Chapter 13 of Matthew’s gospel begins a new section in which Jesus speaks primarily through parables. In these distinctive teachings, Jesus draws on images from the world in which he lived, and which still speak to us in surprising and challenging ways.

Jesus calls this first parable that he shares, the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23). Hearing or reading Jesus’ words, it’s easy to get caught up, not in the action of the sower which gives the parable its name, but in the condition of the soil or the circumstances that dictate fruitfulness. And yet Jesus is clear, he wants us to focus on the action of the sower.

It doesn’t take much agricultural knowledge to recognize that sowers do not scatter seeds over the ground like parade walkers showering penny candy over children lining the street. Competent sowers would never spread seed on anything but good, productive soil. To do otherwise is wasteful and imprudent.

Like all parables, this one points to God and God’s ways in the world and so this means that Jesus is pointing to God’s action of sowing the word as wasteful, reckless, squandering, extravagant. (Take your pick!)

God is profligate in showering grace and mercy over God’s good creation. The sower dares to believe that soil that has been trampled down and compacted, dried up, or choked with weeks, is soil in which the seed of the gospel can take root and grow and blossom! The sower dares to consider that whether seed takes root in soil or serves as feed for the birds of the air it is never wasted. The sower dares to challenge the notion that prudence or efficiency are values that ought to guide our work in sowing God’s word and extending God’s mercy.

Church, this is the gospel of the Lord! In the words of Jesus, If you have ears, hear! (v. 9)