What did they hear?

This coming Sunday is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Matthew 13 is a “day of parables.” The parable of the sower is spoken in public to great crowds (vv. 1–3), but its explanation and the teaching about parables are spoken only to the disciples (vv. 10–11). More parables are then spoken to ‘the crowds’ (v. 34), but the crowds are again left behind (v. 36), and the second explanation and further parables are spoken to the disciples in ‘the house’ (which Jesus had left in v. 1). The unresponsive crowds are thus clearly distinguished from the disciples to whom alone explanation is given, and this distinction is spelt out in vv. 11–17.

The structure of our gospel reading is a bit odd:

• the parable of the sower and the seed (vv.1–9)
• a passage explaining parables and the need for their explanation (vv.10–17), and
• lastly an explanation of the parable of the sower and seed (18–23).

Despite the traditional title of the parable, “The Sower and the See,” the real focus is on the seed and their yields.  More important than the fate of the four different plantings is the contrast between the three unsuccessful planting and the fourth superabundantly successful one.

The parables focus on the seeds is an allegory for those who hear the word of the kingdom proclaimed. The parables describe the varying receptiveness to what they hear; all hear the same word. Yet each type of person is identified as what was sown in a certain place (v.19). This might strike us as odd since we are biased to understand the “seed” as the Word of God proclaimed, but understanding of the parable rests on the interaction of the unvarying seed with the various types of ground. It is interesting to note that the traditional German title is, Gleichnis vom viererlei Acker, “Parable of the four types of ground.” [France 2007, 503]

• seed sown on the path… without understanding: To understand is more than an intellectual grasp of the message; cf. the contrast in 7:24ff. between hearing and ‘doing’ the word. The word which is only heard is easy prey for the evil one. It is a non-starter.
• seed sown on rocky ground …receives it with joy: But to start is not necessarily to finish. Here the word is received (not ‘understood’) with joy, but joy without understanding and commitment cannot last: lasts only for a time is literally ‘is temporary’. Tribulation is a general term for suffering which comes from outside; persecution is deliberately inflicted, and usually implies a religious motive. Falls away is literally ‘is tripped up’ (cf. 5:29–30); it is not a gradual loss of interest, but a collapse under pressure. This scenario would be familiar to those who farmed the rocky land of Galilee, where the bedrock is often close to the surface.
• seed sown among thorns …  This time the soil is good, but it is already taken up. The world (as opposed to the kingdom of God) offers both anxiety and lures (the normal meaning of this word, apatē, is ‘deceit’), each occupying the attention and energy in a way that prevents even good soil from bearing fruit
• seed sown on rich soil: Hearing is matched with understanding, and the consequences are a superabundant yield.

Image credit: “The Sower” Vincent van Gogh (June 1888), Van Gogh Museum, Public Domain