Soil Samples

Seeing what kind of soil we are for the Word

07/12/2020

Matthew 13:1-9 On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore. And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

Today is my 51st birthday and I get to spend it celebrating four Masses – what could be better? Nothing. A friend sent me a letter last week with a little humor to help me deal with getting older. He wrote: “You know you’re getting older, if before you step off the curb, you look down once more to make sure the street is still there. You know you are getting older when “Happy Hour” is a nap. You know you’re getting older when you finally know your way around, but don’t feel like going anywhere. You can judge your age by the amount of pain you feel when you come in contact with a new idea.” New ideas are never good ideas. You know, I didn’t think that fifty-one was that old until I received that letter, now I really feel old! With friends like that, who needs enemies?

But one of the blessings of growing older is hindsight; that is, you have some history under your belt, and those years provide some precious perspective on life. You’ve heard the old adage: “hindsight is twenty-twenty.” And that’s true because history affords you a certain accuracy of apprehension, like how the best kind of “Happy Hour” is an afternoon nap! Today, I would like to use some of that hindsight to explain Jesus’ parable of seeds and the sower in Mt. 13, Jesus’ third, great discourse in Matthew’s gospel, called the “Parable Discourse.” I would like to use my hindsight to break open the seed of God’s Word today.

Jesus explains how a sower spreads seeds on four different sorts of soil: some on a path, some on rocky ground, some among thorns, and finally some on rich soil. The obvious meaning of the parable is that each sort of soil refers to a specific sort of person. But I would suggest to you that all four soils can be found in the same person, but just at different stages of his or her life. Let me use God’s gift of holy hindsight to demonstrate how I have been all four soil samples in the past 51 years.

Jesus explains that the first soil sample is a path where the seeds fall, but the evil one comes and steals away what was sown in this soul. That impenetrable path is a perfect picture of my teenage soul. How many seeds of wisdom my parents, my priests and my professors showered down on my soul during my youth, bouncing off my hard head like that hard path. So often my soul was hardened by pride because I felt like I already knew everything. I remember thinking as I graduated from Catholic High School in Little Rock, “What could they possible teach us in college? I already know it all!” As I turn 51 years old, though, I feel more like the Greek philosopher Plato, who said: “The more I know the more I know I don’t know” (Apology, 21d). That teenager’s soul that was a path of pride has become slightly softer soil.

Jesus describes the second soil sample as rocky ground that has no root, so the seed of the word cannot produce lasting fruit. I remember an instance when my soul resembled that rocky soil: God’s seeds going in one ear and out the other. When I was about to enter theology studies, Bishop McDonald “suggested: I attend St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore, which was his own alma mater. I thought about it for a moment, but then replied, “Nah, I would rather go to Emmitsburg to study.” He let me go where I wanted, but I don’t think he ever liked it. Later I learned that when a bishop “suggests” you do something, he’s not making a suggestion! At 51 years old, I’m trying to hear the bishop’s “suggestions” with new heart and with a softer soul. Maybe those suggestions are the sounds of the Holy Spirit speaking.

Our Lord says the third soil sample is filled with thorns, which chokes the seeds trying to sprout. Those thorns represent world anxiety and the lure of riches. I am embarrassed to admit that sometimes those thorns have choked my preaching and kept me from preaching messages the congregation might not like. How so? Well, a more conservative congregation will not like a liberal-sounding sermon; while a left-leaning audience will be offended by more right-winged rhetoric. And why am I afraid of that? Because of lower collections, that’s why! The Sunday collection is an instant “Neilson rating” on the homily. Worldly anxiety can choke the word that should be heard in its fullness in my preaching. I should take to heart St. Paul’s admonition about fearless preaching to his protégé Timothy. That fiery evangelist said: “Preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching” (2 Tim. 4:2). In other words, wear those thorns on your head like a crown, instead of over your mouth where it chokes God’s word.

As I begin my fifty-second orbit on this third rock from the sun, I feel grateful for God’s gift of hindsight and seeing more clearly the past fifty-one years. I can begin to see how my soul has been a hard path, rocky ground, choked with thorns, and sometimes – but not as often as I would like – even rich soil. As the sun at the center of the solar system causes the seeds to sprout in rich soil on this earth, so may the Son of Righteousness, Jesus Christ, shine on my soul (and yours), and cause the seed of his Word to bear fruit, “hundred or sixty or thirty fold.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!