The Parable of the Sower and the Seed

     Life is all about stories and every person has a story.  God, too, has a story – the grand metanarrative – that makes sense of every human story; for the sacred Scriptures make known two kinds of wisdom so that every human being can make sense of, and interpret properly, his or her story in light of His story:

+. a soteriological wisdom:  to make us wise unto salvation which is by grace, through faith, in Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 3:15)

+. a hermeneutical wisdom:  to help us make sense of life’s story in light of His story and the many stories recorded in Scripture (Matthew 13:11, 16-17, 51-52; 2 Timothy 3:16-17)

     One third of the recorded teaching of Jesus consisted of parables.  In the parables, Jesus is describing the kingdom of God in action and telling us something that happens when God is busy re-establishing Himself as King among humankind.

     In “the parable of the sower and the seed,” what essential teaching does Jesus share with us about humankind’s response to the Good News of the kingdom so that we might benefit from its wisdom and grow in our discipleship as “a wise scribe, trained for the kingdom” (Matthew 13:52)


Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

24 He put another parable before them, saying,  “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he said,  ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers,  “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”

36 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying,  “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” 37 He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil.  The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.  He who has ears, let him hear.


+. what did the parable mean “then and there?”

  +. Jesus is in Capernaum and one day, as He leaves the house that He was staying in, He sits down by the sea; and a large crowd gathered around Him, so He got into a boat while the crowd stood on the shore, and He taught them many things in parables – uttering things that had been hidden since the foundation of the world

  +. a farmer sowing his plot of ground was a very familiar sight during the time of Jesus…the farmer, with a supply of seed in a bag hanging around his neck, walking up and down the field, dipping his hand into the seed and scattering it evenly across the soil

     +. some it was lost almost as soon as it was sown, since it fell on the beaten paths around the field, where it lay on the surface, only to be picked up by birds

     +. some of it fell on places where there was only a thin covering of soil over rock – a very familiar feature of the rocky Galilean hillsides – it grew for a little in the rainy season, but the roots could not go deep, and when the hot weather came it withered

     +. some of it fell where the weeds also grew and, in due course, they grew up with the weeds, with the vigorous weeds choking the grain

     +. other seed fell into good soil, grew steadily, and produced fruit – the yield being thirty, sixty and even a hundred times the amount of grain sown

  +. Jesus’ teaching in parables fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah 6:9-10 and, like one of the Old Testament prophets, He announced both the judgment and salvation of God

  +. the parable is a description of various responses to hearing God’s Word and depicted the responses that Jesus encountered in His ministry

     +. for some of the hearers, the evil one takes away what was sown in the heart; the parable of the children in the market place (Matthew 11:16-19)…Jesus forgives the sins and heals a paralytic yet He is accused of blasphemy (Matthew 9:1-8)…Jesus casts out a demon and is accused of being Beelzebub, the prince of demons (Matthew 9:32-34; 12:22-30)

     +. for others, tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, and the person falls away; the disciples on the night when Jesus was betrayed (Matthew 26:56), especially Peter denying Jesus three times (Matthew 26:31-35, 69-74)…Jesus reveals Himself to be “the bread of life” yet the majority of the hearers walk away and no longer follow Him (John 6:26-66)…Jesus rejected at Nazareth though, at first, they received His words and delighted in them (Luke 4:16-30)

    +. for still others, the cares of this world and the delight in riches choke the word; the parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:15-21)…the story of the rich young ruler (Matthew 19:16-22)…the parable of the marriage feast (Matthew 22:1-14)…the crowds that came to Jesus had anxiety about many things (Matthew 6:25-34)

     +. yet there are some who hear the word, understand it, and bear fruit; the parable of the hidden treasure and the merchant in search of fine pearls…Mary (Luke 1:26-56)…Zechariah (Luke 1:57-80)…Simeon (Luke 2:25-32)…Anna (Luke 2:36-38)…first disciples (Matthew 4:18-22)…Matthew (Matthew 9:9-13)…Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10)…the Canaanite woman (Matthew 15:21-28)…the disciples on the way to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35)


+. what does the parable mean “here and now?”

  +. the parable shows what happens when the Gospel, the good news of the kingdom, is proclaimed among humankind; and people must be careful how they hear, for their hearing will determine their eternal destiny

  +. this parable reminds us that not everyone who hears the Good News, believes; and that there are several “enemies” of the Word that make it difficult for a person to hear, understand, believe the Gospel, and bear fruit in their lives

  +. Satan does not want people to believe and does all that he can in order to hinder the hearing and understanding of the Gospel when it is proclaimed

     +. Satan ignites many false lights, wrote Martin Luther, so that people would be confused and not believe in Him who is the light of the world

     +. examples in our day would be the many anti-trinitarian and anti-Christian religions in the world:  Buddhism; Confucianism; Hinduism; Islam; Judaism; Taoism; Traditional Religion 

     +. examples in our day would also be the many anti-Christian ideologies:  Atheism; Deism; Marxism; Materialism; Naturalism; Pantheism; Secular Humanism

     +. one of the insightful observations of Martin Luther is that Satan attacks Christ in three different ways:  that He is not true God; that He is not true man; and that He is true God and He is true man yet what He did for us is not sufficient to save us – we must also contribute to our salvation

  +. following Jesus is not easy and some who hear fall away because of the troubles and tribulations that come their way in life – and they no longer follow Jesus

     +. one of the great tribulations that some parents (and grandparents) must endure is the death of a child (grandchild) -- I think of all of those parents who lost a son or daughter during a time of war; or to lose a child to disease; for others, the tribulation can be the death of a spouse or the loss of a job; for others, the tribulation can be physical persecution and martyrdom; for still others, it can be chronic illness and pain…in the face of these tribulations, some of them leave the faith and no longer follow Jesus

     +. I marvel at the early story and faith of Job when these tribulations came his way:  thieves took his livestock; fire from heaven consumed his sheep; all of his children were killed in a great wind storm…how did Job respond:  “Job arose, and rent his robe, and shaved his head, and fell upon the ground, and worshiped.  And he said:  Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:20-21)

     +. Paul, in his visit to the disciples in Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, reminded them that it is “through many tribulations that we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22)

+. for others, the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of wealth cause them to give up the faith and not follow Jesus; and we see this life orientation being embraced and lived out all of the time in our modern world

     +. it was Aldous Huxley who referred to the “Sears and Roebuck catalog” as the Newest Testament

     +. it was Francis Schaeffer who observed that for many people in the US, they live for two impoverished values:  personal peace and personal affluence…that is, to be left alone and not be troubled by the troubles of others – to have my personal life patterns undisturbed in my lifetime (personal peace)…an ever-increasing prosperity – a life made up of thing, things and more things and a ever-higher level of material abundance (personal affluence)

     +. “many spend their lives in fretting, over trifles and in getting…things that have no solid ground…I shall strive to win a treasure that will bring me lasting pleasure…and that now is seldom found” (LSB 732)

  +. by God’s grace, there are many who do hear the Gospel, they understand it, they believe it, and they bear much fruit in their lives   


     In closing, let us impress these words from Scripture upon our hearts that address the need of every person to hear and understand the words of Jesus, believe in Him, and put these very words into practice so that he or she can bear much fruit:

  +. when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, He overcame the temptations of Satan with these words (Matthew 4:1-11):

     “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

     “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.”

     “You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.”

+. “No one can serve two masters; for 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 God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24)

+. “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put.  Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing…for the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well” (Matthew 6:25, 32-33)

+. “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel:  it is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written:  the righteous live by faith” (Romans 1:16-17)

+. “What then shall we say to this?  If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all…Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  As it is written:  for Your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered…no, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:31-32, 35-39)

+. “…for I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content” (Philippians 4:11b)

+. “Do not love the world or the things in the world.  If any one loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world.  And the world passes away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides for ever” (1 John 2:15-17)