The Sower (De zaaier), Van Gogh 1888, Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterloo, The Netherlands (The Van Gogh Experience).
And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow…..”
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“A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up….” Jesus gives us another parable, a very familiar one, and again with a setting which would have been very familiar with those people listening to Jesus all those years ago, but not to us. The closest experience for us might be, for those who have gardens, carefully planting seeds for those flowers we want to grow – or those vegetables we want to harvest – and then water them and wait. That must be a far cry from today’s parable. For us today, all we can do is try to imagine what it must have been like. But even Van Gogh himself might well have seen such activity in the area around the city of Arles in the south-east of France at the end of the 19th century, where he probably painted that famous scene above. But today all seeding and suchlike is mechanized, so all we can do is to try to imagine what it was like. And for us, it might well become a romantic setting, birds tweeting, sun setting, etc. The reality, of course, must have been much less romantic, sweating in the sun, angry at the birds stealing the seed, exhaustion at walking around the field all day, and so on. Good exercise though! And then there is the reality which Jesus works on in his parable. And each setting, where the seed lands, can easily be transferred into our own life experience. I’m constantly amazed at how clever Our Lord was, translating everyday reality (as it was back then) into insights which we can transfer into our own experience. Then everything becomes real! For example, Jesus says some seed falls into shallow soil where it takes easy root, springs up quickly, but because it lacks good roots, it will quickly wither in the strong sunshine and be parched, and unable to sustain itself. The parallel in real life is the person who is hugely attracted to a new teaching and becomes very enthusiastic about it, but if it becomes challenging in some way and difficult to sustain, then that person will simply give up and walk away, no matter how attractive the teaching was. No roots, no strength to carry on. And each situation is easily paralleled to a life situation, with the finale being the seed falling into good, nourishing soil, the equivalent of hearing the word, as Jesus says, understanding and accepting it and what it demands, and the result is fruit which yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. It is all logical, easily understood, easily applicable even today to our own situation, and causing us to ponder and question our own reality. It is brilliant teaching, unthreatening in its approach and triggers healthy self-examination. And if you look at the Van Gogh quotation in the picture above, he states the same thing in his own way (the missing word being “other”).
But this parable came alive to me a few years ago. A mourning dove couple set up home beneath my bedroom air conditioner, the part that is in the open air. They created a nest, eggs were laid, and the waiting period began. Eventually there was much movement under the air conditioner, many flights to and from the nest by both parents, and clearly things had happened. But then two large, fierce-looking crows arrived – and ate the chicks, with the defenseless parents looking on. The crows left. The doves sat looking at the remains of their nest, and eventually moved on, as they say. In Jesus’ parable, this might be the equivalent of “Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it”. I guess the human equivalent could be mixing with the wrong type of people to the extent that your own potential is smothered by being belittled or mocked or scorned, and you not being strong enough to fight it. Until you realize that you are a child of God….. My doves never reappeared.
And the Romans, to whom Paul was writing, were dealing with the same question: “The sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us”. And the passage from the prophet Isaiah carries the same message, strongly suggesting that God’s word will be heard and will take root. We all know what we are asked to do, but do we have the conviction, the strength, the determination to carry on? Perhaps not on our own, but we are the children of God, and have God’s friendship, trust and help. And if we truly believe that, even thorns, crows and the evil around us can be defeated. Hence the parable invites us to transport ourselves into the various situations outlined, and if we recognize them, can understand what is happening, and ask for God’s help to deal with them, and defeat them.
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