March 19, 2014

It is certainly lovely to contemplate the Parable of the Sower – to think about planting seeds and working the soil and having something grow – in these dreary waning days of winter! 

The Parable of the Sower is the first of several parables related by Mark.  Jesus tells of a man sowing seeds, casting them in handfuls as he walked along.  The seeds fell on several different surfaces with varying degrees of success.  Some were strewn along a path and eaten up by birds; some could not grow deep roots because they were in shallow, rocky ground and thus withered away; some got caught up in thorns and any growth was choked before it could bear fruit; but some seed fell on good soil and yielded a good crop “thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” 

Jesus told this story (from a boat!) to a large crowd that had gathered to hear him speak.  When the crowd dispersed, alone with the disciples and a few other followers, he explained the purpose of his parables, as well as the specific meaning of the Parable of the Sower.  Jesus, of course, is the Sower, and he is sowing the word.  And like the seed sown on different surfaces, the word will be heard by different people with varying degrees of success.  Some will turn a deaf ear; some will be ‘fair weather friends’ who lose faith when things go wrong; some will be too interested in material gain and be distracted; and some will “hear the word and accept it and bear fruit.”

 The Parable of the Sower is also a very fitting reading to consider for Lent, when we take a step back and reflect on our own personal spiritual journey.  There are obvious questions to ask: “What kind of soil am I?” “What about the soil of the people around me?”  “Can I ever change my rocky ground to good soil?”

If you really stop to think about it, you might be surprised by the answers you come up with.  I’d like to think I’m pretty good soil, most of the time; but I certainly recognize myself in the other categories as well.

The good news is that it’s not as cut and dried as in the parable.  If you’re on a bad path, the Sower can show you a better one.  If things are rocky for you right now, the Sower is with you to help remove those rocks, turn over the dirt and try again.  If you are stuck in some thorns, the Sower can cut those thorns back and pull you out.  And if you are blessed enough to be good soil from the start, then the Sower will help you keep it that way, “thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”