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

 "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 Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. And great multitudes were gathered together to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: "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 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!" And 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 that 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."  In today's reading, Jesus explains the parable of the Sower to the disciples.  He gives us a picture of the world as a place full of pitfalls for the word that He sows.  Note the synthesis between the inner conditions in us and the obstacles to the word in the world.   We do not understand, and the wicked one comes and is active in the world to snatch away what is sown in the heart.   We may take in the word with joy, but have no root in ourselves -- and tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, and we stumble.  We may hear the word but are surrounded with thorns, which are the cares of this word, and the deceitfulness of riches.  These work to choke the word and make us unfruitful.  But if we receive Christ's word on good ground, we are able to bear fruit and produce, even through the struggles in the world.

I don't think that Jesus means to imply by His parable of the Sower that there are only some people who face tribulation or persecution, or the cares of this world and deceitfulness of riches.   The wicked one doesn't want to snatch away Christ's word from the heart of only a handful of people.  We are given to understand that these things will always be present and with us, that these obstacles to the good root of the word taking hold and producing fruit will always face difficulties and objects to overcome in the world.  We're not given a picture of the world as a friendly place to what Christ has to say and to teach us.  So by the very nature of what's implied in this parable, what Christ teaches us is that His word is going to face challenges within us, that we don't live in a perfect world simply awaiting the word -- the seed of the Sower -- in order to spring up its fruits.  What Christ teaches us is that so much depends upon us tending and tilling our good ground, protecting ourselves against the threats to these seeds of His word taking root within us, and our own steadfastness in guarding ourselves against threats like the cares of this world or the deceitfulness of riches.  He does not come into the world to take these things away.  Rather He comes into our world asking us to join the struggle for the word, to become the good ground, to work at this, and to be smart and aware of what's around and what threats there are to it.  This good and fertile ground is that which is within us, but there are threats to it.  There are struggles involved.  We need to be diligent and smart about it -- not complacent, or sleepy, or lazy.  We have forces that seek to mislead us, dissuade us, trip us up, and choke us with diversions or struggles or a multitude of cares.   In discipleship, then, He calls us to a struggle for something -- and what He really teaches is that despite the trouble and the things that will seek to throw us off, this word is worthy of every effort we make to fight the challenges.  This word, this seed He offers, is above all else prize-worthy to cherish in this contest of life in the world.  We hold fast to it, and our goal is to produce fruits which multiply -- perhaps a hundredfold, or sixty, or thirty.  Everything else, He implies, is worth struggling against or discarding for this prized seed He offers us.  His image gives us a sense of the difficulties of such struggle:  what is a little seed compared to the thorns of the world, or the work of the evil one, or the stony ground that does little to defy tribulation and persecutions?  And yet, it is the treasure of this seed that is worth fighting off, enduring, struggling through all the rest, holding fast to the goal of producing fruit.  Let us consider that Jesus does not minimize the difficulties.  Neither does He make them simply disappear from this world.  He invites us into a contest.  He asks us to weigh what is most important to us.  He asks us to forgo temptations to give in to care and struggle, or to be deceived by riches that seem like better treasure.  He offers us His hand in a journey to follow Him.  He invites us in to face life and take heart, to prize and to cherish what is so much better, to see what we're worthy and capable of in His sight.  Are we ready for that challenge?