He who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty

 "Therefore hear the parable of the sower:  When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.  This is he who received seed by the wayside.  But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while.  For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.  Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces:  some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty."

- Matthew 13:18-23

 Yesterday we read that, after Jesus taught the parable of the Sower to the multitudes, the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?"  He answered and said to them, "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.  For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.  Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.  And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:  'Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull.  Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.  'But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it." 

 "Therefore hear the parable of the sower:  When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.  This is he who received seed by the wayside.  But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while.  For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.  Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces:  some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty."  The text here gives us Jesus' explanation to His disciples of the parable of the Sower (which we read in Tuesday's reading):  For the sake of convenience, here is Jesus' telling of the parable:  "Behold, a sower went out to sow.  And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them.  Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up and because they had no depth of earth.  But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away.  And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them.  But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop:  some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

Jesus' parable of the Sower really gives us emphasis on what happens internally with faith.  His word is the seeds that are sown; the rest of the parable is about reception, and what happens in our lives with that seed that is His word and teaching.  We note the interplay of the sower and the "wicked one."  The sower sows an idea, a teaching, a word (and He is the Word).  The parable gives us an idea of what happens to that word.  It falls upon those who don't comprehend it, and immediately the wicked one (the birds in the parable) snatches it away.  There is a force at work in the world that doesn't want this word to take root, to prevail, to be a part of our lives as we live them.  If this word doesn't find good soil, and rests in "stony places" then it is not long-lived.  To have a stony heart, in the language Jesus frequently uses, is a heart that at some level rejects this word, doesn't want to hear its teachings and have them go more deeply within.  Joy comes with first hearing, but when it means a struggle, especially (as told in Jesus' explanation) when outward forces push back against it, faith flees.  Tribulation or persecution is enough to overcome faith, and this person stumbles.  Other outward forces work upon us in our lives.  There are the thorns of the parable, which Jesus says are cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches, which choke the word.   These are the conditions of the world in which we find ourselves, and these conditions have perhaps magnified for us in modern times.  They are with us throughout our lives.  An increasingly sophisticated and developed economy, combined with popular media, creates ever more demand by such thorns.  The cares of this world go hand in hand with the deceitfulness of riches, as often they are combined in our experience:  once we have what we learn to desire, the care comes when we must pay for it -- an endless cycle.  There are so many things we cannot control; one aspect of the deceit of riches is the illusion that wealth gives us full control over everything, even the state of health.  These remain huge issues for us to negotiate through our faith.  How much time do we give it?  What priority do we give it?  Where does humility come into the way in which we negotiate the cares of this world and the deceit of riches?  These are struggles that were with these disciples then, and they certainly remain in great force with us now.  Jesus presents them as thorns which choke the word.  Each of these scenaria presented in this simple parable of sowing seed and reaping harvest from growing plants gives us an idea of what our faith must overcome and struggle through, both as individuals and corporately:  as a communion, a group related by seeking to do the will of God.  (In Monday's reading, Jesus said, "Here are My mother and My brothers!  For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.")  Jesus speaks of the heart, but we need to remember that heart to heart, we do have communion.  We can affect and shore up one another's faith.  We struggle with this together.  We are able to give help to one another.  Those who've come before us, the saints of the Church, whose word we can read and know, also help us to shore up our faith and take strength in it, preparing good ground.  Prayer not only offers us help and connection with Creator, it is also ground for the communion of saints.  In our services and liturgies, we worship together with all of heaven, a great cloud of witnesses.  In Jesus' telling of this parable, we can consider all the ways these thorns have magnified, and also all the ways in which the Church has given us help for the struggle of the word and its fruitfulness within us.  We have one another, we have Scripture, we have those who've come before us and made the choices in the struggle, those who illuminate the word and share their light with us.  Let us remember the tools we're given, of humility and discipline, and the importance of our choices, surrounding ourselves and our hearts with support for the rootedness and growth of the word, and the Kingdom that it builds within us and among us.