“The Sower”

Friday, June 02, 2017

Christ’s parable of the sower is found in each of the synoptic gospels (Matthew 13; Mark 4; and Luke 8). It is not contained in the gospel of John.

We are blessed, in studying this parable, to have the Lord Himself explain it for us. In Luke 8, the parable itself is found in verses 5-8. Jesus’ explanation is in verses 11-15. Understanding how Christ interprets this parable should help us to be able to interpret other parables.

Jesus says plainly that “the seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11). There are other passages where the same word picture is given with the word of God being compared to a seed.

The parable of the tares uses a similar illustration (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43). So does the parable of the mustard seed (Matthew 13:31-32).

1 Corinthians 3:6-8 contains comparable language. “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants in anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.”

The apostle Peter employs a similar word picture in describing the process by which people are converted to Christ. “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever” (1 Peter 1:22-23).

The seed is sown in four different kinds of soil, representing four different hearts (or attitudes) of people who hear the gospel message. Each one brings forth a different result. Some prefer to call this the parable of the soils, but Jesus Himself calls it “the parable of the sower” (Matthew 13:18), so it’s probably best to stick with that.

--Roger Hillis

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