A question to consider is: ‘Who is the Sower?’ The immediate answer for most is that it is Jesus. If we consider the ancient world, it could be the owner of the plantation, the tenant farmer, or the peasant worker.

If it was the owner, he would be despised by the peasant who are hearing this parable. If there were tenant farmers, the audience would sympathise with him as it is hard work. This parable seems to indicate the indifference of the Sower because the seed is falling everywhere. In our present-day farming, the land will be tilled first and then sown and we take it as the norm. However, during the time of Jesus, the seeds were sown first before it was tilled. This is the reason why the seeds are found in different kinds of soil.

The point of the parable that would blow the minds of the listeners is the returns that were gained. In those days, one would expect a four or five-fold return of the harvesting. A thirty, sixty, and even a hundredfold return was never expected.

The Sower in the parable is God our Father, who lavishes his graces, his love on everyone. Those who receive it produce now thirty, now sixty, now even a hundredfold. Will you accept his invitation?

A sharing.

What type of soil am I now? I wondered as I reflected on today’s Gospel reading. Jesus is the seed sown, eager to take root in our lives. The seed is sown far and wide and through a variety of methods. The seed is meant for each one of us regardless of our circumstances. If only we are ready to let it grow and bear fruits in abundance.

The word of God first came to me when I was 14, I believed but did not understand what I believed. Like the seed that landed on the path, the seed sown in my heart was stolen away in an instant.

He called me through my classmates when I was 16, we had a great time attending church service, and cell group sharing. However, the foundation was not strong enough to withstand trials. Like the seed sown on rocky ground, I received the word with much joy but in the face of strong opposition from my parents, I fell away immediately.

God is faithful and persistent. He called me amid my worst trial at the age of 28 and through not one but two groups of close friends. One group accompanied me during mass while another journeyed with me through my first RCIA. However, the worries of the world soon choked the word, and I quit my first RCIA.

On the next Ash Wednesday after I quit RCIA, an invitation to attend mass by an RCIA facilitator whom I did not know personally, a strong prompting to make a detour to church that evening, and a spontaneous decision to sit with her during mass, changed it all. God sent me the person who had experienced what I was experiencing. She gave me the courage to never give up and to try again. I persevered through God’s grace and was baptized in November 2010.

God has a plan for each one of us and His word has the power to transform us. We may not always be the good soil that is ready to bear fruit and yield. However, He is persistent and faithful. He never gives up till the day when this soil that He loves so much turns into good soil for all that bears from it to be fruitful. May God’s word nourishes and sustains you all your life!

By : Claire Toh