#55 The Parable of the Sower

#55 The Parable of the Sower

Please first read: Matthew 13:3-23; Mark 4:3-25; Luke 8:5-8

It appears that this parable is the first of record in the New Testament scriptures and possibly the first given by the Savior.

Jesus is well into his ministry by now. He joined first with John the Baptist and those crowds he had prepared for him, and then attended Passover in Jerusalem. His early Judean ministry followed this, but lasted maybe less than one year because of severe hostility from various levels of religious leadership. Going into the lands of Galilee his reception there has been markedly better. There is still opposition but his fame is continually increasing. He speaks under his own authority, and with many mighty works and miracles. Great multitudes now follow him. They come seeking healing and relief, and some to hear more of the new doctrine that is being taught. Crowds have reached the size where they are a problem to his being able to deliver his discourse. It is all too big to be indoors. Today will be the delivery of the Parable of the Sower.

This was a sudden departure from his established method of teaching; it caught many of his most devoted disciples by surprise, and they marveled at what their ears now heard. Such a change from his previous manner of teaching. What was the meaning of this particular parable?

Later, the Twelve and a few others, when they are alone with Jesus, ask him for an explanation. Jesus, in turn questions them back, stressing the simplicity of this parable: “Know ye not this parable? How then will ye know all parables?” (Mark 4:13) More parables are coming!

Then he gives the Twelve and these few others, a rare comprehensive interpretation of it.

Part One

The Story of the Parable

“Behold, a sower went forth to sow; And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some 

sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.” (Matthew 13:3-9)

Part Two Jesus’

Explanation of the Parable

“Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that, which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side. But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” (Matthew 13:18-23) 

This is a fine example of the Lord’s parables in general, and is doubly valuable because the Lord, upon being asked later the what and why of this teaching change, gives the Twelve and the few inquirers the full explanation.

This is often referred to as the Parable of the Soils. Three factors are involved:

1. The Sower, The Savior 
2. The Seed, The message of the Gospel 
3. The Soil, The hearers

The first two of these are constant – good. The third, people, are as different as all the soils of the earth. From prepared to totally unprepared. The resultant harvest depends on the condition of the soil. Feathery, dust, and lighter, to diamond, granite, and harder – well prepared and fertile to rock hard and impenetrable.

Apostle James E. Talmage: 

“Observe that the prominent feature of the story is that of the prepared or unprepared
condition of the soil. The seed was the same, whether it fell on good ground or bad, on mellow mold or among stones and thistles. The primitive method of sowing, still followed in many countries, consisted in the sower throwing the grain by handfuls against the wind, thus securing a widespread scattering. Running through the Galilean fields were pathways, hard trodden by feet of men and beasts. Though seed should fall on such tracts, it could not grow; birds would pick up the living kernels lying unrooted and uncovered and some of the grains would be crushed and trodden down. So with the seed of truth falling upon the hardened heart; ordinarily it cannot take root, and Satan, as a marauding crow, steals it away, lest a grain of it perchance find a crack in the trampled ground, send down its rootlet, and possibly develop.

“Seed falling in shallow soil, underlain by a floor of unbroken stone or hard-pan, may strike root and flourish for a brief season; but as the descending rootlets reach the impenetrable stratum they shrivel, and the plant withers and dies, for the nutritive juices are insufficient where there is no depth of earth. So with the man whose earnestness is but superficial, whose energy ceases when obstacles are encountered or opposition met; though he manifest enthusiasm for a time persecution deters him; he is offended and endures not. Grain sown where thorns and thistles abound is soon killed out by their smothering growth; even as with a human heart set on riches and the allurements of pleasure – though it receive the living seed of the gospel it will produce no harvest of good grain, but instead, a rank tangle of noxious weeds. The abundant yield of thorny thistle demonstrates the fitness of the soil for a better crop, were it only free from the cumbering weeds. The seed that falls in good deep soil, free from weeds and prepared for the sowing, strikes root and grows, the sun’s heat scorches it not, but gives it thrift; it matures and yields to the harvester according to the richness of the soil, some fields producing thirty, others sixty, and a few even a hundred times as much grain as was sown. 

“In the parable we are considering, the Teacher depicted the varied grades of spiritual receptivity existing among men, and characterized with incisive brevity each of the specified grades. He neither said nor intimated that the hard-baked soil of the wayside might not be plowed, harrowed, fertilized, and so rendered productive; nor that the stony impediment to growth might not be broken up and removed, or an increase of good soil be made by actual addition; nor that the thorns could never be uprooted and the formers habitat rendered fit to support good plants.”

The Prophet Joseph Smith:

“The very reason why the multitude, or the world, as they are designated by the Savior, did not receive an explanation upon His parables, was because of unbelief. To you, He says (speaking to His disciples) it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. And why? Because of the faith and confidence they had in Him. This parable was spoken to demonstrate the effects that are produced by the preaching of the word; and we believe that it has an allusion directly, to the commencement, or the setting up of the Kingdom in that age.”

A thought to consider: we are, each of us, a “soil” at some degree of “goodness.” The Lord is asking us, through his prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, to help one another with the “goodness of our soil” through our ministering.

Glenn R. McGettigan
January 2019

References

“Jesus the Christ.” Talmage.
“Our Lord of the Gospels.” Clark.
“The Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ.” Volume 2. Holzapfel & Wayment.
“Doctrinal New Testament Commentary.” Volume 1. McConkie.
“Scriptural Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith.” Smith.