THE SOWER, THE SEEDS, AND THE SOILS

“Consider the sower who went out to sow. As he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seed fell on rocky ground where it didn’t have much soil, and it grew up quickly since the soil wasn’t deep. But when the sun came up, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it. Still other seed fell on good ground and produced fruit: some a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty times what was sown” (Matthew 13:3–8).

Jesus pictured a farmer walking through his field broadcasting seed this way and that way. Not all the seed landed in fertile soil. Some seed landed in the hard-packed pathway. Some fell in rocky soil, and some fell in areas overgrown with thorns and thistles.

After telling the parable, He explained it for His disciples. The seeds that landed on the path, Jesus said, were like the Gospel presented to one whose heart is hard. Immediately, “the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart” (Matthew 13:19). The seeds that landed in the shallow, rocky soil are like “one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. But he has no root and is short-lived” (Matthew 13:20–21). And the seeds that land in soil crowed with weeds illustrates “one who hears the word, but the worries of this age and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful” (Matthew 13:22).

Jesus’ parable illustrates the hard heart, the shallow heart, and the crowded heart. As the Gospel is sown in these soils, it doesn’t take root and produce fruit. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus had emphatically stated, “narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it… Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Matthew 7:14, 21).

Only the seed that lands in fertile soil takes root and produces fruit.

So, we know the seed is the Gospel, and we know that the four soils represent those who hear the message of life, but who is the one who sows the seed?

That’s us.

We’re not responsible for making plants sprout and grow. We’re only responsible for planting seeds… for sharing the Gospel message.

“… think on these things” (Philippians 4:8, KJV).