The Parable of the Sower is explained as
a parable of soils – the hard-packed road, rocky ground, thorns, and finally
good soil that bears much fruit. A
friend has a compost pile; we put in garbage and she gets out good black dirt
for her garden.
Our lives include all the kinds of soil. Parts of our
lives are as spiritually hard as a well trodden dirt path in a drought; parts
of us are full of rocks; much of us is prickly with thorns. But in every one of
us there is the potential of good soil bearing fruit. None of us are naturally good soil, but by
God’s grace working in us we can become so. Our spiritual task is to increase
the good soil in our lives, digging out the rocks and thorns, breaking up the
clods, softening the ground with the water of tears of repentance, digging in
the compost and digging out the weeds with the hoe of faith and good works.
When we are honest with ourselves all of us know from
personal experience that we “have all sinned and come short of the glory of God.”
Despair is always an option. We can look
at our own lives and see our missed opportunities, see how our misbehavior has
influenced our present situation. We can look around us to what appears to be
increasing political conflict and nasty behavior. It is sometimes hard to hold
on to the conviction that those with whom we disagree are simply wrong, but
they are not evil. The temptation of pride is strong - to think that we are
moral and they are immoral degenerates. That temptation is a false one. We are
all sinners saved by grace.
The good news that by his death and resurrection Jesus
has set us free from the need to sin and given us a new life. And St. Paul
rejoices, “there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” He ends,
“he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also
through his Spirit that dwells in you.”
An alternative to despair in our
personal and political lives is hope. Isaiah wrote that God’s word “shall not
return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed
in the thing for which I sent it.” We know from St. John’s Gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. . . . All things were made by him; and without him was not any
thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of
men.And the light shined in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”
The darkness of despair does not understand light, does not understand hope,
and the darkness cannot cover the light, can never put out the light.
Jesus did
not return empty to the father. He returned with the only man made things in
heaven, the marks of the nails in his hands and feet, the wound of the spear in
his side, but the hands and the feet and the wound were healed wounds. And at
Pentecost Jesus sent his Holy Spirit to all who have faith in him. He is the
spirit of truth and the spirit of power.
This morning we pray that we “may know
and understand” what we “ought to do, and also may have grace and power
faithfully to accomplish” God’s will in our own lives. We have the assurance of guidance and power
in the Holy Spirit. We can live in hope.
So what do we do? We pray, opening all our lives to God and
asking the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit. And we listen. We listen to
God the Spirit working in our minds and in others who know and love us. We read
the Bible and seek to learn God’s will there revealed. We confess our sins to
God and we receive the spiritual strength of the sacraments. And having done
all, we stand. We stand up straight in faith, in trust, and in hope.
A sower went
out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds . . . fell on good soil and brought
forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears
listen!”
It is a superb and awesome post regarding "The Sower and Hope"
ReplyDeleteMcx Trading Tips | Mcx Tips in Gold & Silver