve also wanted to avoid what sometimes feels like the inherent moralism of the explanation, exhorting people to be good soil as if that is the heart of the Christian life.
It has occurred to me more recently, however, that the beauty of parables is that they resist simple interpretation and that you therefore don’t necessarily have to choose. There is room – and need! – for an emphasis on the reckless abandon with which God shares the Word and also room for encouraging us to allow that seed to take root. But with one caveat: the only way to “be good soil,” I think, is to remember the promise of the parable itself that ultimately it’s not up to us but to God, the farmer who sows with abandon out of love. We can’t simply decide what kind of soil we are, but we can trust Jesus’ promise that God will keep sowing seeds, keep showering us with the word of grace, mercy, and love. And remembering that, believing that, we may then receive this promise with joy, grow, and yield a harvest of thirty, sixty, even a hundredfold.
Prayer: Dear God, let us be good soil by remembering that you shower grace upon all manner of people trusting that it will take root. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Post image: An icon depicting the Sower (Biserica Ortodoxă din Deal, Cluj-Napoca), Romania.
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