Throw me. Sow me

Matthew has five great discourses.

Chapter 13 is number three. It is ‘chock-a-block’ with parables.

In my opinion, the ‘Parable of all Parables’ is the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:3-9), with its allegorical interpretation in Matthew 13:18-23.

Brendan Byrne, Lifting the Burden (2004), wants us to be more perceptive and receptive:

Where does the seed fall? What is the reception and response to the seed? What are the three failures and the three gains?

The ‘evil one’ ensures infertility. Trials and persecution disrupt. Worries and the lure of riches choke the seed to death.

It is true. We are not always fruitful and faithful. However, prodigious yields are a reality:

The gains are hundredfold, sixtyfold, thirtyfold. Who cares about the losses? 

The seed is widely thrown around precisely because the sower knows the gains far outweigh the losses (Byrne).

The seed, which is the Word of God, has grace, truth and power. It cries out:

‘Throw me. Sow me.’

So many people are living in loneliness, with no coherent meaning.

Who cares? Who will scatter the seed that yields a rich harvest?

Let’s ‘throw it and sow it.’

What a beautiful thing to do.

Amen.