The Parable of the Sower

4:1 Again he 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. 2 And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3 "Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5 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. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold." 9 And he said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

10 And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11 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, 12 so that

"they may indeed see but not perceive,
and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they should turn and be forgiven."

13 And he said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 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. 16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. 17 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. 18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19 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. 20 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."

He said to them "Listen!"
Right from the beginning of the parable, Jesus tells his followers to "listen up", or "pay attention". He was making the point that what he was about to say was important - if his followers didn't listen properly, they could get things wrong.

A sower went out to sow
Who is the sower? Well in this parable he doesn't say, but in Matthew 13:37 (The Parable Of The Wheat And The Tares) Jesus says "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man." So it is likely that the sower in this parable is Jesus himself, and today the sower would be anybody who faithfully preaches the message of the Son of Man.

The Seed
Jesus explains in verse 14 that the seed is the word, or more specifically as Matthew records in Matthew 13:19 "the word of the kingdom". In other words, the seed is the gospel of the kingdom and Jesus is talking about preaching the gospel message.

He then goes on to explain how people react differently to this message.

Some seed fell along the path
The path refers to the long hard pathways dividing the various plots of land. The soil of the pathway was so compacted and compressed that that the seed could not penetrate the soil and germinate, as a result it just sat on the surface of the ground and the birds came and ate it up.

The birds here are Satan, amd the pathway is those people who have hardened their hearts prior to hearing the Word. They don't want to know. The Word has fallen on deaf ears.

Other seed fell on rocky ground
Some of the soil covered a limestone base that was just a few inches beneath the surface. The seed that fell here would germinate, but it wouldn't last because the rock would prevent a proper root system from developing.

As Jesus explains, these are people who immediately receive the word with joy and endure for a while but then fall away when persecution arises. You might think of them as 'fair weather friends'.

Or to put it another way, when the time comes to stand up and be counted, these are the people who sit down.

Other seed fell among thorns
This is seed that grows, but at the same time so do weeds which stunt its growth and prevent it from bearing fruit.

These are people who hear the word but are basically distracted by "the cares of this world" or the "deceitfulness of riches" and the "desires of other things" with the end result that they are unfruitful.

Later in the New Testament, Paul talks of the deceitfulness of riches in his first letter to Timothy 1 Ti 6:9-10 and of the dangers of the "desires of other things" (pleasures of the flesh) in his epistle to the Galatians Ga 5:17

Good soil
The seed that fell here germinated and grew and produced a crop that was 30 60 or 100 times greater than what was sown. Bearing in mind that an especially good harvest for a field at the time would be 10 times what is sown, Jesus is talking about a miracle crop.

These are people who hear the word and accept it, and spread the good news of Christ's message. Christians who have taken the church from a few hundred members to over 2 billion today. Quite a crop!

At the end of the parable, Jesus said "He who has ears to hear, let him hear"

What did he mean?

He meant that the message was open to anybody who wanted to hear it. But not everybody is open to listening. For example, the teachers of the Law hear the teachings of Jesus and they see his miracles, yet they attribute his power to Satan!

They "see but not perceive,and may indeed hear but not understand" (Christ here is quoting from Isaiah 6:9-10).

The disciples on the other hand have "been given the secret of the kingdom of God" because they are followers of Jesus.