The Parable of the Sower
Fr. George Smiga
July 12/13 2008
Matthew 13: 1 - 23
Many years ago when I was in the seminary studying the bible, I was not very impressed with today’s parable of the sower. It seemed to me too obvious and to predictable. Some seed falls here, some seed falls there, some seed grows, some does not. Ok. Fine and good, let’s move on. This parable did not have much impact or meaning for me. Today, after 35 years of living, this parable is one of my favorite parables. I understand now that it not only tells us what we should believe but how we should live.
The key to understanding the parable is to realize who the sower is. We are the sower. We are the sower because we are trying to make things grow. What are we trying to make grow? Any good thing, any noble purpose, or mission or goal which we have in life. We try to make our marriage grow, to deepen it and to make it more life giving. We try to make our children grow so that they become responsible adults, believing Christians. We try to make our work productive to benefit others. We try to keep our family together in unity and respect. We try to care for an ailing person in our home. We try to build a better world, being more conscious of the weak and the marginalized, protecting the environment, supporting the dignity of every human being. Whatever good thing we try to do, whether it is personal or interpersonal or international, we are the sower trying to make things grow.
And here is where the parable is particularly valuable. It describes sowing and what a sower needs to do. The parable tells us two important things about any good effort we undertake. Number one: losses are not the same as failure. Number two: faithfulness is more important than success. Every time we undertake a good effort we need to remember that losses are not the same as failure. In any good effort there will be losses, and some of them will be great. It will be like the seed that falls on the pathway and is eaten up or the seed which flourishes for awhile and then whithers away. A marriage will come to an end. A close friend will die. A great plan will unravel. A dream will fade. All of these losses are a part of life. None of these losses mean that life is without hope or that we should give up. For all the losses, for all the seed that does not grow, other seed falls on good ground and begins to produce grain. A new relationship blossoms. An old friend reenters our life. Life takes a turn and suddenly we are blessed in a way that we had not been expecting. Losses are not the same as failure because for all the seed that does not grow other seed lands on good ground, puts down root, and produces the harvest.
This leads to the second lesson which this parable offers us: faithfulness is more important than success. Because we are not in control of which seed grows and which seed does not, because we cannot determine where each seed will fall, it is of utmost importance that we keep sowing the seed. We must not stop throwing the seed on the ground. We need to do this even when it seems that our teenager will never listen, or our parents will never understand. We need to do this even when it seems our family will never be reconciled or we will never find forgiveness. We need to keep doing this even when the unborn will not be protected, the poor will not be fed, the environment will not be respected. In spite of all this lack of success, we must keep sowing seeds of peace, reconciliation, justice, and love. Many of those seeds will not grow, but the few which fall on good soil will produce the harvest. Only God can bring about the harvest, but that harvest cannot happen unless we keep sowing good seed on the earth.
The parable of the sower then gives us direction in any good effort we undertake. It tells us not to be paralyzed by our losses, but keep sowing the seed of God’s love in our lives. Ultimately this parable is a parable about freedom, because it tells us we can never change the heart of another person. We do not have the power to establish God’s kingdom. Therefore, our only responsibility is faithfulness. This parable tells us that when we stand before the king on the last day, we will know the one question which he will ask us. Christ will not ask us: “Why did you not change the heart of that person; Why did you not reconcile your family; Why did you not establish justice in the world?” The one question Christ will ask us is this: “Did you keep sowing the seed?”
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