He who has ears to hear, let him hear! The parable of the Sower

Now it came to pass, afterward, that He went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him, and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities -- Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for Him from their substance.

And when a great multitude had gathered, and they had come to Him from every city, He spoke by a parable: "A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold." When He had said these things He cried, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" Then His disciples asked Him, saying, "What does this parable mean?" And He said, "To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that

'Seeing they may not see,

And hearing they may not understand.'

"Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are chocked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience."

- Luke 8:1-15

Yesterday, the lectionary gave us the story of the woman who bathed Jesus' feet with her tears, and anointed them with fragrant oil. Jesus was at dinner in a Pharisee's house -- the Pharisee, Simon, was scandalized because this was a sinful woman. But Jesus told a parable about forgiveness and love, which Simon understood. Jesus pointed out all that the woman had done for Him, in contrast to Simon, His host. And He said, "Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little." He told the woman her sins were forgiven -- and those at table wondered who He was that He could do this. But He replied to her, "Your faith has saved you. Go in peace."

Now it came to pass, afterward, that He went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him, and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities -- Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for Him from their substance. After the story of the woman who washed His feet with her tears, and bathed them in fragrant oil, we get another picture of Jesus' ministry. Luke includes for us the many women who help, assist and follow Him. And again, as with so much of this Gospel, we see they are to a great extent outcasts of the society, former sinners. There is Mary Magdalene (by tradition called Apostle to the Apostles), out of whom was cast seven demons. Joanna is the wife of the steward of Herod, a high position in the house of a powerful and ruthless ruler, the one who has imprisoned John and whom Jesus will scathingly call "that fox." A steward is like a treasurer, someone who manages the finances of House such as Herod's. And we are told that these women and others like them -- "many others" -- provided for Jesus' ministry out of their own resources. So, Jesus keeps company with all those who love Him, while to others' eyes their identities, in so many 'worldly' ways, might cause scandal. In this is an echo and affirmation of the lessons from yesterday's reading. In Jesus is, in some great sense, the place in which conflicts are resolved, through the love and faith in Him.

And when a great multitude had gathered, and they had come to Him from every city, He spoke by a parable: "A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold." When He had said these things He cried, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" Jesus gives us -- a part of the great multitude -- the parable of the Sower. This parable is found in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. We are all familiar with this image of Christ (and by extension, those who are "sent out" to sow this seed) as the Sower. But we have to picture, if we will, the story told before the crowd, and how they might understand it. Imagine it told for the first time, without an explanation of its meaning. Jesus teaches us His intention, when we're told He says, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

Then His disciples asked Him, saying, "What does this parable mean?" And He said, "To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that 'Seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.'" This quotation is from the Book of Isaiah. It gives us insight into the role of Jesus as judge in a messianic context. Who can understand? Who has ears to hear? To be allowed to participate in that kingdom depends on us: on what spiritual sight and hearing we cultivate within ourselves. Are our hearts open to the meanings in the words? to real understanding? or are they hardened as in the text from Isaiah?

"Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are chocked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience." What's interesting here about Jesus' explanation is the four "stages" or categories He describes. There are those who fall prey to the "evil one" -- the devil, in whose hearts the word is immediately taken away, so that they cannot be saved. There is the next stage in which faith seems to starting, but temptation plucks it out. Then there are those of us for whom the realities of this world are all too much: they cover up that seed and its fruit, and we lose sight of this purpose of the production of such fruits of faith. And finally there are those "having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience." Perhaps in some way we can all relate to each of these stages; after all, many of us will have experienced one or more or each of them. We may have stumbled on the road of faith in one way or another; it is a constant and always new journey. I think one great key to these passages though is in Jesus' final statement here: to "keep it and bear fruit with patience." And it is that great virtue of patience that we need to keep in mind, to cultivate and to understand. In loving God, one may at times find great loneliness, or loss. It is not always an easy road. We may be impatient to see great fruits we have built up in our expectations, but the life of wisdom the Spirit invites us to may be without the seemingly spectacular highs and lows of worldly life -- a cultivation of the joys of the heart of faith is something different and requires patience, including with the times when we may be faced with great changes we need to make in our lives and especially in ourselves and our outlook. We may perhaps experience these changes as a sense of loss. Patience is the great key to faith - we are all on the journey, and not on a race to an end.

There is so much to learn in the journey of faith. Christ keeps company with those who could scathingly be looked at as spiritual outsiders: former sinners, even the wife of Herod's steward. Yesterday we read of the great expression of genuine love and faith from a sinful woman in public (at a Pharisee's house, no less) toward Jesus. But all is accomplished in time. Just as in the Gospels there are so many lessons for us to take in, we mustn't forget that these lessons will be those we are called upon to learn in our own lives and through our own experiences. They are not just stories for us to memorize and learn from a Book! The Book of the Church is the Book in which we learn about the things that are alive in us, which we will be expected to live for ourselves and learn for ourselves, through our own experiences -- and for that we do need patience. To bear the fruits He asks of us takes patience, discernment, awareness, and the willingness to change what we are called upon to change. It is a day to day work -- not filled necessarily with great worldly rewards, but rewards nevertheless which will surprise us, fulfill us, keep us going. In my experience, these rewards come in unexpected forms -- and we must be prepared to receive them as we are given. Can you handle that, and the aloneness or disappointed expectations we may sometimes feel as we go forward? Can you receive the forms of reward you may not have expected (nor even previously desired)? The patience of the saints is something we may all have heard about -- but from each of us it is required to learn and grow and move on into the fruits of our personal faith. It's in the love of Christ that such conflicts are resolved. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.