Kingdom Come – Week Two: The Parable of the Sower
Luke 8:4-15
Are you good at growing a garden? I’m not. Last summer we harvested only one tiny tomato from the four plants in our garden. So you can see why I sympathize with the parable of the Sower. Jesus describes a farmer who scatters seed on his land. At first he appears as clueless as me. Three quarters of the seed he sows dies. This parable is more about failure than success. So what does this parable mean and what does it have to do with the Kingdom of God? I will give you the four traditional interpretations of this parable and then add a fifth one which may be new to you.
The four traditional explanations focus on the soils. The seed, Jesus says, is God’s Word. That seed falls on four different soils – the hard packed path, the rocky ground, the thorny patch and the fertile field. Each soil receives God’s Word differently. You are probably wondering, “Why is the Sower so wasteful?” Why does he pour precious seed on paths, rocks and briar patches? Today a farmer plows up the ground first, drops in the seed and avoids the first three barren plots. Farming in Jesus’ day was different. The seed is scattered first and then plowed in. Paths crisscrossed fields, limestone is hidden under the surface, thorns are everywhere. The sower hopes to reclaim these plots when he plows the seed in but there is no guarantee. These soils allow Jesus to describe four kinds of people who receive God’s Word:
1. The seeds on the path, Jesus says, “are the ones who hear God’s Word and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts so that they may not believe and be saved.” A heart can be like a hard packed path. Pain, trauma or temptation make one so hardened there is no room for God’s Word to enter and heal. So many have trampled on you. So many acts from the evil one make you doubt there can be a God of love who heals and redeems. Maybe you feel you don’t want God or God can’t want you.
2. The seed on the rock shows some grow but it withers without water. Jesus says these “are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.” Roots give sustenance and stability. A believer who is not rooted in a community of Christians, who is not rooted in God’s Word and Spirit, who is attempting to live the Christian life alone will soon wither without God’s living Water.
3. The seed choked by the thorns “stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.” Worries seem pretty thorny but many are attracted to riches and pleasure. For Jesus, all three are distractions of this world which draw our attention away from God. We get so out of breath chasing these things we can’t breathe in God’s peace. They smother and suffocate us.
4. The seed on the good soil “stands for those with a noble and good heart who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.” Jesus outlines a process of living in His Kingdom. You open your heart to receive this relationship with God, you nourish it by putting down roots, and you stick with it in spite of trials and temptations.
Those are the four traditional meanings of the parable. Yet there is a fifth one and it focuses not on the soils but the Sower. The soils ask the question, “Are you growing the Word in your heart?” When we look at the Sower the question becomes, “Are you sowing the Word in other
hearts?” This parable prepares you for a tough reality: When you share the Word with others, when you invite others to join God’s Kingdom, when you try to right injustice and do God’s will you will face opposition, frustration and failure. Some people are too hardened to give you the time of day. Some respond with joy and then fall away. Some are distracted and turn away. Count on it. When this happens, Jesus says, Don’t give up! There’s a harvest waiting for you if you sow big!
As you go to your discussion now, ask yourself these questions:
How am I like the path – hardened and closed?
How am I like the rocks – too shallow, no roots?
How am I like the briar patch – overwhelmed and distracted by the world?
How am I like the good soil – open and growing?
How am I like the Sower – Ready to spread God’s Word despite the frustration?
There is a lot in the parable of the Sower. Those who have ears to hear, let them hear.
This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. 12 Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. 14 The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 15 But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.