I confess that some of the best years of my life were spent in the arms of a woman who was someone else’s wife. That woman was my mother, Priscilla. (I’ll spare you from straying too far in thought). Compared to the soil on which the sower sowed the seed, Priscilla was not a path on which any wayfarer trod. She was not a rocky ground with little soil that is baked by the sun, nor was she a soil overgrown with thorns and brambles. I’ll describe her as a rich soil that produced the desired fruit.
As Jesus proclaimed the Parable of the Sower in today’s gospel, you’ll notice the finesse of a great teacher who seeks to open the thinking ducts of his students with challenging stories and allegories that are puzzling. The Parable of the Sower is prominent among other parables because it was one of the few that Jesus Himself went ahead to interpret its meaning, leaving no doubt about whom He intended the parable for and the message He wanted to convey.
Jesus implies by this parable that right inside our soul is located God’s garden. He doesn’t assume that every single seed sown would sprout and produce abundant fruit, knowing fully well that the wind will blow some away, the squirrels will feed on some, while some will just not deliver. But the Eternal Gardener continues to sow seeds of the kingdom through the instrumentality of His prophets and teachers. Our task is to cultivate this garden, manure it and remove undesired weeds. God offers us tools and implements to cultivate the garden, which are His holy word in scripture and its authoritative interpretation and teachings by His Church, the witness of many courageous men and women—saints and martyrs who have lived the faith—and the living examples of good parents and teachers. Running counter to these are the rock-solid pessimism and skepticism of a decaying culture, the thorn of moral indifference and relativism taught in our schools and orchestrated by the media, the violence and despair, the dullness and laziness that people confuse as recreation and entertainment.
We see how hard it is in our day to cultivate a good soil for the word of God. Many are hungry and starving of spiritual food but are instead provided with the junk of psychoanalysis, mind-altering medication or mere soothing motivational talks. Have these helped? Jesus’ explanation of the parable shows that God’s word is true food for the soul, stirring in many cases joy upon its hearers. The word goes on to germinate, in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy that the word shall not return void (Isaiah 55:11). There’s often hunger for God’s word; what is lacking is the openness to let the word permeate its hearer. Hence, the “footpath” people dismiss it with no further effort to understand, resulting in the seed being stolen by the evil one. The “rocky-ground” people harden their mind and heart with narrow views and ideological positions. Among them are many ideologues in the media, politics, and the entertainment industry to whom modern culture presents rock-solid stumbling block against the gospel. The “thorny-soil” people are probably many of us who place work, anxiety of paying bills and putting the next meal on the table, vacation, and other endeavors before the demands of the kingdom. The “good-soil” people are those who triumph over all tribulations, standing firm in their convictions.
Are you one of those who would love to hear God’s word only insofar as it doesn’t challenge you, expose the evil in your life or demand that you change your ways? Are you one who wouldn’t want to hear anything that would achieve a groundbreaking, rather prefer to be entertained? Do you just want to be left as you are, even if you’re overgrown with weeds and thorns? If you’re among the hearts that seek God, say this prayer: “Lord, come and heal the pains in my life, and in our world. Let your word penetrate the rock and thorns in my life. Reveal the good soil in me, that I may bear abundant fruit. Amen!”
Fr. Chukwudi Jo Okonkwo