Scripture readings for July 12, 2026, Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Is 55:10-11 Ps 65:10, 11, 12-13, 14 Rom 8:18-23 Mt 13:1-23 OR Mt 13:1-9
The imagery is simple. The word of God is like water, like a seed. Such is the image given in this Sunday’s first reading from Isaiah. It’s beautiful, earthy, organic and it’s easy to understand. Water and seed are productive, and together they bear fruit.
The word of the Lord is like that; “so shall my word be,” the prophet says (Is 55:11). He’s dreaming of redemption, flourishing after ruin. Just a few verses earlier, Isaiah speaks of David and of an “everlasting covenant.” He also dreams of unknown nations that will soon be called, and which will run to the “Holy One of Israel” (Is 55:3-5).
It’s not difficult to imagine how Christians immediately understood this passage. It’s easy to see how they would have understood Isaiah’s words ultimately to have been about Jesus, a prophecy of his advent. Hearing these words, Christians can’t help but think of what the Gospels simply call “the coming of the Son of Man.”
Which helps us hear this passage from Matthew, his account of Jesus’s parable of the sower. A parable found in each of the synoptic Gospels, the basic lessons are the same.
The first lesson is evangelical. Who will receive the Word of God? Not everyone will; at least not at the start. As John writes in the prologue of his gospel, “He came to his own home, and his own people received him not” (Jn 1:11). As do other New Testament writers, Matthew points to Is 6:9-10 to offer at least some explanation of the sad mystery why some failed to believe in Jesus.
Dulled hearts, hardened hearts, sklerokardia: that’s the spiritual problem, figured as a failure of the senses. What’s gone wrong that they fail to see Jesus for who he really is? It’s that they cannot hear; they cannot see. But we’re talking about something spiritual, so we ultimately talk about the heart. The hardened heart is bad ground; it’s rocky ground, shallow soil, thorns.
But remember, we’re first talking about Jesus. The parable is first about how people receive or reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Again, some do and some don’t. There’s a mystery to it that’s beyond us. Our first task is simply to believe in Christ ourselves; next, it’s to be faithful bearing witness to Christ to all people and in all things. Ultimately, however, the success of our witness isn’t something we control; for as Paul said, it’s “only God who gives the growth” (1 Cor 3:7).
But the second lesson is personal, spiritual. Read in this way, the parable of the sower invites self-examination. If we’re honest, I think each of us would admit that at various times the soul is like rocky ground or like thorns.
Eager and thrilled and full of good spiritual intentions, a burst of prayer and commitment, but then suddenly nothing, a hard spiritual fall: you know what it’s like when your soul is rocky ground. At least I do. Man, prayer is like a roller coaster for me, and I’m a priest! Haven’t you been there?
Or what about gluttony or our addiction to luxury? How much did you pay for that car? How much are you spending on your kid’s travel ball? How much do you give to the poor? Don’t tell me you know nothing about thorns. I’ll admit that I do. It’s embarrassing. It’s one of the most challenging things there is about being a Christian, and each time I hear this parable, I feel it. I feel the need to repent, to change.
I want my soul to be like “rich soil.” I want to be receptive to Jesus, to the word of God, to God’s water and seed. I want to hear the word of God and understand it. Yet I know that to hear the word with understanding means that I should “bear fruit.” It means that I should show forth understanding by the manner of my life and not merely by the words I speak. For ultimately that’s what bearing fruit means; it means becoming a new creation (2 Cor 5:17).
Of course, I’m not just talking about me. I’m talking about you, about us. I trust you want to be rich soil too, that you want to grow in the kingdom of God together with me and with all the faithful. Which is beautiful to think about, how we’re all in this together. Paul talked about how we “grown within ourselves” as we wait for redemption; he even said that all creation groans with us (Rom 8:19-23).
I don’t know, I just find it wonderful how we’re all connected like that, struggling to grow together in Christ. It makes me want to keep going when I’m tired and start over when I fail. And it makes me want to hope in you too and help you too. For the thing is, you see, we’re in this garden together. This Church, this kingdom of God.
Father Joshua J. Whitfield is pastor of St. Rita Catholic Community in Dallas and author of “The Crisis of Bad Preaching” (Ave Maria Press, $17.95) and other books.
