The Sower
Matthew 13:3-9, 18-23
The first parable of the Sower is
one of two which our Lord Himself explained. Herein lies the great value of the
two parables. We are not left to any speculation as to what our Lord meant,
because of the record of His explanation of them to His own disciples.
First let us see the picture which
He presented that of a sower; then consider His explanation of that account, as
He told it to the crowds, and from these two careful considerations finally
deduce the instruction which they convey for us.
The picture of the sower is
perfectly natural, but with Eastern rather than Western color. There are senses
in which those born and brought up in the country are familiar with a sower
going forth to sow, at least as it used to be done. We know the picture of the
sower in our own land. Yet we come to clear apprehension of the account only as
we remember that this was in the East. In Thomson's Land and the Book he
therein described the sower in the Eastern lands very clearly, as he wrote:—
"’Behold, a sower went forth to sow.' There is a nice and close
adherence to actual life in this form of expression. These people have
actually come forth all the way from June to this place. The expression implies
that the sower, in the days of our Savior, lived in a colony, or village, as
all these farmers now do; that he did not sow near his own house, or in a
garden fenced or walled, for such a field does not furnish all the basis of the
parable. There are neither roads, nor thorns, nor stony places in such lots. He
must go forth into the open country as these have done, where there are no
fences; where the path passes through cultivated land; where thorns grow in
clumps all around; where the rocks peep out in places through the scanty soil;
and where also, hard by, are patches extremely fertile. Now here we have the
whole four within a dozen rods of us. Our horses are actually trampling down
some seeds which have fallen by this wayside, and larks and sparrows are busy
picking them up. That man, with his tool, is digging about places where the
rock is too near to the surface for the plough; and much that is fallen there
will wither away, because it has no deepness of earth. And not a few seeds have
fallen among this field, and will be effectually choked by this most tangled of
thorn bushes. But a large portion, after all, falls into really good ground,
and four months hence will exhibit every variety of crop."
Keeping that Eastern picture in
mind, look at the picture first generally. There are four things in the account
as Jesus told it that arrest attention; first, the sower; second, the seed;
third, the soil; and, last, the sequence.
Then we are concerned with our
Lord's explanation of the picture. Notice that the sower is not named. He began
bluntly, "Behold, a sower went forth
to sow." It was an actual fact, but so far as the teaching is
concerned, He did not name the sower, neither did He do so in His explanation.
He did not say who the sower was who sowed the seed. However, going to the 37th
verse we read this. When the disciples asked Him to explain the parable of the
tares, He said, "He that soweth the
good seed is the Son of man." That applies equally to this parable of
the sower.
Notice in the next place that the
chief value of the picture is the seed and its relation to the soil. These
things are foundation principles, to be kept in mind as we approach the
detailed study of these wonderful parables. The sower is not referred to, but
unquestionably the Lord was referring to Himself as He said, "He that soweth the good seed is the
Son of man."
Then again, bear in mind there is
one Sower, and one soil. The Sower is the Son of man. What is the soil? He does
not name it. The hard highway, the thorns, the rock, do not constitute soil.
The ground does. If we would know what the soil is once again we trespass upon
the next parable. Following the statement in verse 37, "He that soweth good seed is the Son of man," He says, "and the field is the world."
Let us keep that carefully in mind.
We are next impressed by the fact
that there are various conditions of the seed, and various responses of the
soil. As our Lord explained His parable, when He referred to the seed, He did
so by speaking of persons. These words of explanation are found, beginning at
the nineteenth verse,
"When
anyone heareth the word of the Kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh
the evil one, and snatcheth away that which hath been sown in his heart. This
is he that was sown by the wayside." Verse 20: "He that was sown upon the rocky places." Verse 22: "And he that was sown among the
thorns." Verse 23: "He that
was sown upon the good ground."
Our Lord is interpreting the Kingdom, and His work in the
Kingdom, and He speaks of seed. He employs the masculine pronoun which covers
all human souls. The seed then, as viewed at this point, must be considered in
that way. There are varied responses made by the soil, and those responses
depend upon the condition of the seed that is sown in the soil. That will
become plainer as we proceed.
Take the first. "He that was sown by the wayside."
Mark the emphasis. What about him? Birds came and devoured them. "Any one heareth the word of the
Kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the evil one, and snatcheth away
that which hath been sown in his heart." We see a personality, and
something more, a person as a seed, the seed of the Kingdom, falling upon the
wayside but the birds of the air have devoured that which was sown in his
heart, that which made him a seed of the Kingdom. To such the soil is
unresponsive. It fell by the wayside. It could not be received and the
emphasis—strange as these things seem to merge and mix—is not upon the soil
that is an adaptation, it is upon the seed. If the seed has lost its vital
power because the birds have devoured it, then the soil is unresponsive.
Again, "He that was sown upon the rocky places." When this man
was sown, the sun is "risen,"
and the seed is "scorched."
Who is he? Mark the emphasis, "He
that heareth the word, and straightway with joy receiveth it, yet hath he not
root in himself." He endures only for a little while. "When tribulation or persecution
ariseth because of the Word, straightway he stumbleth." Therefore he
also is a seed of no value in the sowing of the world, and to such a one the
soil is cruel and non-productive. So the rocky places.
Take the next, "He that was sown among the thorns.” Again, Who is he? He is
the one who has heard the Word, but has allowed the care of the present age,
and the deceitfulness of riches to choke the Word, and so he, as a seed, with a
Kingdom value, becomes unfruitful. The thorns grow up and choke them. The soil
in that case is destructive.
Once more, "He that was sown upon the good ground." Who is this? "He that heareth the Word, and
understandeth it," who bears fruit, and brings forth fruit. To such
the soil is good ground, is responsive, productive, and constructive.
In this narrative, taken as our
Lord explained it, there may seem to be a difference, a disparity. Some may be
inclined to say there is a contradiction between the incidence of the teaching
in the account and that of the explanation. As a matter of fact, there is no
difference or disparity. In the former, emphasis is laid upon the soil. In the
latter, the emphasis is laid upon the nature of the seed that falls upon the soil.
The seed sown, as we have seen, are men and women. But behind that sowing of
human life in the world, with Kingdom intention, there is another sowing, that
of the Word in the heart. Turning to Luke's account, there it is seen clearly
that the sowing of the Word in the heart of the individuals is the first thing.
That being so, these individuals, men and women are sent out into the world,
the very seed of the Kingdom. The ultimate seed is the Word itself. The world
is the field, to which we come again; and the planting of that field is of men
and women in whom the Word of God has been planted. Men and women fructified by
the implanted Word, become seeds of the Kingdom in world affairs.
The soil is always the same. The
figures employed by our Lord simply describe the response made to it. To men
who hear the Word, but do not understand, the soil is unreceptive,. To men who
hear, and rejoice, but fail to obey, the soil is non-productive. To men who
hear, but who respond to the age about them, the soil is destructive. The men
who hear and understand in the full sense to such the soil is receptive,
productive, and constructive. Here in this first parable we have an
interpretation of the Lord's own work in relation to the Kingdom principles.
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