15^th Sunday in ordinary time – Isaiah 55:10-11 and Matthew 13:1-23

 One third of Jesus’ teachings were in parables. His objective was to make His message as simple as possible so that the message of the kingdom would take root and bear an abundant harvest. Chapter thirteen has seven parables relating to the kingdom of heaven and the first of these parables is the parable of the sower.

Right away I want to draw your attention to the name of this parable. The ‘parable of the sower’ is a misleading title that appears in our Bibles. Over the years we have come to believe that the focus of the parable is on the sower. The focus of the parable is not the sower or the seed but the soil or the listeners of the parable.

Interestingly while the parable does speak of the sower, who would have been a male peasant farmer, it does not claim that the sower was the owner of the land. This means that any hired help disconnected from the final output of the harvest could have been given the job. Being a hired help, he would simply do the job at hand, namely to scatter seeds. The sower scatters his seed carelessly, recklessly, seemingly wasting much of the seed on ground that holds little promise for a fruitful harvest.

 However, when we reorient our minds to the purpose of the parable, we come to realize that what really matters is the soil. Make no mistake, the parable is not a critique of the sower and how he sows but on the soil. Hence this parable is really about us—those who hear the “word of the kingdom” and this kingdom is filled with mixed responses to Jesus and his ministry even today.

The readers of Matthew’s Gospel would have had no problem understanding this parable for they were living its consequences. Matthew’s community was no care free hippie generation. Their decision to follow Christ clandestinely or openly meant that consequences followed.  Believers faced constant persecution, from family rejection to state-enforced death

It is no wonder that Matthew places this parable first among the seven. The parable served as a reminder to Matthews’s early Christian community of the soil they could be in response to the divine sower’s actions.  It was natural that given the amount of persecution they faced the response would be as varied as those in the parable.

Some fell on the path and are snatched by the evil one to give up their faith immediately. Some who fell on rocky ground were those that were enamoured by the message of Jesus but gave it up as quickly in the face of persecution.  Then there were those in the early Church who were fascinated by the message of Jesus but rejected it, for that meant giving up the lifestyle of wealth and the thought of giving up their wealth choked their desire.

Finally we come to those in Matthew’s community that took solace and consolation from this parable; those who endured the onslaught of rejection and persecution. Their fidelity to the message of Christ paid off, for their lives bore fruit and witness in the kingdom.

Interestingly there is no uniform output even from those who were receptive to the seed.  Following Christ may bring us unity but not uniformity. That’s why spiritual comparison is a futile exercise. Each of us, before the Lord, knows the kind of soil we are. Do not judge your harvest by another’s basket; your soil has its own story with the Saviour. The kingdom is a partnership of the divine and the human. Think about it, God could be a solo artist in bringing about His kingdom, yet he wants me to partner in His divine plan.

Even though the parables focus is not on the sower we could learn a lesson or two from the sowers that we in the Church have become. Too often we play it safe, sowing the word only where we are confident it will be well received, and only where those who receive it are likely to become contributing members of our congregations. When we only speak to the safe and receptive, we turn the Church into an exclusive club

While it is true that the parable calls us to be good and receptive soil, for a moment let us also embrace the task of being ‘sowers’ who are willing to risk sowing God’s word via WhatsApp and Facebook and Instagram. Notice how much of social media has become about us and what we do each day and so little about the Lord and how we could spread his message. Social media asks us to broadcast our lives; faith calls us to broadcast His light. We must stop scrolling past our calling and start sowing into the digital wilderness

Jesus’ approach to mission is quite at odds with our play-it-safe instincts. He gives us the freedom to take risks for the sake of the gospel. Perhaps modern sowing is not meant to be on fields anymore but via our digital devices. Playing it safe in mission is the quickest way to guarantee a barren harves

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