It’s not what I say, it’s what you hear.
As a young teacher, my students taught me that. Over and over.
The problem, of course, is that what people hear depends on what they bring with them. Their experiences, their history, their baggage.
All of which has a massive impact on how they understand what you say.
It’s true for all of us. No matter who is speaking. Especially when it’s God.
I bring this up, because today’s Gospel – the Parable of the Sower – is a prime example of how our experiences, our history, our baggage impact what we’re hearing.
And you’re thinking, “Wait, this one’s easy. Jesus explains the Parable for the Apostles later on in Matthew’s Gospel.”
That’s true. Jesus gives us the meaning of the seed sown on the path, the seed sown on rocky ground, the seed sown among thorns, and the seed sown on good soil.
But most of us get hung up on the groups when we hear it. Maybe we’re figuring out whether we’re on good soil or rocky ground. Maybe we’re trying label someone else as on the path or among thorns.
And we miss the best part of what Jesus says. Probably because Jesus says it by His silence.
What just about all of us miss – is that we have a choice. We don’t have a predetermined group. We get to choose what group we’re in.
And the one we’re in now? It doesn’t have to be the one we stay in.
We have a choice. No matter what our experiences, our history, our baggage may be telling us, God has put no qualifications on who gets to be good soil.
You and I get to choose how we respond to God. We’re not stuck.
In fact, it’s kind of the opposite. God’s invitation to be who He made you to be is wide open.
God is sowing extravagantly. He will provide you with everything you need to bear fruit, thirty, sixty, or a hundredfold.
All that’s left is to choose, to take God up on the offer.
Because the only thing holding you back is you.
