(Audio)
The LORD is calling us to bear fruit. He wants us to hear his word and understand it so that we can yield a hundred or sixty or thirty fold. It is possible to hear the word of God without understanding it. To understand, to stand under, is a posture of humility and receptivity to the word.
The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the Kingdom
without understanding it,
and the Evil One comes and steals away
what was sown in his heart.
To not understand the word is not a failure of intelligence. It is rather to have only a brushing contact with it where we leave it on the path for the Evil One to steal away. We must choose to consciously engage with the seeds the LORD gives us. We must study them. We must desire to receive them fully into our hearts.
The seed sown on rocky ground
is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy.
But he has no root and lasts only for a time.
Yet even if we do get the seed off the path and into the soil it does no good if there isn't enough room in us for it to transform us by its roots. If we insist on keeping our nutrients, our time, talent and treasure, for ourselves and our own purposes then the seeds will indeed whither and not bear fruit. The possibility of self-deception exists here. For we might be joyful about the seed sown knowing that growing plants are a good thing but ignoring the warning signs as it reaches the limits of growth we impose on it by our hardness of heart.
The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word,
but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word
and it bears no fruit.
At any stage our anxieties and worldly desires may become thorns. These not only prevent further growth of the seed but become directly harmful and hostile to it. Our desires and fears have that potential.
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.
If we choose to offer the seed rich soil rather than the path, or rocky ground, or thorns, we can be assured that the fruit will grow almost automatically.
He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how (see Mark 4:27)
The commandments are an example of a seed we must internalize. They seem to threaten us when we first hear them and that is because they do compete with the thorns in us. They seem difficult because our nutrients are well invested in vacuous and empty things instead. But if we choose to understand them we realize that they are made to ensure the freedom of a people coming from a place of slavery.
I, the LORD, am your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.
The psalmist is one who is well practiced in the proper understanding of these words of everlasting life. He can teach us just how to understand and indeed to treasure the words and decrees of such a generous sower.
The law of the LORD is perfect,
refreshing the soul;
The decree of the LORD is trustworthy,
giving wisdom to the simple.
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