That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: "Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!"
"Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty."
Overview of the parable of the sower
The seed which fell on the path
The seed which fell on rocky ground
The seed which fell among thorns
The seed which fell on good soil
Overview of the parable of the sower
"The seed is the word of God" (Luke 8.11) and of course the Word is Christ, spoken by the Father. The Father's words, then, come to us as tiny, gentle little things which fall into our heart. After that we must water them, tend them and care for them so they take root and grow in us. "I am the vine, you are the branches." (John 15.5) The Father participates in this action through the Holy Spirit. "My Father is the vine grower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit." (John 15.1-2) God comes to us as the sound of "sheer silence," (1 Kings 19.12) an image which fits beautifully with that of a seed, so easily overlooked.
Even before the seed falls we have responsibility to work the soil of our hearts so they are receptive to gardening. Remove the weeds then; till the soil.
The seed which fell on the path
"When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path."
There is obvious moral culpability hear, i.e., "it's our fault." Even though the text reads "and does not understand it" and we may think the recipient blameless, in fact morally this is called "vincible ignorance," that is, the kind of ignorance which we're capable of overcoming if we wish. The defect lies with us and it's intentional.
The seed which was stolen from us by the evil one didn't take root because it fell on hard, packed soil. The hard soil in our hearts is that which is not tilled. The plow of suffering was not allowed to pass through it. Out of fear for ourselves we prevented any persecution from breaking up our hard hearts. We would suffer no insult. The commerce of the world we allowed to walk through our hearts, pack it down, harden us. Into what soil then can God's word fall? It is entirely hardened by pride. Therefore even when we hear the life-giving, precious words of Christ, they enter a heart which is watched over by Satan, the prince of this earth to whom we have unknowingly given ourselves by giving ourselves to the world, and he quickly takes what falls there, since there are no hidden furrows for the seed to fall into, out of his prying eyes. This should be a dramatic warning for us, who are frightened above all by the thought of a stolen or wasted seed of the Word.
The seed which fell on rocky ground
The heart or area of the heart with rocky soil has no depth. The soil which is there is the surface soil of emotion, curiosity, passing interest. This is why it immediately receives the word with joy. It is accustomed to embracing passing interests for a short while until something else grabs its attention. We have all known people who have received God's word with a great emotional outburst but don't persevere. Perhaps if we examine ourselves deeply enough we will find areas in our own hearts with this kind of soil.
"Troubles and persecutions" for the early Christians were very real, external political and social realities. In some parts of the world they still are. For those in the West we can say troubles and persecutions are external and internal.
External troubles and persecutions. These come to us from the outside when we begin persevering in the life of the Word. Others are used by God to test us (for he disciplines those he loves) or by the tempter to lure us. It includes the lure of sin, the pressure to conform, teasing, taunts or direct persecution from our workplace, school, societal institutions, groups or elsewhere. All trials and temptations coming from outside are meant to deepen our perseverance but for many they are too much.
Internal troubles and persecutions. The battle of the spiritual life is primarily an internal one of the heart. Internal troubles include dryness, aridity or lack of interest in prayer, pressing doubts, not spending sufficient time in prayer, lack of discipline and order, an unwillingness to do penance, a continual habit of sin and so forth. All these internal tribulations serve to discourage the soul and to test its depth and commitment to God. At this time the soul needs to remember who its savior is, that it is not saved by its own merits or strength of will, and to cast itself in full humility before God.
The answer to the problem of being scorched by the noonday sun is, of course, depth. The seed must pass quickly beyond the shallow soil of emotion into the deep soil of resolution, conversion, penance, prayer and simplicity. There protected from the heat of the sun and the passing shallow eyes of the tempter it will seek its nourishment in the deep wells of the soul whose water table is Christ. And then when it must act it will not be out of whim or passing fancy.
The seed which fell among thorns
These are the ones who hear the word but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word. St. Luke puts it "the cares and riches and pleasures of life." (Luke 8.14) I can think of no other admonition or warning in the gospel which causes me greater concern than this. Great is my desire for the word to be fruitful in my life, great is my concern that the ever-pressing anxieties of life may stifle it.
It is impossible that we not have cares. It is equally impossible that we not have pleasures. It would be a mistake, then, to set forth on a disciplined program of undoing our "cares and riches and pleasures" and hoping the Word fills that void. What we must do is substitute our worldly cares for caring about heeding God's commands. Let our lure be the lure for hearing God's word. Let our riches be the virtue which we want to store in heaven. Let our pleasure be to sit at the master's feet and listen and adore him. Let our worry in life be whether we are following the gospel.
It is said that it is impossible to have more than one thing which is equally physically painful at one time. We may have more than one bodily pain at once but only one takes precedence. The same can be said for cares and riches and pleasures. If our care is primarily for the gospel life that will naturally shove out worldly cares. If our pleasure becomes the hearing of God's word spoken deep in our heart that will drive out the pleasure of worldly noise and distraction.
So how does the gospel life become our concern? How do we make God's word our pleasure? Prayer. Prayer is where we first open the door of our heart to God's grace. But we must resolve to do this continually. Prayer and meditating on God's word has to become our daily sustenance. For just as it is true that we cannot have opposite attractions in our heart simultaneously, one always has more draw, it is also true that we cannot have the Word as our food each day without naturally eating less of the world. And if we eat more at the table of the world we are naturally eating less of God. Choose your food this day and your "cares and riches and pleasures" will follow.
The seed which fell on good soil
Those with good soil for the Word in their heart are the ones who hear the Word, understand it and bear fruit. They hear it through preaching or lived example. They understand the truth of it because they have opened their heart to God's grace in humility. They have understood the implications for their life and have courageously sought penance and conversion so as to walk along the gospel path. Finally, they bear fruit through action. "Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves." (James 1.22)