The Parable of the Sower
Matthew 13:1-8, 18-23
Over the next 9 days the devotional material reflects on the parables of the kingdom of heaven that Jesus tells in Matthew 13.
13 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the lake. 2 Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: ‘Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. 6 But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 Let anyone with ears listen!’…
18 ‘Hear then the parable of the sower. 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. 23 But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.’
Jesus moves from talking to the inner circle of the disciples “in the house” at the end of chapter 12 to going “out of the house” to speak to the crowds at the start of chapter 13. As we will see, his words to the crowds were frequently in parables/stories. One of the keys to understanding what Jesus meant by the stories he told is to ask: where is the surprise in the story; what is unexpected in the story. We tell stories because there is a twist in the story that will catch our hearers by surprise, will have them wondering what is going on. We don’t usually tell stories if nothing unexpected or surprising happened.
So we ask, where the surprise in this story about the sower? What would have been surprising to Jesus’ first hearers is that the sower/the farmer is so incompetent or inexperienced that they are wasting valuable seed by getting it on the pathway, among the weeds, in the rocks in addition to getting it on good soil. A skilled sower could land seed on the good soil and avoid the places that would not produce a crop. But this farmer is recklessly putting seed everywhere, wasting seed in locations where it is not expected to produce a crop.
The sower’s actions would have surprised Jesus’ first hearers. The sower, be that God or Jesus or people who share the message of the good news, is not limiting where the seed of the good news is sown. They are just sowing the seed and trusting that the good news will be received and rejoiced in, no matter where it lands. Those sharing the good news are not holding back if they think someone will not be receptive to the good news, they are just chucking the seed, sharing the good news, everywhere they can. They know not all of it will bear fruit, but they don’t care, they keep sowing the seed.
PRAYER:
We rejoice, O Lord, that the good news was sown in our lives, unlikely and unexpected as that was. Help us to sow as extravagantly, as generously as the sower in the story Jesus told did. In Jesus’ name. Amen.