19th Sunday After Pentecost – Orthodox Homily on the Parable of the Seeds

Our Lord presents us today with a parable about how we receive His Gospel. He compares us to the seeds sown here in this parable—some fell on the wayside, some on the rock, some among the thorns, and some on the good soil. As we dig deeper, we come to realize that the ‘seeds’ in this parable—all of us—are not meant to be passive in terms of our reception of the Gospel.

I’m an avid gardener, so when I hear this parable it brings to mind the many joys and struggles of gardening. What you may not expect, however, is that there are many parallels to our own lives found in the garden as well.

The best part of gardening is getting to see the garden thriving and growing on its own, the plants growing into their maturity, the colors and shapes creating a beautiful patchwork, the fruiting plants producing a bounty. And then, you find yourself saying, “thank you, Lord, this is beautiful how these plants have grown and matured together in their different shapes and colors, seeing how the birds and butterflies enjoy and find refuge in the garden. It’s an exhilarating feeling when you see the fruit of your labors and have the opportunity to glorify God for the beauty of His creation, as you participate in this work so reminiscent of that of our first parents.

But every gardener knows, that the garden won’t produce good results unless the garden is properly and patiently tended. I can have the best seeds or best starter plants, but if they fall on hard clay or the roots of a tree because I haven’t prepared the ground or if I don’t tend the plants they will fail to thrive. If the garden goes too many days without rain, I have to water it; if I don’t weed often enough—my perennial problem—then the good plants are smothered.

So it is with the ‘garden of our souls’. If we want to become mature and God glorifying children of God, then we have to work diligently to tend to the needs of our souls. God is always doing His part; we have to do ours. We all start out as these little seeds. If we wish to grow and thrive, we cannot be passive when it comes to the health and growth of our souls.

The same temptations that Christ laid bare in His parable are true today: If you’re not careful, how easy it is to be the seed that fell among the rocks, that is, those who receive the Gospel and Orthodox Faith, but who in times of temptation fall away. How easy it is to be as those seeds that fall among the thorns and whose souls are smothered by the temporal cares and concerns and priorities of this present life and who do not bring forth fruit to maturity.

When we keep ourselves at a distance from Christ and His Church, as only a tangential priority, we are, in a sense, choosing to be the seed by the wayside; we’re easily trampled down and devoured by the culture—maybe not in such dramatic ways, maybe just in ‘safe,’ mundane ways: working all the time, not going to church to worship God the Holy Trinity, not making time to learn and grow, not making time for our daily prayers, not making Holy Confession a priority—and our souls slowly wither.

St. Cyril of Alexandria says of those who are on the wayside that they are just like it, “hard and unyielding” (Sermon on the Parable of the Sower). Where stubbornness and pride are, there is a ‘wayside’ in the soul that prevents growth in the knowledge and love of God. If a ‘teachable spirit’ is lacking and one isn’t open to learning or doing the hard spade work necessary to be purified of the passions that cause us to sin, then we cannot grow and find salvation.

When we make sacramental Confession, we have the opportunity, if we take it seriously, to remove from ourselves all those rocks—hardness of heart—all the weeds, those temporal preoccupations that take the place of prioritizing our life in Christ. In this way, we prepare the ‘soil’ of our souls for growth to bring forth a bountiful harvest. But Confession is something we need to make use of regularly. As in the garden, you can’t weed or prepare the soil or remove the rocks just once. You have to be ever vigilant and patient in tending.

Tito Coliander in his book, Way of the Ascetics, asks: “Can it be considered a virtuous act when a man who out of his own carelessness has been trapped deep down in a mine shaft, takes up pick and shovel and tries to work his way out? Is it not… quite natural for him to make use of the tools given him by a higher authority to make his way up out of the choking air and darkness? Would not the opposite be stupidity?” The tools, of course, are what he calls the “implements of salvation,” i.e. the commands of the Gospel and the Sacraments of the Church.

He goes on to conclude, “We must, like the imprisoned victim, give up many opportunities for rest… enjoyment…” We don’t let the pick and shovel out of our hands: they are prayer, fasting, watching, and vigilance to observe all things that Christ has commanded us (paraphrased).

It’s all here for us—all the tools of the ‘garden of our souls’ that we need are found in the Church. Those who wish to be as the seed cast among the good soil, are vigilant to not let themselves be redirected to other preoccupations apart from their life in Christ. If you and I wish to have Christ for eternal life, you and I have Christ as our main focus for this life. We bring Him into our daily lives at work, at school, at home—into all our stresses, anxieties, temptations.

So that you and I may be like the seed that fell on the fertile soil, we must, as St. Cyril urges, “drive away from our minds all worldly cares” (ibid). In this way, through repentance, taking each thought ‘captive’ to obey Christ (II Cor. 10:5), availing ourselves of the Sacraments Christ has entrusted to us, we can become the seed that brings forth fruit from our lives, our families, in our church, and in our community where we witness to the truth of Christ that is within us and which liberates every man and woman who puts their trust in Him.

God is always fulfilling His part, He is always a patient and loving ‘gardener’ of our souls, but our response to Him is up to us. To become that fruit-bearing seed on the good soil, St. John Chrysostom says we must practice obedience. We submit ourselves to Christ and His Church, knowing that through the Church, God has given us all the tools we need to be deified and grow in our participation in the life of the Holy Trinity, the only Life there is.

That life, as Christ teaches us here, always involves us producing spiritual fruit. Salvation is never just something between me and God alone; instead, it always involves you and I bringing forth fruit, coming out of our self-focus to love and to serve and give of the ‘fruit’ of our labors that is the bounty of our cooperation with the work of God in our lives. In other words, it always involves the Church. The degree to which we diligently and patiently tend our ‘garden’ will determine how much fruit we bear—some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

May we be open, obedient, and trusting as we patiently and diligently work to prepare the ‘garden of our souls,’ making use of all the tools Christ’s entrusted to us, to be filled to overflowing with the presence of Christ, giving a first fruits back to Him from the blessings He’s entrusted to us in praise and thanksgiving. In doing so, we can be confident, “that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6). We will be as those seed that have fallen on the good and prepared ground, who have heard the word of the Gospel and bear fruit with patience and watchfulness.

Fr. Robert Miclean
Holy Archangels Orthodox Church
Sunday, 19 October 2014
Parable of the Seeds

Epistle: 2 Corinthians 11:31-12:9
Gospel: Luke 8:5-15