Jesus said to his disciples:
"Hear the parable of the sower.
The seed is a free gift, "since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God" (see First Peter 1:23). The soil, however, is something over which we have some control. The point of the parable is not that some people just aren't fit to receive the word of the Kingdom. To understand the point of the parable we need to realize that within our souls we tend to have some mix of the path, the rocky ground, the thorns, and the rich soil.
But the seed sown on rich soil
is the one who hears the word and understands it,
who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.
The stones and thorns are often problems we cause ourselves. They are habit patterns of sin that resist the word of God. And the path, business as usual, our low expectations, is also not the place where we can receive God's word. But within us, if we are attentive, we do find rich soil. We must discover this deep and receptive place within us and reserve it to the word of God. Being as deep and safe within us as it is, we may think to store something else there, family, lovers, or other deep desires. But the best soil we must reserve to God's seed.
The seed we receive from God seems like a big investment precisely because of how deep it must be planted. But it is worth it.
When you multiply and become fruitful in the land,
says the LORD,
They will in those days no longer say,
"The ark of the covenant of the LORD!"
They will no longer think of it, or remember it,
or miss it, or make another.
The LORD has given us shepherds to help us discover the way to the Kingdom. He is showing us the path to Zion. He is showing us the way to fields where all rocks and thorns are forever forgotten. Let us heed the shepherds who shepherd after his own heart. As they give the word of God to us let us receive it, not just once, but continuously. Let us expose our deep soil to the word whenever it is offered.
Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,
proclaim it on distant isles, and say:
He who scattered Israel, now gathers them together,
he guards them as a shepherd his flock.
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