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Can you explain the Parable of the Sower?


Introduction. The Parable of the Sower is one of the seven parables found in Matthew 13, called the kingdom chapter (also recorded in Mark 4: 3-9 and Luke 8: 5-8). Parable is from the Greek parabole which means, "...denotes a placing beside..." (W.E. Vine, Expository Dictionary of the New Testament Words.) Jesus is using the Parable of the Sower to teach about and illustrate his kingdom.

The essential elements of the parable. The sower is a major part of the parable. It is he who sows the seed. The seed sown is the word of God (Luke 8: 11). The seed or word contains the spiritual life germ and is necessary to the production and spread of the kingdom (Matt. 13: 3-9). The lodging places of the sown seeds is an element of the teaching as opposed to an incidental. There are four lodging places or soil types: Way side, stony places, thorny ground, and good ground. Jesus attached an attendant result with each soil type, another major component.

The teaching of the Parable of the Sower. Jesus' emphasis is not on the sower, his mannerism, looks, or presentation. Jesus' stress is on the soil types. The parable is explained (Matt. 13: 18-23). Jesus explained that the four soil types represent four hearers or hearts. One allows the devil to snatch away the word (way side, vs. 19), another allows tribulation to prevent growth (stony soil, vs. 20), still another allows the cares, riches, and pleasures to make the word unproductive (thorny ground, vs. 22), and the fourth accepts and maintains the word, producing different measure of fruit (good ground, vs. 23).

Conclusion. The thrust of Jesus' parable of the sower is teaching the responsibility of the hearer of the word to have his/her heart prepared to receive the word (the soil types are preexistent to the sowing of the seed), and to consistently produce fruit. Each person is responsible for how they hear and receive (Matt. 13: 9).
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