The Parable of the Sower
4 As a large crowd was gathering, and people were coming to Jesus from every town, he said in a parable,
5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some seed fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the sky devoured it.
6 Other seed fell on the rock; when it grew up, it withered away, since it lacked moisture.
7 Other seed fell among thorns; the thorns grew up with it and choked it.
8 Still other seed fell on good ground; when it grew up, it produced fruit: a hundred times what was sown.” As he said this, he called out, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”
Why Jesus Used Parables
9 Then his disciples asked him, “What does this parable mean?”
10 So he said, “The secrets of the kingdom of God have been given for you to know, but to the rest it is in parables, so that
Looking they may not see,
and hearing they may not understand. [Isaiah 6:9]
The Parable of the Sower Explained
11 “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God.
12 The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.
13 And the seed on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy. Having no root, these believe for a while and fall away in a time of testing.
14 As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who, when they have heard, go on their way and are choked with worries, riches, and pleasures of life, and produce no mature fruit.
15 But the seed in the good ground—these are the ones who, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it and by enduring, produce fruit."
Commentary
(the following is from Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary, 1706 -- www.christianity.com)
"There are many very needful and excellent rules and cautions for hearing the word, in the parable of the sower, and the application of it. Happy are we, and for ever indebted to free grace, if the same thing that is a parable to others, with which they are only amused, is a plain truth to us, by which we are taught and governed.
We ought to take heed of the things that will hinder our profiting by the word we hear; to take heed lest we hear carelessly and slightly, lest we entertain prejudices against the word we hear; and to take heed to our spirits after we have heard the word, lest we lose what we have gained."
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