The Parable of the Sower

One of Jesus’ most famous parables is about a farmer sowing seed in his field. It’s a story that illustrates profound truths about the condition of our hearts and our responsibility to share the gospel as often and widely as possible. The parables reveal the heart of the listener. In the middle of the sower parable, the disciples ask Jesus why He chooses to speak in parable. Parables make the conceptual a little more concrete Jesus toured the countryside sharing truths about God’s kingdom. This is a lot more difficult than one might imagine in a mostly uneducated Galilee region. He wasn’t speaking to people who had any interest in sitting around a coffee shop all day discussing theoretical concepts, let alone the luxury of doing so. By teaching with parables, Jesus was able to explain abstract ideas in a way that people throughout Judea could relate to. Not only did this help them make a connection between their everyday lives and spiritual truth, but it also gave these truths sticking power. You know that they thought about the parable of the sower during every planting season.

Truth has a bigger impact when you have to work at it Jesus didn't explain everything in complete detail, He expected His listeners to do some of the work. If He had filled in all the blanks for everyone, it wouldn't have had the same effect. One powerful thing about a parable is that the listener has to make the connection between the story and its truth. The “A-ha!” moment occurs when the hearer makes that connection. Thousands of years later, we’re still turning over Christ’s parables and discovering our own relationship to these spiritual truths. We have entered into August, the eighth month, representing new beginnings. And, we want to cover over the next week the “The Parable of the Sower”. Jesus speaks about these four parables describe the outward characteristics of the church, the working of the mystery of sin against the church, and the extent to which the Evil One is allowed to go in his opposition. The remaining four parables illustrate the inner characteristics of His church. “Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” (Matthew 13:3–8).

It concerns a sower who scatters seed, which falls on four different types of ground. The hard ground “by the way side” prevents the seed from sprouting at all, and the seed becomes nothing more than bird food. The stony ground provides enough soil for the seeds to germinate and begin to grow, but because there is “no deepness of earth,” the plants do not take root and are soon withered in the sun. The thorny ground allows the seed to grow, but the competing thorns choke the life out of the beneficial plants. The good ground receives the seed and produces much fruit. Jesus’ explanation of the Parable of the Sower highlights four different responses to the gospel. The seed is “the word of the kingdom.” The hard ground represents someone who is hardened by sin; he hears but does not understand the Word, and Satan plucks the message away, keeping the heart dull and preventing the Word from making an impression. The stony ground pictures a man who professes delight with the Word; however, his heart is not changed, and when trouble arises, his so-called faith quickly disappears. The thorny ground depicts one who seems to receive the Word, but whose heart is full of riches, pleasures, and lusts; the things of this world take his time and attention away from the Word, and he ends up having no time for it. The good ground portrays the one who hears, understands, and receives the Word—and then allows the Word to accomplish its result in his life. The man represented by the “good ground” is the only one of the four who is truly saved, because salvation’s proof is fruit (Matthew 3:7–8; 7:15–20). So, when the gospel is presented to them, they’re too focused on life’s material aspects: what they can see, touch, smell, and taste. They’re so consumed with the world’s entertainments and trinkets that the kingdom message has no way to have any significant influence.