Today we hear Isaiah proclaim that Gods harvest will be fruitful.

 

But in our Gospel from Matthew Jesus tells us that the Word of God is strewn on good soil, rock and all over the ground. But not all of it will be fruitful and return a harvest to him.

 

And there are two important points we should understand.

 

First that God is not a frugal farmer who only spreads seeds where they will find good soil. He spreads his word everywhere. And the parable had many different landings for the seed … good and bad.

And if we look at the explanation from Jesus of what type of people do not hear or see his word we will find we were in each of those situations at some point in our life. We go through life  learning along the way and we are given multiple opportunities to say yes to Jesus. That is something to remember when we watch others falter in faith. Jesus has a plan. And his own time frame.

 

And the second point to understand is that we are expected to give to God the Father a return.

 

While he may have an inexhaustible source of the word, unlike the farmer and his bag of seeds, he still requires a return on his harvest.

 

That means those who sit here today and see ourselves as the fruitful soil must ask ourselves if that is really true.

 

It is easy to sit here and tell ourselves “yes I am fruitful,” …….but a successful follower of Jesus Christ who hears his word will see each day as an opportunity to spread that word to others. To share the good news and be known as a faithful and fruitful disciple of Christ.

 

Maybe we need to once again ask ourselves, “what soil are we?” Maybe we are not as far along as we think.

 

As the saying goes, “the proof is in the pudding.” Or the proof is in the harvest.

 

Our Father is eternally merciful and loving and he still waits for a harvest from each of us.

 

How many people have we brought to the Father?

 

 

Our answer betrays who we are in the parable.

 

 

 

Gospel 

Matthew 13:1-23 

On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea.
Such large crowds gathered around him
that he got into a boat and sat down,
and the whole crowd stood along the shore. 
And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying:
“A sower went out to sow. 
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path,
and birds came and ate it up. 
Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. 
It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep,
and when the sun rose it was scorched,
and it withered for lack of roots. 
Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. 
But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit,
a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. 
Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

The disciples approached him and said,
“Why do you speak to them in parables?” 
He said to them in reply,
“Because knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven
has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted. 
To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich;
from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 
This is why I speak to them in parables, because
they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand. 
Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says:
You shall indeed hear but not understand,
you shall indeed look but never see.
Gross is the heart of this people,
they will hardly hear with their ears,
they have closed their eyes,
lest they see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their hearts and be converted,
and I heal them. 

“But blessed are your eyes, because they see,
and your ears, because they hear. 
Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people
longed to see what you see but did not see it,
and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

“Hear then the parable of the sower.
The seed sown on the path is the one
who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it,
and the evil one comes and steals away
what was sown in his heart.
The seed sown on rocky ground
is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy. 
But he has no root and lasts only for a time. 
When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word,
he immediately falls away. 
The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word,
but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word
and it bears no fruit. 
But the seed sown on rich soil
is the one who hears the word and understands it,
who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”