The Parable of the Sower

Matthew 13:1-9

July 1, 2006

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. Then he told them many things in parables, saying: "A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. He who has ears, let him hear."

Reading over this parable, and thinking about what it means, I’ve come up with some thoughts that I’d like to share. The first thing that needs to be understood is the interpretation of the parable. The second thing is some application of the interpretation. I will attempt to walk you through each of these as we go along through the parable.

In the story Jesus likens us to farmers scattering seed on his land. He explains that some of the seed falls on various types of bad soil, and some falls on good soil. The first point I’d like to make here is that the farmer in this story doesn’t seek out just the good soil; he scatters seed on ALL of the soil. It seems that sometimes Christians that are trying to spread the good news, seek out those people or those groups that they think would be most receptive to the Gospel, when in fact in spreading the word, we need to spread it everywhere we are, not just when and where think it will be well met. The simple fact is that however good we think we are at judging character, we can never know if someone is ready to receive the word or not, our job is just to put it out there. As Pastor Bob Flak of Grace Baptist Church in Manhattan, Kansas put it, we are called to be scatterers of seed, not judgers of soil.

Jesus goes on to say that some of the seed falls on the path where the birds immediately come and snatch it up. He later likens this to when the word falls upon someone, and Satan right away snatches it up from them, not letting it sit for a moment. Those of us who have been made new in Christ and are possibly established Christians can sit atop our pedestal and look at this part of the parable and say, “that doesn’t apply to me, I’ve accepted the word into my heart already.” While that might be true, not everything that God tells us is met with acceptance, or even understanding. As long as we remain in this fallen world, even an established and mature Christian will have patches of path where it is easy for Satan to snatch the word out from our hearts.

Jesus continues by saying that some of the seed falls on rocky ground, where the seed can sprout and grow up very fast, but once the sun comes out and gives its mid-day heat, the plant of the seed is scorched and withers away under the strain. He compares this to a person who is eager and very willing to accept the word and grows as much and as fast as he can, but doesn’t have the proper foundation so that when persecutions come, he is quick to give in and fall away. While an established and mature Christian will likely be fairly resistant to such a folly, we do need to be careful that we don’t let certain areas of our growth be on rocky ground, but cultivate every piece of ground with which we accept the word. We also need to be caution not to inspire or encourage such reckless and shortsighted growth in other, newer Christians who would be more susceptible to such an episode.

He continues the parable by talking about the seed that sprouts among thorns and grows, but is choked out and rendered useless by the surrounding foliage. He says that this is like the one who hears the word, but because of his environment or some other variable in his life, the word is not allowed to bear fruit because there is something hindering it or stealing what it needs to grow strong. Now while most Christians that take their call seriously will be careful to stay away from situations that obviously will hinder their growth in the word, there are some things that are not so obvious that can produce thorns in our life in small patches. I will be the first to admit that I most definitely have some thorns in my life that are restricting me from being what I am capable of being in Christ Jesus. I’m trying to rid myself of these thorns, but underneath each patch of thorns, is a finer, more deeply imbedded patch of thorn laying in wait. The simple fact is that as fallen creatures, the deeper we dig inside ourselves, the more thorns we will find. It doesn’t get better until we are made anew with Christ in our glorified bodies. My point throughout these three types of bad soil has been that no matter how “good” of a Christian you are or you think you are, each one of us has a little of this bad soil still left in us. Part of the Christian walk is the lifelong struggle against these soils, and only through the power and grace of Christ can we overcome in the end.

Lastly, Jesus talks about the forth type of soil, soil that is deep and rich, and accepts the seed and allows it to grow tall, put down deep roots, and produce lots of fruit. This soil is the soil that the word found in you if you are now fallowing Christ with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. But even though this soil is good, and the seed can take root and sprout and grow strong and healthy, there are several things that can hinder the growth of the word even when it finds good soil.

The Japanese art of bonsai is the art of training a tree to become a miniature of its full size relatives. To train a tree to grow normally but significantly smaller in size, one has to restrict its growth and prune it in the proper place at the proper time, it’s very tedious. This same thing can happen to the word. If Satan can get into your life and restrict the growth of the word inside you, he will take full advantage. Through things such as anxiety, fear, or failure, the enemy can cut off our branches that we try to put out. If we allow Satan to enter our lives and control us through these things, he will tediously prune us and train us to be only a fraction of the Christian that we are capable of being. Another thing that is needed for the making of a bonsai tree is a small pot in which to grow the tree. If the tree had a great deal of soil to spread its roots down into, it naturally grows big. But if the tree has a very limited amount of soil to sink its roots into, it will grow only as far as its root system will let it. If we are put into a situation in which we are given the freedom to grow however much and as big as we want, we will grow, and we will get stronger. But if we are put into a situation in which our resources for growth, or the space in which we are able to grow in is limited, than we will only grow as far as our pot will let us. This could be the case in a situation where the word finds good soil in a person, but that good soil is in the middle of rocky crags. The word will grow and sink it’s roots down into the good soil, but the rocky ground around it will prevent the word from spreading further into the person‘s life. The person needs to cultivate that rocky ground, and make it more accommodating to the word so that the word can take hold in that part of the person’s life. This process goes on in everyone that receives the word, and if it doesn’t, growth does not happen and the result is a bonsai Christian.