The Parable of the Sower

What is the Seed?

God said in the Bible some things that are very deep and logical about seeds and if the reader can understand them, they can gain vast amounts of spiritual knowledge and increase in understand of how almost everything in the world functions. The seed is the Word. Your only spiritual tool for survival against the cares of this life, testing of your faith and wiles of the devil is the Word of God. Seeds represent concepts that apply both to the natural realm and the spiritual realm simultaneously. When you begin to understand them, you will begin to understand why things have happened in your life and how to affect or change your future results. Everything He does, He does through the Word! The sower is God. Planting seeds and getting harvests are a part of the essential design of God’s creation as well as being an essential part of God’s hidden nature and character. Hopefully you will better understand this as we go through the Bible on this subject.

But, here is a challenge from God, there are multiple things in the Bible called "seeds" and this is one of the complexities found while studying the Bible. God calls multiple things by the same name and we are required to figure out which one He is talking about to correctly understand each verse. He is scattering seed daily and Satan is trying to pick it up. The ground is us. The ground determines all the results of the sowing. For a farmer, the life of the garden is found in a little kernel of seed. Each seed contained the raw materials for a transformational miracle. A seed can become a plant, bush, or a tree which would produce life-giving fruit. But as we see in this parable (and as every farmer understood), many environmental factors determine how well a seed will thrive. If a seed is unable to make its way into the healthy soil, it cannot flourish. In this parable, the seed is the "message of the kingdom." And like all seed, it cannot do its transformational work in the wrong environment. If the gospel seed falls on the bad soil (or is snatched up before it can find purchase), it just won’t sprout. Church services and reading the Bible are great ways that His Word is imparted to us, but there are other ways the seeds of His Word are sown into our lives: Bible studies, fellowshipping with friends, being surrounded by His creation and seeing His Word all around us and praying the Scriptures. There are also people God places into our lives to sow seeds of His Word such as pastors and their wives, mentors and ministers. All of these also serve to till the soil of our hearts and prepare it for the seeds that will be sown.

What is the Soil?

The “soil” represents the minds, attitudes and hearts of those in whom the word is sown. Jesus makes it clear that the receptiveness of a human heart is represented by the parable's various soils. The effectiveness of the gospel's seed depends entirely on the soil where it lands, and the parable of the sower is ultimately about how various people respond to the gospel.

“And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground” (Mark 4:26 ESV).

“Then he took of the seed of the land and planted it in fertile soil. He placed it beside abundant waters. He set it like a willow twig, and it sprouted and became a low spreading vine, and its branches turned toward him, and its roots remained where it stood. So it became a vine and produced branches and put out boughs” (Ezekiel 17:5–6 ESV).

“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap” (Galatians 6:7 ESV). In the parable of the soils, told by Matthew, Mark and Luke, only one soil produces a continuous, growing yield. Every other soil either abruptly stops producing or fails to produce at all.

Seed & Soil:

According to Jesus’ own explanation, the “seed” is the word of God. The “soil” represents the minds, attitudes and hearts of those in whom the word is sown. The seed or word takes root, grows and produces fruit - or not - depending upon the state of the “soil” and whether or not it is suitable for production. Even when it might look like reasonably good soil, thorns and weeds can grow up among the good seed and choke it out. The hard soil or hardened heart is where nothing grows, nothing even sticks to this type of soil or heart, and the seeds just roll off. This heart doesn’t even want to hear the Word of God. The shallow soil or shallow heart is ground where the seeds that have been cast settle and take root, but the soil is shallow so the roots don’t go deep. When the smallest of storms come through, the plant that has begun to sprout is easily uprooted. Here, the Word of God only reaches the surface. Then there’s the weedy soil or heart full of distractions. Seeds will take root, but there are so many weeds surrounding the plant that the plant gets choked out. This is like the distractions in our lives that take our attention and push out the things of God. Finally, there is the fertile soil or good heart. Seeds take root, the roots grow deep and the plant comes forth strong and healthy.

Understanding:

The three synoptic gospel writers present this parable through slightly different frames, depending upon their respective audiences and thematic emphases. Matthew’s version seems to yield something rather obvious that I had not previously considered: in Matthew 13, the key distinction Jesus draws between soil which yields good crops and that which does not, is understanding. The parable seems not to be saying that the word of God is to be dropped at random, on the contrary, a good planter will pick out some promising soil, rather than squander good seed and/or scarce planting time. Situations, trials and times of rejoicing are all things that can affect the condition of our heart. All can cause us to harden or soften our heart. Life brings many distractions which can grab our attention and pull us away from catering to our fields. It’s not long before the things of God take a back seat and all that has been planted is easily uprooted. We must be diligent and tend to the condition of our hearts. Every situation that comes our way, good or bad is an opportunity for us to till our heart and draw closer to God.