Good Soil

Each week, one staff member provides a reflection on a Scripture reading for the students during our all-school assembly. This week was my week to do the reflection, and I must say, I scored with the reading I was given—simple, straightforward, and saturated with symbolism. The reading I had to provide a reflection for was Matthew 13:1-9: the Parable of the Sower.

I focused my reflection on two of the symbols: the seed and the good soil.

It is clear in this passage that when Jesus speaks of the sower, he is speaking about God. And when he speaks of the seed the sower spreads, Jesus is speaking about God’s Grace and Blessings. In this story, those seeds fall everywhere. They fall on the path; they fall on rocky ground; they fall on good soil, and they even fall among the thorn bushes. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think God was a pretty careless gardener. But that’s not the point. Through this story, Jesus tells us how no one is excluded from God’s Grace and Blessings. God’s Grace and Blessings falls upon all of us, and it falls in abundance. However, this leads to my second point.

Although God pours Grace and Blessings on all of us, only some people will bear fruit. Jesus warns us of this by using the symbol of the good soil. It is only those with hearts of good soil that will bear the abundant produce of thirty, sixty, or a hundredfold. In this way, we are challenged to cultivate our hearts, nurturing them with the nutrients of virtues and preparing them to receive the abundant Grace God pours upon us.