Jesus has been ‘in the house’ in Capharnaum, dealing with the question of who belongs in his family. He leaves the house to go and teach along the shore. The crowd is so great that he is in danger of being pushed into the sea, so he gets into a boat and pushes out a little from the shore on the quiet waters of the Sea of Galilee and talks to the crowd on the slope of the beach. These are people who are searching for belief, potential believers, and he tells them a parable.

The use of parables was common at the time of Our Lord as a means of teaching. A parable is based on ordinary life or on nature, and its purpose is to catch the attention of the listener. This is done either by the vividness of its detail or by the strangeness of the story itself. The aim is to get the listener to think, so it is not just ‘a simple story’. Every detail in the story is not important except that it may contribute to the strangeness of the tale. In the parable of the Sower, for example, the seed is sown but there is no mention of ploughing or manuring the field, which might seem an odd way to go about things to anyone who knows anything about agriculture. The man who sows does not come back. The result is that the seed is the focus of all attention. In the parable then it is the seed and not the sower that is important.

There is a contrast between the four sowings. In many parts of Palestine there is thin soil over rocky ground. The thorns, which may include briars, thistles, nettles and so on, could be there as boundaries to the field or to keep animals out. The sower sows everywhere, with prodigality, even foolishly, in places most would see as a waste of time and energy. The parable takes for granted that all the seed is good. At harvest the result is mixed but nonetheless the yield is extravagant.

St John’s gospel tells us: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. We know that the Word is a person and we know the source of his power. If that is so, we are confronted with the problem that the disciples faced, that faces every generation in turn. If the word is so powerful, if all the seed is good, why are results so patchy and variable? Why is the word rejected? Why do some refuse to believe? The problem was painfully real for Matthew, writing for his own community made up mostly of people of Jewish origin.

Only the disciples ask: Why do you talk in parables? Before dealing with the problem of those who refuse to believe, Jesus speaks about the privilege given to those who not merely hear but listen, those in whom listening has been joined to understanding: Blessed are your eyes because they see, your ears because they hear. The mysteries of the kingdom are revealed to you. The disciples get special instruction because of their response and because others have rejected. There is a warning here to the disciples that they too can reject. For Matthew the community contains both good and not so good. His explanation of the parable tries to explain why people hear but do not listen and take to heart.

The parable raises again the mystery of those whom God chooses, and the equal mystery of why some hear and reject the choice offered.

• Blessed are your eyes that see, your ears that hear. Do I take to heart the privilege that is mine of knowing God and Jesus Christ –the Word of Life-- whom He has sent?

• Is it fair to say that at different times I have reacted to hearing the Word in the ways described in the explanation of the parable? Have I given up easily at times when my faith has been tested, when my prayer was ignored? Have I been so involved with necessary material things that I have failed to react to the challenge offered by the Word of God? Have I allowed the questioning of non-believers to make me forget what I know about faith from experience in my own life or in the life and example of others?

• The heart of this nation has grown coarse, their ears are dull of hearing and they have shut their eyes. Are the words of Isaiah still true? If I agree, can that mentality influence me now, and what might I do to stand out against it?

• Many have longed to see what you see . . . to hear what you hear . . . Does that apply only to those standing on the beach listening to the Lord out on the boat?