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THE PARABLE
The parable of the sower appears in all three of the Synoptic Gospels—Matthew, Mark (4:1-20), and Luke (8:4-15).
1That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9He who has ears, let him hear” (Matthew 13:1-9).
Seed was sown by scattering it in all directions while walking up and down the field. Fields were apparently plowed both before the seed was sown and then again after, plowing across the original furrows to cover the seeds with soil.
FOUR RESPONSES TO GOD’S WORD
The parable of the sower is one of only two parables that receive a detailed, point-by-point interpretation. One of them is the parable of the wheat and the tares later in Matthew 13 (vv. 24-30, 36-43), and the other is the parable of the sower.
18“Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the world, he quickly falls away. 22The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. 23But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown” (Matthew 13:18-23).
Seed = God’s WORD
Soil = people’s HEARTS
The four kinds of soil represent four different way people respond to God’s word.
1. Hard hearts – “The seed sown along the path”
“When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path” (v. 19).
Hindrance: SATAN
The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4).
Example: The OPPONENTS of Jesus
2. Shallow hearts – “The seed that fell on rocky places”
“The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the world, he quickly falls away” (vv. 20-21).
“Conditions for farming in many areas of Israel were not favorable. In many places the terrain was uneven and rocky, with only thin layers of soil covering the rock. Seed that landed on this shallow soil would begin to germinate more quickly than seen sown in deep soil, but it couldn’t put down deep roots and had to collect what little moisture lay in that parched thin layer of earth. The sprouting seed would soon wither and die in the hot sun” (Michael J. Wilkins, Matthew, p. 475).
Hindrance: ADVERSITY
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it” (Matthew 16:24-25).
Example: The CROWDS
In the twentieth century there were more martyrs for the Christian faith worldwide that in all nineteen previous centuries of church history combined. As North America becomes increasingly post-Christian, we will see more persecution. Would you remain loyal to Christ if it became dangerous?
3. Thorny hearts – “The seed that fell among thorns”
“The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful” (v. 22).
Hindrance: GREED
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs (1 Timothy 6:10).
“No man can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24).
Example: JUDAS
4. Receptive hearts – “The seed that fell on good soil”
“But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown” (v. 23).
Example: The ELEVEN disciples
“How do the four different groups of soils correlate with Jesus’ teaching elsewhere, if humanity divides itself into only two groups—those who are his followers and those who aren’t? The first group, represented by the seed falling on the path so that it never takes root at all, clearly refers to non-Christians who never make any pretense of following Christ. The fourth group, those who are represented by the good soil and produce a good harvest of fruit, clearly refers to Christians, those who prove to be true followers. The first group is obviously outside of God’s kingdom. The last group is obviously inside. But what about the middle two groups?
“Throughout Christian history—and particularly since the Protestant Reformation and the debate between the Reformers Calvin and Arminius—there are those who believe it possible to be a true Christian, repudiate one’s faith, and lose one’s salvation, just as there are those who believe that salvation cannot be lost or forfeited in any way. But what we often lose sight of in this debate, important though it may be, is that both Calvinists and Arminians agree that people can appear to be Christian, follow Jesus on some superficial level, even for a significant period of time, but then decisively turn their backs on him, entirely repudiate him, never repent, and wind up being lost for eternity. The only debate is about what is proven when that scenario unfolds. One side argues that such people were true Christians who lost their salvation; the other, that they were never true Christians at all.
“I take my stand with the latter group, particularly because of John’s description in his first epistle of false teachers who have left the Ephesian congregations he was pasturing. In 1 John 2:19 we read, “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.” This seems to be the clearest of all the various texts in the Bible that get quoted in this debate; it shows that those who commit apostasy demonstrate that they were never truly believers in the first place. But again, we can agree to disagree in that debate. The agreement that we must not lose sight of is that people who profess Christ, then repudiate their belief, and never change their minds are indeed lost, tragically, for all eternity. In our parable of the sower, then, it seems to me that the second and third seeds cannot be equated in any way with true believers. Although Jesus tells the story with four different possible responses, ultimately there are only two categories of people in the world—those who are true believers, and, therefore, by definition will bear fruit of some kind, and everyone else” (Craig Blomberg, Preaching the Parables, p. 109).
Lesson #1: Make SURE you are like the seed in the good soil.
Every Christian doesn’t produce the same fruit, but all produce some fruit.
There are only two kinds of people in the world: those who will delight in heaven and those who will suffer in hell.
Lesson #2: Share the word with EVERYONE.
“Because we cannot know unerringly who falls into either category, we, like the sower, must share the word with all people, however promising or unpromising the “soil” of their lives appears. Nor may we assume that their first reactions will match their final ones” (Blomberg, p. 111).
RESOURCES USED
Craig L. Blomberg, Preaching the Parables*
D. A. Carson, Matthew (EBC)
R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew (NICNT)
Michael Green, The Message of Matthew (BST)
Leon Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew (PNTC)
David L. Turner, Matthew (BECNT)
Michael J. Wilkins, Matthew (NIVAC)
*This book was especially helpful.
