NOTES for Luk 8:4-15
Why does Christ set the apostles apart so sharply from "the others," to whom it is given to know only in parables? These words often surprise us deeply. After all, we read this interpretation, given only to the apostles, but are we really better than those who heard only the parable? No, we are not better. But Scripture was given to the Church. The "mysteries of the Kingdom of God" can be known only by those who are already together, who follow Christ not alone, who are ready to share life, joys, and sorrows with the neighbors given to them by God. The 12 apostles were not sinless, but they were gathered together around Christ, just as we are gathered in the Church, the Body of Christ. And together we can receive the Word; in the Church the Holy Spirit grants us the ability to hear and understand the Word of God.
And God has also given us freedom. This may be why He spoke in parables to those who had not yet decided, as the apostles had, to follow Him. The interpretation of the parable of the Sower is so simple and clear that the choice becomes painfully sharp; not everyone can bring himself to make it. The interpretation of this parable is so categorical that it can frighten an "outsider." In fact, it frightens us too, because we cannot fail to see how unlike fertile soil we are. But God protects our freedom, and therefore, by speaking in parables, He leaves us the freedom to choose: "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" We can decide to hear, ask God for "hearing ears," and then we will hear, understand, and a very frightening and very simple choice will stand before us: with God, or without God.