Matthew 13

If there is one story in the gospels that I can really imagine it is the one of the farmer seeding his field. And I really feel for him, I can see it being hot, his seed bag being heavy and then to add insult to injury he has to try and keep the birds away so they don’t eat too much of the seed. Not to mention the weed problem he has later on. To me this is not a good advertisement for the kingdom of heaven. But of course, Jesus is telling us something further than the basic story.

The whole chapter 13 of Matthew concerns the Kingdom as it is presently and it’s fulfillment in the future. Although it is basically the work of God the Creator, Jesus calls us to cooperate with the coming of the Kingdom. The main emphasis Jesus has in chapter 13 is to teach us about the kingdom and what we must do to encourage it’s coming.

In vv 1 – 30, which include all the gospel readings for this week, Jesus instructs us with the understanding of the Kingdom by the use of stories or parables with which we are quite familiar.

Yesterday’s & Today’s gospel reading tells us about the farmer that goes out to seed a field, the parable of the sower.

The seed (the Word of God) is equally spread everywhere. And we are told it falls on different types of soil and as a result the seed responds differently. Jesus tells the community of Matthew and us that we can also expect to see these different types of responses to the seeds of His teaching.

The seed that fell on the hard ground of the path can be is compared to someone who hears The Word but simply doesn’t respond.

The seed that falls on rocky ground is likened to a person that hears, thinks and even says the “message is great”. But as time goes on and they are confronted with challenges that they are not equal to and with their commitment being too shallow they leave for what they think might be an easier way.

The seed that falls in the weedy area describes the person who hears the Word but has a greater concern for the busyness and things of this life, which if allowed to, will overshadow the teachings and direction given to us by Jesus.

The seed that falls on rich ground, are persons that are open to the Word, receive it into their hearts, nature it and do not abandon it no mater the circumstances.

With this point Jesus encourages the Community of Matthew and us that we might not lose hope or be discouraged in our faith. The eventual result of our persistence being a yield of 100, 60 or 30 fold in our lived experience of the present kingdom and the Kingdom to come.