Matthew 13:1-17

The Parable of the Sower is the foundation for all the parables Jesus uttered. Mark’s account records Jesus as telling the apostles, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?” (Mk. 4:13). Keep in mind that through these parables Jesus is correcting the Jewish belief that the coming kingdom would be an earthly kingdom giving Israel domination over the world. The Sower shows that the kingdom would not conquer nations, but instead would be received or rejected in the hearts of men.The phrase “kingdom of heaven” refers to God’s rule from heaven. Some erroneously use the phrase to be interchangeable with the “church.” While there are certainly places where the mention of the kingdom is referring to the citizens of the kingdom and thus the church, it is not universally used in this way. We will see that more clearly when we study the Parable of the Tares. Thus, in the Sower, Jesus is challenging his listeners to consider whether or not they are properly receiving God’s rule. That determination would be made by how they received the “seed” (the gospel) sown in their hearts. Therefore, the coming kingdom would test the hearts of all men.

Some men’s hearts would be like wayside ground, hard and impenetrable. When these people hear the word, it means nothing to them. They do not think long on it, and soon, the devil is able to simply remove it from their minds.

The hearts of others are more like stony ground. That is, it is ground in which there is a thin layer of soil, but underneath there is rock. In these hearts the word actually sprouts. These people receive the word immediately with joy. But then when difficult times come, they immediately wither up because of the lack of depth in their mind. Some people want everything to come easy to them. They do not have the depth of heart that understands the need to endure through trials in order to get to a desired goal.

The world is filled with people in these first two categories. They either have no interest in listening to the words of the Lord, or if they do, they are looking for a religion of convenience. In our next comments, we will look at the final two soils.

Berry Kercheville