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Many know the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23 in case you need a refresher). Jesus reveals in this parable that the seed is the Word of God and the soil is our hearts. There’s the hard soil, the rocky soil, the soil surrounded by thorns, and the rich soil.
I’ve always thought about it as each person having a particular soil – those with hard soil having a hard heart, therefore not listening to God, etc. But when the priest shared his homily on it recently, he said something that made me think about it differently (whether he intentionally meant this or not, I’m not sure).
I think he was just talking about how one person has this soil, another has this, etc, just like how I always thought/heard about it. I don’t know if it was the way he said it, but I thought about it differently – that each one of us have different kinds of soil – that our heart could have multiple types of soil.
I used to think that I had pretty rich soil – I always went to Mass and I did a lot of ministry. Eventually I came to realize that my soil is actually surrounded by thorns – something bad happens, or something upsets me, or I’m around people who I don’t think would respond well to me talking about faith, and it’s like I never believed in God. But after listening to the priest, I think that I have different types of soil depending on what I’m supposed to do/choose/think.
Go to Mass on Sundays – rich soil
Honor parents – hard soil but becoming softer soil (don’t ask my parents to confirm this).
Carry your cross – soil surrounded by thorns (I want to, but I also like comfort and not suffering).
Don’t give into earthly desires – rocky soil (I’m really good at sharing food. . . unless it’s something I really like).
I think a lot of people are like that, which makes it really hard to meet authentic Christians. People decide for themselves which parts of Church teachings they follow – so they have rich soil for some, but hard soil for others. That doesn’t mean to blindly believe without asking questions (although there is something to be said about trusting in Jesus without the need for all of it to be proven to your satisfaction, Thomas). Just allowing the seed to be planted, and trusting that God will help it to grow as it needs to.
Just because God plants the same seed in all of us, that doesn’t mean that the tree will look the same for all of us. Every oak tree grows different. Every willow tree grows differently. Same seed, but looks different because of everything around it. Maybe for the really difficult teachings, that tree in your heart will only grow so much – but it’s better to let it grow a little than not at all, right?
