Readings: 2 Samuel 7:4-17; Psalm 89; Mark 4:1-20
The parable of the sower is the first of the parables. Jesus tells his
disciples that it is also somehow the key to all the parables: 'if you
do not understand this one, how will you understand any of them?' Does
he mean this is the simplest parable so if you cannot grasp this one you
will be unable to grasp any of them? We will feel, reasonably, that we
do understand this one: have we not been given a clear explanation of
what it means? And it is not complicated. It tells us about different
kinds of people and how they respond or not to the Word of God broadcast
by the preacher. Or perhaps it means that there are different moments
in our response to the Word, a response that has been at times
indifferent or superficial, and at other times more serious and perhaps
even sometimes fruit-bearing. It does not seem all that difficult to
understand.
In fact the conversation between Jesus and the disciples that is placed
after the parable and before its explanation is a lot more complicated.
His comments are certainly more troubling than anything he says in the
parable. In explaining why he teaches in parables he does not say that
it is just a handy way of teaching, telling nice stories to catch
people's imagination and help them remember his teaching. Parables do
work in that way but Jesus's choice to teach in this way is not simply a
matter of pedagogy, a teacher's strategy. He teaches in parables, he
says, because some are admitted to the secret of the kingdom, whereas
others, 'those outside', are not admitted. They will hear but will not
perceive, they will see but will not understand, in order that they may
not be converted and forgiven.
It presents a puzzling contrast. The parable speaks about an open,
extravagant, and indiscriminate dissemination of the Word. The seed is
thrown here, there, and everywhere. It is made available to everybody.
Jesus' comments seem to imply that there is a distinction between those
who are admitted and those who are excluded. This is fine, we will feel,
as long as it is the people themselves who are making the choice about
admission or exclusion. Is that not what the parable says? It will feel
very strange to us, however, if it seems as if God is making the choice
as to who will be admitted and who will be excluded. In fact Jesus here
quotes a passage from the prophet Isaiah to the effect that there will
be some who fail to understand, who fail to perceive, who fail to
respond to what the Word of God demands.
So the conversation about Jesus' use of parables in teaching is a second
version of the parable of the sower. His teaching is offered openly and
indiscriminately. He has to take to a boat because there are so many
people gathered at the water's edge. He speaks the parable to all of
them. There are some who hear it and are led into the mystery it
carries. Or at least they come to him to have it explained to them.
There are others who also hear it but for whom its mystery remains shut.
It must mean that the parable is also about what you and I are doing
now, thinking about the parable of the sower and trying to understand
it. This is another way in which parables work. They jump off the page
and grab the reader or listener. They throw their arms around us and
take us into themselves so that their questions are aimed directly at
us. Are you, am I, rich soil for the Word of God? Or are we the path,
the rocky ground, a thorny place entangled in anxieties or distractions?
Are you, am I, among the disciples admitted to the secret of the
kingdom? Or are we among those who listen but do not yet perceive, see
but do not yet understand?
The parable of the sower is the first and the key to the parables.
Engaging with it obliges us to a particular kind of meditation on Jesus
and his teaching. The interpretation is easy to understand but the
conversation about this kind of teaching in parables is not easy to
understand. We must think not just about the kind of soil we are but
about the mystery of vocation and response, of election and judgement,
of sin and grace.
These themes figure also in today's first reading. David was a man of action, a leader who likes to take control of situations. God reminds him through the prophet Nathan that it is not up to David to find a home for God, it is rather God who will establish a house for David. It is a salutary warning about ways in which we might take the parable of the sower, as if for example we could be once and for all good soil: David has many ups and downs in his life with the Lord. Or as if we were proprietors of the Word of God which we preach: God always goes before us and comes after us since it is by God's grace that we are enabled to do whatever we manage to do in God's service.
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