For so many years, I read the parable of the sower as a description of how other people were going to respond to my words. I read it with the understanding that you and I are called to share the word of God, and I found it a reassurance that I was only responsible for sharing the word—for sowing the seed. I was not responsible for the way that it was received.

And maybe that’s a good reminder, but I no longer think that was the primary intention of the gospel writers as they wrote about the soil.