64.Readiness for the Kingdom

Then Jesus told this parable: “A farmer went out to sow, and as he sowed, some seed fell by the road, and the birds came and devoured it. Others fell on the rocky ground, where it had little soil, and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of soil. When the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. Others fell into the good ground, and yielded fruit, growing and increasing. Some produced thirty times, some sixty times, and some one hundred times as much.” He said, “Whoever has ears to hear, should listen.”

The disciples came, and said to him, “Why do you speak in parables?”

He answered them, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but it is not given to them. For those who have will be given more, and will have an abundance, but those who don’t have, what little they have will be taken away. I speak to them in parables, because though they see, they don’t see, and though they hear, they don’t hear; neither do they understand. In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says,

‘By hearing you will hear,
    and will in no way understand;
Seeing you will see,
    and will in no way perceive:
for this people’s heart has grown callous,
    their ears are dull of hearing,
    they have closed their eyes;
or else perhaps they might perceive with their eyes,
    hear with their ears,
    understand with their heart,
and would turn again;
    and I would heal them.’

“But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. Many prophets and righteous believers desired to see the things you see, and didn’t see them, and to hear the things you hear, and didn’t hear them.

 “Don’t you understand this parable? How will you understand any of the parables? The farmer sows the word. The ones by the road are the ones where the word is sown, and when they have heard, immediately Satan comes, and takes away the word which has been sown in them. So it is with the word sown on the rocky places: people receive it with joy, but have no root in themselves, and are short-lived; when oppression or persecution comes, they stumble. Others are those sown among the thorns; they hear the word, but the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and other desires choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. Those sown on the good ground hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit, some thirty times, some sixty times, and some one hundred times.”

Reflection

The different kinds of soil may not be different kinds of people, as much as people at different stages in their lives. Have there been times in your life when you could identify with each of the four types? Can you think of people you know who fit in each of them now?    

Prayer: Help me recognize, Lord, when people are at a point in their life where they are ready to hear and understand.