Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time, Sunday 16th July

Matthew 13:1–23

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the lake. 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: ‘Imagine! 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!’ Then the disciples came and asked him, ‘Why do you speak to them in parables?’ He answered, ‘To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. The reason I speak to them in parables is that “seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.” With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says:
“You will indeed listen, but never understand, and you will indeed look, but never perceive.
For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; so that they might not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn— and I would heal them.”
But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it. ‘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.’

Commentary

Today Jesus is teaching in parables. It is the special way that Jesus teaches. Why Jesus is the greatest teacher? Many would answer: “He teaches in parables.” We all know about his. But, what exactly is parabolic teaching?

Parabolic teaching is not transferring of knowledge. It is through parables that we learn wisdom. In other words, in reading or listening to parables, we get new insights to our life. How can we get such new sights about our life through parables? It is simple. All parables are told in a way of paradox. In modern philosophical terms, there is dialectic in the parables. Such tensions in a parable reveals unexpected dimensions of how things could be look at. Further, since all parables are told in story form, we are invited to get into the story and be part of it so that we can experience the climax of the parable, which is always a surprise to us.

Now, let’s turn to today’s Gospel, the parable of the sower. The actual parable told by Jesus is in verses 4 to 9: “Imagine! 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!”

In these verses, Jesus first invites his audience to get into the parable by imagination in the beginning and come out of the parable by listen with their ears. Spiritually, he asks us to experience this parable with our imagination through our physical sense organ, our ears. The focus of these verses is not on the different qualities of the soil, but on the sower. Who do you think is the sower in this parable told by Jesus? If we recall that Jesus is the focal point of the four Gospels, we can easily come up with the answer that the sower is God, who continues to sow regardless how we receive him because He love us. At this point, we may ask ourselves, how many times that we feel feed up and give up to people who do not respond to our love.

Next, we look at verses 10 to 15: Then the disciples came and asked him, ‘Why do you speak to them in parables?’ He answered, ‘To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. The reason I speak to them in parables is that “seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.” With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says: “You will indeed listen, but never understand, and you will indeed look, but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; so that they might not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn—and I would heal them.”

It is with these verses that Jesus turns the parable into a wider sense of human events that have become lessons or wisdoms of life. Jesus reminds us that we are leading a life that we have not paid much attention to. We see but don’t perceive, we hear but not listen, we have so much information but don’t understand. And finally, Jesus points out here that it is all because of our heart has grown dull, and we don’t care about our life or the meaning and purpose of our life any more. Here we can sense the strong paradox in the parable. Through the tensions in the parable, Jesus wants us to wake up and turn to God.

As soon as we have noted the paradox in the parable, Jesus points us to verses 16 and 17: “But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.” This is the Erika moment. We are suddenly enlightened by the Jesus’ words. We begin to understanding Jesus’ teaching.

Have been enlightened by Jesus’ teaching, he invites us to continue to ponder the parable with verses 18 to 13: “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.” These verses are for us Catholics as a community as well as individuals. Our Church has grown and settled and the question for the community is why some of us remind faithful to the Church and others don’t; while the question for individual Catholics like you and me is do I bear fruit or not? Amen.