Jesus left the house and sat by the lakeside, but such crowds gathered round him that he got into a boat and sat there. The people all stood on the beach, and he told them many things in parables.

He said, ‘Imagine a sower going out to sow. As he sowed, some seeds fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on patches of rock where they found little soil and sprang up straight away, because there was no depth of earth; but as soon as the sun came up they were scorched and, not having any roots, they withered away. Others fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Others fell on rich soil and produced their crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

Listen, anyone who has ears!’ (Matthew 13:1-9)

Reflection - Becoming rich soil

The section of St Matthew’s Gospel from which we are now reading concerns the Kingdom of God. Jesus uses this expression frequently in his teaching. The Kingdom is not heaven, it is the life and heart of God. We live in the Kingdom when we live according to the mind and heart of God. The Kingdom, or reign of God, breaks into human reality when human beings live, breathe and act out of the life of God; when the heart of God becomes ours; when we allow God to speak and act in and through us.

This section about the Kingdom of God is the centrepiece of St Matthew’s Gospel. Matthew uses seven parables and explanations to unfold Jesus’ teaching about the Kingdom.

Last week’s Gospel offered reassurance to those overburdened by religious law and often unable to fulfil it that they were not forsaken by God. Jesus says he is the one who will reveal what God is really like through gentleness and humility and by providing rest (not more burdens) for their souls.

This week we begin the series of parables about the Kingdom with the parable of the Sower. The Sower sows, the seed falls, sometimes the sower’s work succeeds, sometimes it does not. The different soils represent different human responses to hearing the word of God. Not everyone receives the message or responds well to the invitation.

The parable teaches us that God will try anything to get a harvest. The sign of success is the fruit-bearing of the recipients. That’s when God’s word sown in our hearts becomes our word, too.

Those who do respond to the invitation to life in the Kingdom yield the harvest of goodness and Godliness.

You can download and print our prayers and readings for this Sunday.

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