Tag Archives: Sower

Context

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This coming Sunday is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time. In the previous post we considered the definition of a parable. In this post we’ll consider the context leading up to this gospel. Last Sunday’s gospel was composed on the final pericope in Matthew 11; today our gospel begins with Mt 13:1.  One can rightly ask, “What happened to chapter 12?”  As it happens, Matthew 12 is not used on any Sunday or Solemnity in the church’s celebrations – and with respect to bible study, that is a critical omission because Mt 13:1-23, the Parable of the Sower along with its explanation, is Jesus’ response to the events of chapter 12. Continue reading →

Parables

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This coming Sunday is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time in Lectionary Cycle A. We read from Matthew 13, known as a “day of parables.” What is a “Parable”? Definition: “At its simplest a parable is a metaphor or simile  drawn from nature or common life,  arresting the hearer by its vividness or strangeness,  and leaving the mind in sufficient doubt about its precise application to tease it into active thought.” (C. H. Dodd, The Parables of the Kingdom, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1961, p. 5)  Less accurate, but perhaps more to the point – when heard, a parable should give you pause and turn your world upside down. Continue reading →

Persistent Generosity

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Persistence Generosity 

In the traditional understanding of the parable of “The Sower and Seed,” the focus is often on the soil as a description of our hearts, of our openness to the word of God being sown into our lives. The soil/heart is described as a well-trod path, rocky ground, a bramble of thorns, or rich fertile soil. There is some insight there to be sure, but it does not necessarily give insight into a remedy.  Some have described it as “the soil under your feet”. All one must do is to look down, assess the conditions where you stand in life, and move. Move to the rich fertile soil – and yes, along the way you will have to deal with birds, the weeds and the scorching sun.

At least two things stand out for me about the Sower: generosity and persistence. Continue reading →

The Seed that Grows Itself

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parable_SowerMark alone records this parable: He said, “This is how it is with the kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land  and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how. Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come.”  (Mark 4:26-29)

Placed beyond the parable of the Sower (vv.1-9) and its explanation, it is easy for the significance of this to be lost in the fast-paced narrative of Mark’s gospel. In the parable of the Sower, the meaning of the interim time before the fruits appear has a positive sense: the time of waiting is a time for sowing, an opportunity for seed to be scattered in the field. There is also a teaching that in that interim period there will be barriers, resistance, and problems encountered in the sowing of the seed as it comes to fruition.

Continue reading →