The Parable of the Sower
I think most of us are familiar with Jesus’ Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23), the Gospel reading for this 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time. This is the one in which a sower sows seed indiscriminately on a path (birds came and ate them), on rocky ground (poor soil so the resulting plants withered for lack of roots), among thorns (thorns choked the plants), and on rich soil where the plants flourished and produced much fruit.
I also think, when we read this parable, most of us start worrying about what kind of ground we are for God. We worry about how many birds are in our field, how many rocks, how many thorns. Then we start worrying about how to clean them all up, how can we turn ourselves into well-tilled, well-weeded, well-fertilized soil for the sowing of God’s Word. Then we realize that the odds are three-to-one against us (according to the parable), and begin thinking how we can beat the odds by cleaning up our act.
In other words, we hear this parable as a challenge to be different, as a call to improve our lives, so that if the parable would ever be told about us it would have a much happier ending, with all the seed falling on rich, fertile soil. Now, I don’t think this is necessarily an incorrect, or bad, interpretation. After all, we are called to constant and continual conversion, metanoia, the changing of our heart and mind so that we faithfully respond to God’s Word according to who we really are as Children of God.
But, I also think there is another, perhaps more important understanding for us to take away from this parable, which is, after all, about the SOWER, not just the soil. What if the parable is not as much about our own successes and failures, and birds and rocks and thorns, as it is about the extravagance of a sower who doesn’t seem to be fazed by such concerns? What if it is more like a sower who is on a wild adventure; who flings seed everywhere, wastes it with holy abandon, who feeds birds, ignores the rocks, picks his way through the thorns, shouts hallelujah at the good soil and just keeps on sowing, confident that there is enough seed to go around, that there is plenty, and that when the harvest comes at last it will fill every barn in the neighborhood to the rafters?
If this is really the Parable of the Sower, and not the parable of different kinds of ground, then it begins to sound very different. The focus is not on us and our shortfalls but on the generosity of our Creator, the prolific sower who doesn’t obsess about the condition of the fields, who is not stingy with the seed but casts it everywhere, on good soil and bad, who is not cautious or judgmental or even very practical, but who seems willing to keep reaching into the seed bag for all eternity, covering the whole creation with the fertile seed of truth: Grace is EVERYWHERE!
Mary Magdalene
Next Saturday, July 22, is the Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene. For many years, Mary of Magdala has been misidentified as the woman with the alabaster jar who was called a “sinner” and who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and dried them with her hair (Luke 7:36-50). While we may never know for certain if those two women were the same or different individuals, considering them as the same has confused Christianity’s view of them. Either way, Jesus shows both Gospel women nothing but respect, forgiveness and love.
What we do know about Mary Magdalene is that she was the woman who was closest to Jesus. She was “possessed by seven demons” and Jesus healed her (Luke 8:2). She is mentioned in the Resurrection accounts by name in all four Gospels. She was the first to meet the Risen Christ and the one to announce it to the disciples, earning the title of “Apostle to the Apostles.” The fact that she immediately went to embrace him is a testament to the closeness of their relationship. However, when Jesus said to her, “Don’t cling to me” (John 20:17), he was indicating that the time for physical closeness was in the past. Mary’s love had to release the finite in order to reach a more spiritual dimension. We are all heading for something much bigger and better.
Fr. Richard Rohr has called Mary Magdalene “the icon and archetype of love itself; love needed, given, received, and passed on.” She is the stand-in for all of us who seek an intimate and loving relationship with the divine. Jesus’ appearance to her first and alone is the clear affirmation of the wonderful and astounding message that we do not need to be perfect to be the Beloved of God.