The Parable of the Sower: Is Our Heart Spiritually Healthy Enough to Function as a Catalyst for the Living Bread of Life?

The parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1-23//Mark 4:1-20// Luke 8:1-15) gives a multitude of lessons. The lessons shall lead us to appreciate our heart to serve as a catalyst for the Living Bread of Life.

In this parable, the sower is God and the seed He sows is His Word.  This is indicated in Isaiah 55:10-11, in which the Word that comes out of God’s mouth is associated with seed to be sown for abundant harvest.  The Word comes out of God’s mouth, just as rain and snow come from heaven. The rain and snow are to aid seed on earth to grow, thus making the earth fertile and fruitful.  This way, the earth yields more seeds for a sower to harvest for more loaves of bread.

The road on which some seed is fallen only to be snatched by birds is a metaphor for hardened heart, which does not accept the Word of God.  The bird is a metaphor of Satan.  The rocky ground on which some seed is fallen to sprout quickly but die is a metaphor for a heart of spiritual attention deficit. The thorny ground on which some seed is fallen to be choked its growth to death indicates a heart plagued with worries about mundane concerns.  The good soil on which seed grows to a manifold yield represents a heart that receives the Word to bring forth its unfolding effects, as God wills.

Pope Francis calls this parable a “spiritual radiography” of our heart. The parable helps us diagnose the psychospiritual condition of our heart. If your heart is like the path, then, it is almost as good as a dead heart. Before it becomes too late, your heart needs to be unhardened by the healing grace of God. If your heart is like the rocky ground, the rocks need to be removed so that the Word can take its roots deep in your heart. Otherwise, your heart may be as hardened as a paved path. Now, if your heart is like the thorny ground, a good prescription for the cure is found in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 6:25 to 34. Additionally, Paul’s advice in Philippians 4:6-7 and Peter’s advice in 1 Peter 5:7 make a good supplement to the Jesus’ prescription in Matthew 6:25-34.  If we did not intervene our anxious heart, the thorns will continue to kill all the seed and eventually harden our heart like a paved road.

The Peter’s advice in dealing with thorns in our heart, anxieties and worries, in 1 Peter 5:7, can be better understood in conjunction with Jesus’ invitation to yoke with him (Matthew 11:28-30). This also reflects these words of St. Augustine of Hippo, “Our heart is restless until it rests in you (God)”, as well as the “Sucipe” prayer of St. Ignatius of Loyola. To cast our anxieties to God, entrusting His providence, as in 1 Peter 5:7, we must yoke with Jesus to find rest in him. This also means to surrender our egos, which plays critical roles in generating spiritual thorns to kill the Word in our heart.

Jesus has already given not only a good “radiographical” diagnostic tool for our heart but also prescribed good healing “medicine”, further enhanced by Peter and Paul. The parable of the sower needs to be read and reflected periodically for our spiritual health – just as we need to have regular EKG and stress test to maintain our cardiovascular health.

We must be spiritually healthy to receive the Word of God, letting it yields manifold harvest on our heart.  To be fruitful with the Word of God, our heart needs to function like a fertile soil for seed to grow.  In this regard, there is a juxtaposition between the Word and the Holy Spirit, as the words coming out of Jesus’ month are the Spirit that gives life (John 6:63), namely the Holy Spirit. This is where we can link “ῥῆμα”(rhema)(spoken word by Jesus)(John 6:63) to “λόγος”(logos)(word)(Matthew13:19, 20, 21, 22, 23), as well as to “πνεῦμα”(pneuma)(spirit, breath). When logos of Jesus comes out of his mouth as rhema, as pneuma comes with it.  The logos of Jesus become audible to our ears as his rhema because of his pneuma.  By associating the Word to the Spirit here, what the Word yields is juxtaposed to the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Thus, the Parable of the Sower can be reflected in light of Galatians 5:22-23.

Now, we see that a spiritually healthy heart, on which the Word grow to bring abundant harvest, is also where the Holy Spirit bears its fruits more, because the word comes out of Jesus’ mouth is also his spirit of life.  Putting this in light of Matthew 11:28-30, we need to be yoked with Jesus to keep our spiritually healthy heart, on which his rhema (logos and pneuma) brings manifold fruits.  This way, we can also better appreciate Jesus’ rhema in John 15:1-8. As long as we are with Jesus, as being yoked together with him, or as branches attached to the vine, we can readily prevent our heart from falling to unhealthy conditions, like the “thorny ground”, “rocky ground”, or “hardened path”.  Even in case our heart turned into any of these pathological conditions, God’s grace suffices (2 Corinthians 12:9) to cure this problem. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, a spiritual “CPR” that God performs out of His compassion, always works! To prove this, He sent His begotten Son to this world by the Holy Spirit, incarnating logos, giving us as the Living Bread of Life, to be killed by the world’s evil and to raise him from the dead – just as a grain of wheat falls on the ground to yield abundant harvest (John 12:24) for the unlimited loaves of the Living Bread of Life.

For us not only to be the consumer but the active agent of the Living Bread of Life,  we must ensure of our heart’s spiritual health, for Jesus’ rhema is heard and logos to grow for abundant harvest.