Jesus taught them at length in parables, and in the course of his instruction he said to them, “Hear this! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep. And when the sun rose, it was scorched and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it and it produced no grain. And some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit. It came up and grew and yielded thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” He added, “Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.”   

The song "Wake Up Call" from Maroon 5 is a miniature soap-opera with an unhappy ending. The man in the relationship is relating the story. He lives with raw emotion, as he says, and he likes direct answers to love. All of a sudden, he finds that his girlfriend is with another, and he says: "You deserve what is coming now, so don’t say a word." And what is coming now? He fires a gun at him with the intention to kill him, saying to his once-upon-a-time girlfriend—"I had to shoot him dead; he won’t come around here anymore." He then goes into a little discourse about what he would have done for her had she remained faithful, and tries to tell himself that he is fine with all of it, saying "I don’t feel so bad." Then he has second thoughts: "I’m so sorry," he sings, "did I do the wrong thing? Oh, what was I thinking, is his heart still beating." The song ends without any resolution, although the video shows him receiving the death penalty. It is the story of what happens when jealousy takes over reason, when evil exerts a stronger force than good.       

Why is evil stronger than good at times? There are many answers in the Scriptures, of course, because Sacred Scripture in essence is the story of "good overpowering evil." Perhaps one of the best ways to answer the question is with Jesus' parable of the sower. Evil is stronger than good when there is not enough rich soil for the word of God to take hold.

Rich soil consists of cultivated ground, that is, in human terms, a human nature that has been nurtured by the word of God--nurtured by concepts like "love," "forgiveness," "kindness," "faith," and the like, nurtured by actions of love and concern. Too often the nurturing cannot take place because the rocky ground and thorns that this world has planted has taken over the human psyche, and when we can choose good or evil, we often choose the evil. Our human natures prefer what feels good, or the revenge that we seem to seek, or the hatred that often makes more sense to us than love.

The song "Wake Up Call" is primarily a negative song, but maybe there is a positive element to it in that the man in the relationship begins to have second thoughts: he asks whether he did the wrong thing. He could have been thinking about the possible consequences, but maybe he was actually beginning to think that he should change his behavior a little. Maybe he was beginning to search his soul, maybe he was beginning to cultivate "his soil."

We are called to make our "soil" rich. We do it by facing the rocks and thorns that our human natures prefer, and then once we realize that they are evil, we can finally clearly hear the word of the Lord.                   

THOUGHT
 
PRAYER

Good and gracious God, your Son gave us your truth: it continues to be sown upon us. Help us be like rich soil so that we can listen and understand what you are saying every moment of our lives. Be with us, we pray. 

Questions, comments? Let me know. Email Fr. Mike

©2007 Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America