FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME A

[cappie]

Today and for two more Sundays in July, we will be focusing on the third discourse in Matthew. The parable of the Sower is complemented today by our first reading from Isaiah in which we hear the assurance that God’s Word “shall not return to me void but shall do my will achieving the end for which I sent it.”  Isaiah testifies that God’s Word in itself is fruitful, not because of any human achievement, but because it is of God, and so is powerful, alive and at work in the world.  Jesus confirms what Isaiah said and offers assurance that eventually, despite the meagre signs of success and his disciples’ disappointment, the harvest will be astounding and surprising. 

 But perhaps Jesus has another word for us in this parable:   Jesus has an invitation for us to be sowers and not just soil.

For the early Church, for those in whom the word of the kingdom initially took root and brought healing, peace, and joy, there was still a conundrum:  why doesn’t everyone who hears the word believe?  What’s wrong here?

We may wonder some of the same things.  Faith in Jesus is important to us.  We go to church.  Why doesn’t everyone?  Why are we the minority in our community, showing up, giving, serving, while all around us there are people who choose sports or coffee or sleep over what makes sense to us?  Why are churches getting smaller or struggling?  Is there something wrong with the word?  Is the seed not what we thought it was? Are we wasting our time?   

To the first disciples, to the early Church, to us, Jesus says, there is nothing wrong with the seed.  The sower is dependable.  But here’s what happens when the seed falls on different kinds of ground.  Trust the sower.  Trust the seed.  Be good soil.

Be good soil but take a clue from the sower. The sower’s approach to sowing is carefree, to say the least. The sower flings seed as he goes, with seeming disregard for where the seed will end up.     To this sower, it’s as if the seed is so precious, he can’t hold on to it—it has to be shared.  To hold onto the seed would be to squander it.  This sower’s method seems to be to fling the seed as he goes, letting it land where it will, and keep going. This sower covers a lot of ground, not sticking to one pathway or field or territory.  The point, for this sower, is to sow.  So, he does.

What if Jesus’ word for us has as much to do with the sower as the soil?  The sower is often taken to be God or Jesus, and that’s a good analogy.  God in Jesus flung the seed of the word of the kingdom wherever he went, and it found good soil in some places where others thought nothing good or holy could grow.  God in Jesus never said a word about some people deserving to hear good news and others not.  Jesus sowed the word of the kingdom, wherever he went.  He  was even buried like a seed in the soil, and from that sowing, God brought forth an unimaginable harvest.

But in the explanation of the parable, Jesus doesn’t say, “I am the sower.”  He just says that the sower sows the word, wherever the sower is, wherever the sower goes, and sometimes the word gets snatched away by the devil, and sometimes people fall away because the following is costly and risky, and sometimes the cares of the world choke the word, and sometimes, sometimes, the word bears a ridiculously abundant harvest.

What if Jesus is not only saying to be good soil, to be open and receptive, to let dead and death-dealing ideas die, and to welcome all that is holy and life-giving to make room and a hospitable reception for the word?  What if Jesus is also saying, “Sow!”  Don’t worry about whether you think the soil you’re walking over is good or bad, receptive or not.  Don’t be saving up seed for the places you think will be the most fertile.  This seed is so precious, it has to be shared, and there’s plenty more seed where that came from.  Not every bit of fruitful sowing is going to happen in the tidy rows of our pews, although by God’s grace it can happen even there.

We are gifted with the eyes and ears of faith that help us accept the mysterious workings of God.   We are being offered something good we could never get on our own,  the love of a gracious and lavish God who is not stingy in showing us the signs of that love.