On another occasion he began to teach by the sea. A very large crowd gathered around him so that he got into a boat on the sea and sat down. And the whole crowd was beside the sea on land. 2 And he taught them at length in parables, and in the course of his instruction he said to them, 3 “Hear this! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched and it withered for lack of roots.7 Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it and it produced no grain. 8 And some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit. It came up and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” 9 He added, “Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.”
Enthusiastic crowds continued to gather around Jesus to hear his teaching and were pressing on him, so he got into a boat on the Sea of Galilee and taught the crowd on the shore using parables. The sloping shores would have provided a natural amphitheater so the crowds would be able to hear Jesus. Parables in OT times included comparisons, analogies, sayings, stories, and riddles, all of which would have been familiar to Jesus’ audience. Jesus used parables as teaching tools because of the impact they had on his audience. Jesus, “Spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it (Mk. 4:33).”
In ancient Palestine, it was common practice to use stones to create boundaries for the fields being cultivated (Prov. 24:31). The boundary was sometimes demarcated by stones placed at fixed intervals. There were usually rough paths by the field, so seeds that fell on the path had no soil to cover and protect them from birds. Some of the ground in ancient Palestine was rocky and only had a light covering of soil over the rock so the seed that fell there grew quickly but lacked deep roots or moisture so the crop would wither and die in the sun. Sometimes the roots of the thorns from the last harvest were not dug up when preparing the soil, so seeds that fell among the thorns were smothered when the new thorns grew. The seeds and the fields are important, but the Sower plays a minor role.
Jesus preached about the Kingdom of God and worked signs and wonders but the response was mixed even though Jesus promised and demonstrated (Jn. 6:1-15) that God’s Kingdom would come with abundance. Jesus said that the Sower threw seeds on the path, on rocky ground, and among the thorns to make the point that people had varying responses to the message of the Kingdom of God. Sowing in such places could also have meant that the Kingdom was being expanded to include the Gentiles since Israel was God’s original rich soil and was rejecting Jesus’ teaching. The rich soil represents individuals with open hearts, understanding, and a readiness to live according to the teachings of Jesus who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit—thirty, sixty, or even a hundredfold.
Almighty God, grant us the grace to be like fertile soil ready to receive and nurture the seeds of your Word. Help us to remove any thorns that may choke our growth, and may we place our hope in the glory of your kingdom that awaits us at the end of our journey. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
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References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
Orchard, Bernard, et al. A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture. Feb. 1953.
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