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The Parable of the Soils The readings from Mathew 13:3-23; Mark 4:3-25 and Luke 8:5-18, all refers to the parables of the soil that Jesus told the people who came to listen to him. The parable as told by Jesus is about a farmer who went to the field to sow seeds. In doing this, some seeds fell on the side of the street but birds came to eat them. Some seeds fell on stony places that at first sprung but because of lack of water and soil, it withered and died. Other seeds fell into the bed of grass with thorns but were eventually choked by the thorns.
There is however seeds that fell into good grounds that bore plenty of fruits. The apostles questioned Jesus why He talks in parables, upon which, Jesus explained that there is deeper meaning in parables, and that it is the apostles’ duty to look for its meaning and understand. Jesus gave them the privilege to understand what he says while the people gathered around him do not. At this point, it would seem Jesus put a line between his apostles and unbelievers because it is not yet their time to know the mystery of God.
The parables add up to the knowledge of believers but will not do any good to those who do not believe in God. The unbelievers although they see and hear still do not appreciate and do not accept Jesus so they do not receive any blessing from God. In the parable, Jesus explained to his disciples that the seeds are the Words of God. The seeds that fell on the streets are the Words of God sown on the hearts of people who quickly forgot about them when they were tempted by the devil, and thereupon cannot be saved.
The other seeds are sown to the hearts of people who gladly received the words of God, but it stayed on their hearts only for a short time. Soon enough, the seedlings withered and died when they faced trials in life and eventually lost their faith in God. The other seeds that fell on the grass are the people who listened to the Words of God, but later on forgot about it because they fell on the traps of riches and pleasures of life and because of these they forgot their covenant with God. The seeds that fell on the good ground are the good people who listened to the Word of God, lived with a clean heart and conscience and stayed under the fold of God.
Taken in the context today, the four soils mentioned in the parable refer to the kind of soil of our heart. The first soil is the wayside heart hardened by meaningless day to day problems that even the Word of God cannot penetrate. In this scenario, we see hatred, war, drugs, recklessness and social problems that have no time for religion. The second soil is those hearts deadened by perverse and indifferent attitude. Third, we have a soil that has been hardened by constant exposure to evil thoughts.
I believe these are the people who always entertain corruptions and take advantage of the poor people; and last is the fertile soil of the heart that gets its source of energy from the Words of God. Here lies the sanctity of relations between God and his believers that has been passed on to generations and generations. Here lays the fruit gathered from the seed sown into a good soil that is multiplied many times over, and gives a good explanation of the Parable of the Sower.
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