4:1 Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2 And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3 “Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” 9 And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
The old familiar Christmas carol, "Do you hear what I hear?" calls to mind the Christmas story: people clamoring, angels singing, animals in the manger bellowing, shepherds sleeping and waking. It goes on to say "Do you see what I see?" and finally ends with the mandate, "Listen to what I say!"
Jesus begins with "Listen!" Yet he is not merely recounting events or concepts, he is inviting the disciples (and us) to figure out the mystery or the parable. As Jesus unfolds the parable of the seed and the sower, we know he is speaking in analogy and metaphor. Who is the sower? What is the seed? Is the seed our faith? Is it our actions? Are we the seed? Does Jesus sow randomly and abundantly? "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
The questions of where do we fit in the parable does not matter. Trying to figure out what the seed is is futile, if we do not heed Jesus' invitation to us to listen. For us, maybe we don't need to worry about what questions to ask. We need to listen. Listening to God is very difficult for it often requires our time away from distractions of tv, music, internet, radio, and other creature comforts. Listening takes importance for us when we are to follow Christ's way. Listening to God does not always make things easier or immediately more clear. But it is the way for us to draw closer to God and discover our God given potential.
Prayer: God of the sower and the seed, help us to hear your voice when it calls to us that we may respond in service with out lives. AMEN.
G. Thomas Martin
