Gospel Notes by Michael Whelan SM
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!”
The rest of the Gospel text below is optional:
Then the disciples came and asked him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” He answered, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. The reason I speak to them in parables is that ‘seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.’ With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says: ‘You will indeed listen, but never understand, and you will indeed look, but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; so that they might not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn—and I would heal them.’
But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.
“Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty” (Matthew 13:1-23 – NRSV)
Introductory notes
General
Chapter 13 of Matthew’s Gospel features seven parables: the parable of the sower (above), the darnel, the mustard seed, the yeast, the treasure, the pearl and the dragnet. Matthew adds five parables to the two he shares with Mark – see Mark 4:1-34. Matthew “has enlarged and supplemented his source, making it into the third major discourse of Jesus” (Daniel J Harrington, The Gospel of Matthew, Liturgical Press, 2007, 197).
The parable of the sower is generally regarded as being original to Jesus. We find this parable also in Mark – see 4:3-9 – and Luke – see 8:5-8.
A fundamental theme of the parables here is that of “choice” – do you accept the authority and identity with Jesus or not? (See also Chapter 10.) The parables remind us that there is a deep mystery to that choice.
It is not hard to imagine this being a major point of questioning and concern for the early Christian communities. See also St Paul writing perhaps thirty years earlier in Romans 9-11.
The fact that this group of parables is placed literally at the mid-point of the Gospel suggests its high significance to Matthew and his community.
Specific
in parables: C. H. Dodd defines parable as “a metaphor or simile drawn from nature or common life, arresting the hearer by its vividness or strangeness, and leaving the mind in sufficient doubt of its precise application to tease it into active thought” (C H Dodd, The Parables of the Kingdom, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1961, 5).
the sower: Although this text is called “the parable of the sower”, the focus is the seed, especially contrasting the seed in rich soil with the other three instances in which the seed is not in rich soil. The assumption is that all the seed is in fact good.
And as he sowed, some seeds fell etc: Attempts have been made to draw a link between this description of how the seed is sown in the parable with how seed was typically sown by Palestinian farmers. As Harrington points out, it is probably best to not attempt such connections as they are at best tenuous: “Rather than trying to defend the verisimilitude of the parable, it is better to take the peculiar actions of the sower as part of the ‘unusual’ dimension of the story” (Daniel j Harrington, op cit, 194).
Let anyone with ears listen: We find the same expression in 11:15. Like the seed falling on different kinds of soil, the response to the words of Jesus will vary. But the listener should be in no doubt that those who are able to hear what Jesus is saying will know and see things beyond their imaginings.
Engaging the parables in Matthew’s Gospel
In today’s Gospel – Matthew 13:1-9 – we have the first of the seven “Kingdom Parables” in Chapter 13, the Parable of the Sower. There are at least sixteen – maybe twenty-one – other parables in Matthew, depending on how you count them. The fact that Jesus deliberately uses parables to convey what the Kingdom of Heaven is like, is a matter of serious conversation in Matthew’s community. For example, immediately after Jesus tells this parable of the Sower, the disciples ask him why he speaks in parables. Jesus’ response is enigmatic, referring to Isaiah: “‘This people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes’” (13:15). This response holds the key to why Jesus speaks in parables. It also holds the key to how we should hear the parables today.
The dull senses, we might reasonably conclude, are due to inadequate if not simply bad teaching. The people, through their religious teachers, no longer encounter the living God. Their “dull hearts” must be awakened. They must learn again to “listen” and “see” God’s prodigal love at work in their lives.
Story-telling – for that is what Jesus is doing with the parables – appeals first to the imagination. Stories can awaken our hearts and enable us to see and hear otherwise concealed truths. The listener, by the very act of listening becomes part of the story. By participating in the story, prejudices and fears, ignorance and hard-heartedness can be healed.
Jesus is speaking to you. Be present to him. He knows and loves the Father as nobody else does. He knows and loves you as nobody else does. He is telling you this Parable of the Sower to awaken your heart to his message of love, to enable you to see and hear differently. Approach your reading of the parable as a personal and intimate conversation. We are familiar with the allegorical interpretation that Matthew gives to this parable – see 13:18-23. Set that aside for the moment.
Recall the advice of two of the greatest spiritual guides – St Ignatius of Loyola and St Benedict. In the Exercises, when St Ignatius is giving instructions on the “composition of place,” he invites the retreatant “to see with the eyes of the imagination.” At the beginning of his Rule, St Benedict recommends that we “listen with the ear of the heart.” See the Sower throwing the seed everywhere. What’s happening with you as you watch? Listen with the ear of the heart. What do you hear? Watch and listen without judgement. Nobody can reveal the Father like Jesus. Nobody can reveal you to yourself like Jesus. “No other person … can know God in the way Jesus does. The only way to attain such knowledge is through Jesus’ imparting of it as he wills” (Brendan Byrne SJ, Lifting the Burden: Reading Matthew’s Gospel in the Church Today, Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2004, 95).