Archbishop of Sydney

World Youth Day Sermon for Delegates

Luke 8:4-15

By + Cardinal George Pell
Archbishop of Sydney
15/10/2007

If we wish to understand Our Lord’s personality better we are generally told that we should begin by studying his parables.  Naturally his life story and especially its ending also tell us many things, but the heart of Jesus' teaching is in the parables.

The parable of the sower and the seed is found in all the synoptic gospels and also in the gospel of Thomas, which is the most respectable of the apocryphal gospels, i.e. those not accepted into the list of official New Testament books and judged to have been written without the special inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  Indeed many commentators claim that this is the most important parable in the gospels and the key to understanding all the other parables.

In all three synoptics this parable is placed at the start of the main collection of Jesus’ parables and is given a larger than normal amount of space.

Some writers make a clear distinction between a parable on the one hand, where the point of the story is to make one general point, as distinct from an allegory where elements or personalities in the story are matched to particular events or persons in real life.  Parables are seen as more typical of the Hebrew or Semitic cast of mind, while allegories are more closely related to Greek culture, designed to express aspects of theoretical truths rather than practical exhortations.

Sometimes these categories were mixed together and not clearly distinguished in the mind of different authors and the Scriptures do contain famous allegories e.g. that of the vine in Isaiah (Chapter 5) later taken up in the New Testament, while parables are more frequently found in the Scriptures.

This parable is unusual because it is followed by a section where Our Lord explains the different points made originally and applies them to categories of people in real life.

Nearly all the experts, perhaps all of them in fact, believe that Our Lord certainly spoke this parable himself, although they differ among themselves on whether Jesus himself explained the story to his disciples.

I personally have no problem in accepting that Our Lord explained the story to his disciples, that they wanted him to do so and probably asked him explicitly for this.  Some of the parables are real brain teasers, either making an unexpected point or praising an unlikely person, e.g. as in the parable of the unjust steward.  It is the most natural development to imagine especially Jesus’ closest followers asking him “just what did you mean when you told that story to the crowd of listeners?”

The basic meaning of this parable of the sower as explained in Luke's gospel is not too difficult, because it explains the different ways in which individuals hear, understand and respond to the word of God.

In the middle section of verses 9-10 the special group of his closest disciples is distinguished from the general body of listeners because they have been given the gift of understanding the secrets of God's Kingdom.

The others listen but don’t understand, look but do not perceive what is truly happening.  I don’t believe that our good God arbitrarily divides those who understand from those who cannot, that there is no rhyme or reason to the different levels of understanding.

I suspect that the differences follow from the presence or absence of good will and openness in the listeners.  Some people are so prejudiced that they can only believe what they want to believe, so that their hearts are blinded to unpleasant or unlikely truths.  On some points we might not recognize we are prejudiced, so we should pray regularly that we will always be open to the truth and that as we grow older we shall understand ourselves better, just as we come to understand God and those around us more deeply with the passing of the years.

Most of you as delegates to the World Youth Day 2008 preparatory meeting are still young. What lessons might you draw from this parable?

At the moment I suppose that not one of us is presently in the first category of the seeds that fell on the edge of the path and were immediately carried away by the devil.  But each of us might fall into each of the three remaining categories.  Each of us who stands must be careful we do not fall!

If the roots of our faith are not deep and secure we can be brought down by trials, even when they do not equal Job’s trials.  And there is no doubt that every one of us, whatever our age or position, can be choked by the worries, riches or pleasures of this world and not produce any spiritual fruit.

These are different challenges producing a similar effect.  Some can become too busy to pray or to find time to worship regularly.  Others can become too attached to money or possessions so that their hearts become dry and the eye of faith dimmed, while the different pleasures of the world can also weaken our will and distort our vision.  Most people do not grow up with these vices, but fall into these faults little by little, slowly with the passing of the years. We should never presume that we will be immune to temptation in all these areas.

And one final word.  For all of us, but especially for the young, we should pray for the gift of perseverance so that we shall always follow Christ our Redeemer in faith, hope and love.  And may many of you, all of you, persevere as disciples with noble and generous hearts, so that you produce rich harvests, hundred fold crops.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.