This Christmas, focus on being good ‘soil’

The question at Christmas is not about whether God will act for us. The babe born of Mary is the answer: God has given everything. The question is really about us. Will we receive Christ?

This is a most magnificent reversal, and a most perilous one. He in whom all things are created – in whom we live and move and have our being – is given into our hands. The host has become the guest, and we, who depend on God for all things, are called upon to become his host.

Christmas is not only a time of great consolation, but the beginning of the great decision. God is all in. But do we accept him? Everything depends on our answer.

It is not typical to muse on the parable of the sower during Advent or Christmas, but it should be. "A sower went out to sow his seed," and the seed falls upon all manner of earth: some along a path, some on rock, some among thorns, and some into good soil (Lk 8:5-8). Jesus told this parable to "a large crowd" (Lk 8:4). He then goes on to explain the meaning of his parable, but not to everyone. He opens the meaning to "his disciples (who) asked him what the meaning of this parable might be" (Lk 8:9).

To his disciples, Jesus teaches that the seed is the word of God. The seed that falls on the path is not guarded, so it gets trampled underfoot and eaten by birds: These are the ways in which the seed is not received deeply and thus subject to the snares of the devil. The seed that falls on the rock cannot lay down roots, even if it is initially received with joy: This is how what seems like faith appears for a time but then passes away because it is superficial.

The seed that falls among thorns has to compete with myriad other desires and preferences and interests: This is how the lack of prioritization deprives the word of the nutrients it needs to grow. But the seed that fell on good soil is the word of God that finds a generous reception, that is nurtured "in a generous and good heart" and brings forth "fruit through perseverance" (Lk 8:15).

There are at least two things that we should not miss about Jesus' parable.

The first is that this is not a question of whether the seed – the word of God – is given. That question is answered in the very setup of the parable: the sower sows his seed; the seed is given to all. The question of the parable is instead about how the seed will be received.

What is in question is not the seed but the soil. The sower has made everything depend on the soil.

The second thing we dare not miss is the little detail about to whom, exactly, Jesus offered the further explanation after the parable. Remember, the parable was given to "a large crowd," comprised of many different people "from one town after another" (Lk 8:4). The explanation, though, is not given to the crowd but to his disciples, who asked him what this parable meant (cf. Lk 8:9).

Who are the disciples, then? They are the ones who seek to understand. They have heard his word, but they struggle to know it. By asking him to teach them, they are seeking to allow the word to sink in deep. They are becoming good soil. They are receiving him. The evidence of their hearing well will show forth in how they act on his word (cf. Lk 8:21; 11:28).

The parable of the sower inclines us to reckon with the dangerous side of Christmas. God has given his Son. The question is, will we receive him?

Receiving him is not about fleeting seasonal gladness or setting him alongside many other things. Receiving him is about giving him pride of place, and allowing him to set down roots and bear fruit in our lives. Receiving him is about being his disciples – the ones who seek to know him and who struggle to understand him.

This is indeed the dangerous reversal: he is the guest who calls us to become his hosts, and everything depends on our hospitality.

The Lord of all comes to us wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. This is God's great proposal; his knock upon our door. He would not force his way into our world or into our lives. He has come meekly.

And to our credit, some of our number received him with great care. This is part of our reason for joy at Christmas, and during the Christmas octave, the church schools us in the memory of this joy.

We Christians truly have cause to rejoice: Unto us a savior is born. But this good news is not for us alone. He seeks for us to welcome him to the point that he may take root in our lives and bear fruit through our words and deeds.

He comes to us as our guest in hopes that we will welcome him as our Lord and our God.

Leonard J. DeLorenzo, Ph.D., works in the McGrath Institute for Church Life and teaches theology at the University of Notre Dame.

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