The Sower

The parable of the sower is the first parable of Jesus recorded in the Gospel according to Mark.  It is also the first full-fledged parable in Matthew and Luke….

…setting aside, as Metropolitan Hilarion notes, the short parable of the house built on sand or on rock that is contained in the Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus Christ: His Life and Teaching, Vol.4 - The Parables of Jesus, Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev

Mark 4: 3 “Listen! Behold, 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.”

There is a version of this parable in each of Matthew and Luke as well, and Metropolitan Hilarion will draw from each of these to examine this parable.

To understand the context of the parable, we must recall the significance of such essential objects as soil, seed, and tares (or weeds) for Jesus’ listeners.

The word “earth” (‘eretz) was sacred for an Israelite.  This was the land of their fathers, a land to which the Hebrews were extremely attached.  They knew that agriculture was man’s original calling.  They also knew that the land will bear fruit and yield safety as long as they obeyed God’s statutes.

The seed is the beginning of the process of generation and increase; it also refers to a descendant or descendants.  It is simultaneously a symbol of life, of one’s descendants, and of the entire nation of Israel.

Thorns were first mentioned after Adam’s fall; thorns appear, here and elsewhere, as a symbol of suffering:

Genesis 3: 17 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”  The parable ends this way.  Only those who “have ears” can fully understand the meaning of the preaching of Jesus.  His opponents hear but understand not. 

In all three synoptic gospels, this parable is followed by an explanation.  In each case, the explanation is slightly different, however the general content is the same.  Each listener who has received the blessing of the seed – the word – is bound toward one of these ends:

… some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it….

The enemy – Satan – steals the word.  He is the tempter, in constant warfare with Jesus.  His action is the first reason a person might fail to respond to the Word of God.

Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil…

For others, they receive and willingly answer the call.  However, their roots aren’t deep; they are, therefore, inconsistent.  They might be quite excited at first, full of drive.  However, any sorrow or persecution will throw them off – they believe for a while, but then turn away. 

Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it…

The cares of this world, the riches and distractions, choke off the word.  Concern about riches plays a large part in Jesus’s teaching: you cannot serve God and mammon, you have received your reward, the deceitfulness of riches.

And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain…

Then there are those who hear the word, understand it, and bring forth good fruit.  In Luke’s account of Jesus’s interpretation, we read:

Luke 8: 15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

We see in these four examples the idea that many are called but few are chosen, that not everyone who calls out Lord, Lord, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  But the sower’s purpose is met: where the seed lands on good soil, abundant fruit will follow.

Who is the sower?  In the parable of the tares, Jesus openly said that the sower is the Son of Man.  In Matthew, the sower sows the word of the kingdom.  Jesus spoke often and regularly of the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven. 

The development of the theme of the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God, according to the synoptic Gospels, is the most important content of Jesus’ preaching, from the first days of his public ministry.

In Luke, the seed is described as the word of God.  This word of God was given to the prophets, for example:

Isaiah 55: 11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Christians understand this word to be the Word – the logos, the Son of God who was with God before creation.  Jesus was the sower; He was speaking of Himself in this parable. 

This was a manner of speaking that would have been unfamiliar to the listeners – in fact, irritating to them.  In the Gospel of John, the formula “I am” appears numerous times – even more often than the phrase “kingdom of heaven,” according to Metropolitan Hilarion.  For example, “I am…” the bread of life, the door of the sheep, the Good Shepherd, the grapevine, the way, the truth and the life.  “I am,” something that previously was reserve by God for God.

This is why he directed his listeners’ attention not to various separate aspects of his teaching, nor to his teaching in general, but rather to himself, the source of the teaching.

Conclusion

I consider the four possibilities for the seed.  Perhaps it is sufficient to say that our (my) prayer should be that God prepares good soil in us (me) such that the seed of the sower bears from us (me) good fruit. 

Too often I find my soil otherwise.

Epilogue

God created every person capable of accepting his word into his heart, and the heart of every person in his natural, first-created form is always good soil.

I include this not to start a food fight regarding predestination, double-predestination, free will, irresistible grace, etc. 

One can read Jesus’s parable as contrary to Metropolitan Hilarions’s conclusion here: I, the soil, had no choice about the condition of my soil – in three of the cases cited by Jesus, I was incapable of accepting the word into my heart.  Jesus said some of the soil was not good.

 Then again, being aware of Jesus’s warnings in this parable, I can read it another way to say now that I have been warned, I can be cautious in my approach – watching out for the concerns raised by Jesus.  In other words, I can work to protect the good soil I have.

I could go on and on about this, using this parable to make arguments supporting various schools of thought on the topic.  I add this here only to come back to something I have touched on before: I don’t know how what one believes on this question of soteriology matters very much in what one does regarding bearing fruit. 

So much of what Jesus taught was regarding what we are to do.  We are to repent, to love the Lord, to love our neighbor, to grow in Christ, to evangelize others.  We are to bear fruit, whatever we believe stereologically.  And, perhaps, we can leave the details regarding salvation to mystery….