15th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Fr Dominic’s Homily
Today we hear Jesus speaking one of his most famous parables about the seed and the sower.
So what actually is a parable? It is often the comparison of two stories or people within a story – but there is always a riddle or a twist within that needs to be understood. If you can see the twist then it helps you to understand the parable.
The Disciples ask Jesus why he uses parables. He tells us that it is in order to reveal to those of open hearts the secrets of the kingdom and conceal them from the hard of heart. So it’s all about our disposition of heart. It’s about wisdom and not intelligence.
They are enigmatic: they conceal more than they reveal and are mystical and paradoxical in nature. They need grace of an open heart to understand
Anyone at that time knew that seed was expensive to buy and the last thing you would do is to be frivolous with it. You would take care not to lose any.
Yet here we have a seemingly careless sower who is apparently prodigal, carelessly generous, in his approach who allows the seed to fall everywhere apart from the ground that has been carefully prepared for it.
Now at that time an ordinary harvest would on average yield a harvest of 7 fold. So a yield of 10 fold would be extremely good. 60 fold would be unheard of and 100 fold would be utterly miraculous.
So what does it all mean? Well the seed is the word indicating that Jesus is in fact the sower who appears to be careless in spreading his world to everyone.
He represents a farmer who buys and flings the seeds indiscriminately offering the kingdom of God to everyone.
Then he describes four different kinds of soils.
The first soil is the Path where the birds represent the devil carrying away words that are heard but not understood. Maybe people hear about the Church in the wrong way and the devil can use this to delude people.
The second soil is rocky and shallow so that the seeds may still germinate and grow – possibly even faster due to the warmth – but they soon wither and die. These represent people who perhaps convert but then when walking the path encounter some suffering, persecution or hardship and so fall away. Perhaps those whose faith are based more on feeling than decision.
The third soil harbours thorns that choke the seed. The cares of the world or the lure of riches strangle the seed so that whilst they exist they bear no fruit.
The fourth type of soil is fertile and allows the roots to go deep so that fruit can be yielded in abundance. The fruit are the signs and wonders drawing people to the kingdom. Think of some of the saints that continue to draw people to God maybe hundreds of years after their deaths.
So this parable encourages us to undertake an examination of conscience. What kind of soil am I? Perhaps we think we are the good soil. But in reality we can become like each one of these soils over time.
How are we allowing the seeds of the kingdom to grow in us? Are we obsessed with our work, our possessions or even families? Or are we hard hearted and bitter?
How many of us hear the Word of God with joy and follow Christ in good times, but fall away in the times of trial?
We need to let our spiritual roots grow deeper; our human flourishing depends on letting the seed of God’s Word truly find a home in our hearts.
Our hearts should be fertile soil for the new life of God’s word that longs to take root and dwell within us. When we hear the word of God we must accept it deeply into our hearts and then water and nurture it with the sacraments.
The devil is always prowling around ready to persuade us that we are wrong to follow Jesus. If we are not careful we can listen to him. We must endure the trials that come our way.
Let us open our hearts to God’s word so that the seeds may take deep root and yield an abundance of fruit for his kingdom in our lives.