A sower went out to sow.
We contain in ourselves in varying percentages all of the types of ground, the path, the rocky ground, the thorns, and even also rich soil. If we reflect we can identify all of the different possibilities for the seed as things we ourselves have experienced.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path,
and birds came and ate it up.
These birds can describe what happens when we encounter the word but it does not penetrate us at all. We may feel as though we heard or read something profoundly spiritual and then moments later forget what it was. An encounter at the most superficial level does not provide and space for the seed to grow. And the seed is not permitted to simply sit on the path hoping to work its way down into the soil. Rather, the world is hostile to the word, and with myriad distractions and counterarguments it quickly makes us lose track of what we saw in the seed in the first place, if, that is, it never penetrates the surface of the soil. We must not become a path that proudly imagines itself to become a garden just because of the number of seeds it has received.
Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil.
It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep,
This seed sprang up at once. At first this might have made it seem strong or healthy. Rather, it did so precisely because it lacked what it was meant to find in the depths of the soil. When the ground of our hearts is too hard the seed will not be able to put down roots into our depths where God himself can nourish it. It will instead seek the nutrition it needs from above, from the world. If consolation can't come from God consolation will be sought in other ways. Those consolations may still be masked in the guise in spirituality, but in reality the leaves of the plant will actually be growing up toward the comfort that the light of vanity, the breeze of pleasure, and the self-asserting power of an imposing presence. All of these are more readily at hand for the seed than what it might find deeper in the earth. But only that which is deep is sustainable. The false promises of the world will leave the plant scorched because of the fundamental absence of the nourishing moisture in the soil, and the winds of every doctrine (see Ephesians 4:14) may well uproot it due to lack of roots.
Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it.
Thorns are perhaps the most obvious danger of which Jesus warned. Thorns are other conflicting priorities that prevent the seed from having the space it needs for growth. But for being obvious, these thorns are no less dangerous. For many of us are all to ready to try to cultivate both thorns and seeds in our own lives. We assume that the seed is all but invincible and therefore force it to contend with all sorts of hostile influences. And yet we have the temerity to complain when this results in a dry and unrewarding spiritual life.
But some seed fell on rich soil
It is possible for us to be rich soil in which the seed takes root deeply. It means we can't be content with any of the alternative scenarios. We need more the mere surface level contact with the word. This means prayer, study, and putting it into practice in our lives. It means we must address the hardness of our own hearts so that we are able to engage with the seed in the deep interior way God desires. Above all this means an openness to change and conversion that can only be a supernatural gift of grace. We all have rocks in our soil, and we are in need of the gardener himself to break them so that the seed might thrive. If we see ourselves reaching above the soil too soon to compensate ourselves, because we deserve it, or because we feel we need it, we should be cautious that perhaps we are missing some key nutrition that is meant to feed us. We must show no quarter to the thorns that compete with the Kingdom seed. They will be threat enough even if we don't make it easy for them. It is precisely in presumption that they are most free to grow. Our continued desire to be the good soil is what calls out to the gardener, what invites the seed deeply into our hearts, and makes us free to engage with it in a way that leads to true transformation. One thing is certain. If the seed doesn't grow in us it won't be because of lack of generosity on the part of the sower, or because of lack of care on the part of the gardener.
What more could have been done for my vineyard
than I have done for it? (see Isaiah 5:4).
We are all of the kinds of soil. But we are most fully identified with the type of soil where our attention is focused. This focus in turn is possible only by our graced response to the call to conversion, to take on a new and supernatural way of thinking. We are all free to make this response. The call is to whoever has ears.
We can learn a lesson from Jeremiah about some of the excuses we might make and why they are insufficient.
But the LORD answered me,
Say not, “I am too young.”
To whomever I send you, you shall go;
whatever I command you, you shall speak.
Have no fear before them,
because I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD.
Jeremiah was tempted to engage only superficially with the seed of the word that came to him. It might have been nice for a moment to hear, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you" and then get back to the business of the life he already had. But the Lord himself desired something deeper and so the Lord himself created the conditions for the seed to grow.
Then the LORD extended his hand and touched my mouth, saying,
See, I place my words in your mouth!
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