Gospel in Art: Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow

The Sower in the Rain by Vincent van Gogh, Drawn in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, 1890. Pencil, pen and reed pen and ink, on paper © Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

Source: Christian Art

Gospel of 29 January 2025
Mark 4:1-20

At that time: Again Jesus began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 'Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.' And he said, 'He who has ears to hear, let him hear.'

And when he was alone, those around him with the Twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, 'To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that "they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven." '

And he said to them, 'Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones sown among thorns: they are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.'

Reflection on the drawing

Today's drawing by Vincent van Gogh, created between March and April 1890, captures a sower enduring a rainstorm. The bold, diagonal lines vividly evoke the relentless downpour soaking the fields. We see only the back of the farmer, and his distant home on the horizon. This deeply expressive work was completed in the final year of Van Gogh's life. Throughout his life he was a prolific drawer, producing over 1,000 drawings. For Van Gogh, drawing was more than a skill; it was a therapeutic practice, a vital means of coping with his struggles with depression. He regarded it as an antidote to his mental anguish, a sentiment he expressed with heartfelt eloquence in a letter to his brother Theo in 1880, at the age of 27, writing about the solace he found in art:

"Well, and yet it was in these depths of misery that I felt my energy revive and I said to myself, I shall get over it somehow, I shall set to work again with my pencil, which I had cast aside in my deep dejection, and I shall draw again, and from that moment I have had the feeling that everything has changed for me, and now I am in my stride and my pencil has become slightly more willing and seems to be getting more so by the day. My over-long and over-intense misery had discouraged me so much that I was unable to do anything."

I have always felt a deep connection to Vincent van Gogh's drawings; they seem to bring us closer to Van Gogh the man, rather than Van Gogh the artist. His paintings, with their vivid bursts of colour, are undeniably captivating, but they can sometimes feel distant, their brilliance distracting us from the struggles and humanity of the person behind the canvas. His drawings, however, stripped of colour, are raw and intimate. They somehow feel more 'real'. In this particular drawing, the sower is stooped, bent under an invisible weight that seems to press down harder than the physical labour of scattering seed onto the field. It's as though we see not just the act of sowing, but the burden of life itself.

Today's parable of the sower invites us to reflect not only on the soil where the seed falls but also on the sower himself. The sower represents God, and the seed is His word, His message of love and life. Just as the seed has the potential to grow and bear fruit, so too does God's word take root and flourish within us-if we choose to welcome and nurture it. The act of sowing is a pure expression of God's love, given freely and without hesitation. Though the parable often emphasises the condition of the soil, it also reveals the perseverance of the sower. Even now, God continues to sow his word, undeterred by indifference or rejection.

LINKS

Gospel in Art: https://christian.art/
Today's Reflection: https://christian.art/daily-gospel-reading/mark-4-1-20-2025/