Parable of the Sower, Pieter Bruegel
Genesis 25:19-34 and Psalm 119:105-112 | Isaiah 55:10-13 and Psalm 65:(1-8), 9-13 | Romans 8:1-11 | Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
The Parable of the Sower and Isaiah
Matthew 13:1-9 and Isaiah 55:10-13
The prophet Isaiah today celebrates God’s word as it goes out from the heavens like rain and snow to water the earth; giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater. God’s word does not return until it accomplishes its God intended life-giving purposes.
Isaiah goes on to promise exiled Israel that by this very word they will be brought out of exile in a joyful Second Exodus. In peace they will return to the Promise Land accompanied by a clapping and singing new creation. God’s word will accomplish its life-giving purposes!
God’s prophets often referred to Israel’s exile as their being uprooted from the land in which God had planted them. The return from exile then, could be described as God one day sowing his holy seed in the Promise land once again.
In our Gospel reading today Jesus comes announcing the arrival of the kingdom of heaven and tells a parable about seed being sown in the land. Isaiah’s promise is being fulfilled. God’s word is going forth to transform and restore God’s people to live under God’s reign!
But if Jesus’ parable signals to his hearers that they are living in the days of the return, it also warns them that they must heed this word. Israel’s God is sowing his prophetic word to restore his people, but they must have “ears to hear.”
Jesus points the way forward. Only those who hear the word he proclaims and holds it fast will participate in Israel’s eschatological restoration. Not heeding it or turning away from it, one remains in exile.
Jesus’ contemporaries thought the kingdom of heaven would come in a grand, glorious, overwhelming way. But Jesus comes in humility rather than glory. He does not come like a king wielding a sword but like a farmer sowing seed; scattering the “word of the Kingdom.”
This word of the kingdom, though powerful and life-giving, is scattered in vulnerability and without coercion. Like the farmer’s prodigal sowing of seed on many types of soil, his word is falling on a lot of unproductive ground and faces different forms of opposition.
Yet the parable does not end with opposition or apparent failure. Its final image is one of abundance: seed that falls on good soil, takes root, is nurtured, and bears a bountiful harvest. In this way, Jesus promises that the good news of the kingdom will accomplish its purpose.
Indeed, Matthew’s Gospel comes to its own climax when The Word himself (the “autobasileia!”) is planted like a vulnerable seed in the ground to bring God’s kingdom through his death and resurrection.
Ultimately it is this Word that Isaiah refers us to when he says, “...so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” Thanks be to God!
~ Jesus gives those who follow him further understanding of his parable. ~
The Interpretation of the Parable of the Sower and Moses
Matthew 13:18-23 and Deuteronomy 6:4-5
Just as the farmer’s seed is sown on various types of ground and encounters various types of conditions, so Jesus’ word of the kingdom falls on various types of people likened to different soils. This is only appropriate since God created Adam (Humanity) from the dirt!
The seed along the path is one who hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it. Under-standing here is not only an intellectual issue but rather a matter of not standing-under God’s word.
Jesus says this is the work of the evil one, who snatches the word away from our hearts. What might that look like? Who knows, probably a rather mundane experience. Yet the point is clear: dark cosmic powers are at work in opposition to the ministry of Christ and his Church.
With the seed sown on rocky ground Jesus reminds us that a joyful and dramatic conversion (“getting saved”) is no guarantee of final salvation. We must persevere in following Jesus in the way of the cross even when trouble and persecution come our way.
The rocky ground reminds us of Rocky. Like Peter, many hear the word & enthusiastic- ally say we will follow Jesus. But when faced with trouble, in Peter’s case the violent power of the Empire, we do not endure. Fear of persecution and death overcomes our discipleship.
With the seed sown among the thorns Jesus describes those who hear the life-giving word but then spend their lives trying to secure their lives through the false promises of wealth. And so the weeds of worry and wealth choke out the word that says, “Do not worry about your life…”
If the second soil reminds us of the opposition of the empire to the kingdom of God, then the third soil reminds us of the opposition of the market to the kingdom of God. The church only deepens the problem when she tries to mega-market the word of the kingdom.
The good soil, in direct contrast to the first soil, not only hears the word but also under-stands it. To stand-under this word is to enter into discipleship to Jesus and so come to bear the fruit of the kingdom (remember, in Israel’s scriptures to truly “hear” means to “obey”).
Stanley Hauerwas expounds on this, “Jesus himself is the parable of the Father making manifest God’s kingdom. Our recognition of that revelation requires our transformation (through discipleship) in order that we might see that this man, this Jesus, brings the reign of God.” *
Jews might hear Jesus’ parable as referencing Israel’s central confession prayed devoutly two times daily. “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deut. 6:4f).
The first soil fails to love God with the heart (the seed is snatch from the heart). The second soil fails to love God with the soul (give their life up for him in mission). The third soil fails to love God with their strength (strength interpreted as wealth in Jewish tradition).
The good soil hears Gods word and seeks to understand. To seek understanding is to follow Jesus. To follow Jesus is to learn to, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”
*Hauerwas, Matthew (Brazos Press)