This is the parable of the sower from Matthew 13:3-9.
“And then He told them many things using parables, saying, A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the side of the road, but the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell in rocky places where there was little soil and they sprouted quickly, because there was no depth of soil. Now, when the sun came up, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked them out. Still other seeds fell on properly prepared soil and yielded fruit – some a hundred times as much as was sown, some sixty times as much and some thirty.”
Now, the meaning of this parable isn’t difficult to comprehend, because Jesus explains it later in Matthew 13:18-23. But before we look at His explanation, let me make a few observations. I purposely titled this parable “The Sower, Seed and Four Types of Soil”. Each is symbolic and important to the point made by the parable. The Sower is Jesus. The seed is His message of the kingdom. The four types of soil represent the four possibilities of what can happen when people hear the message. And as we’ll see, three out of the four give in to circumstances and pressures.
So, let’s look at Jesus’ explanation point by point and identify the four possibilities they represent. The first is explained in Matthew 13:19.
“When anyone hears the message of the kingdom and fails to consider it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.”
There are two words here that must be examined to grasp the full impact of what Jesus is saying. The first is suniemi, “consider” in the translation above, “understand” in most others. A combination of sun, “together with”, and hiemi, “to send”, the literal meaning of this word is, “to put together”. It is often translated, to perceive, notice, recognize or understand, and illustrates the process of putting information together and making sense out of it. Here, Jesus is describing those who hear the message of the kingdom, but don’t take the time or effort required to consider what they’ve heard so they can understand and act on it. They’re lazy, easily distracted, dominated by their flesh and spiritual issues are of little or no consequence to them. Their hearts are hard and unreceptive to truth, just as the path along the roadside is hard and unable to receive the natural seed that was sown. They don’t understand because they don’t care to. It’s just not important.
This leads to the second word, harpazo, to snatch or rob. This word is used by Jesus to describe the activity of the evil one in coming suddenly to take away the message. Now, the question has to be asked, how does he suddenly take the message away? There are several things to consider. In the parable Jesus says the birds come and eat the seeds that are sown on the roadside. Then in His explanation the birds are linked to the activity of the evil one. The symbolism should not be mistaken – Jesus is describing the activity of demons.
In the parable of the tares in Matthew 13:24-30, immediately following the parable of the sower, Jesus describes the activities of the enemies of God in sowing seed that produces something that looks like wheat, but isn’t. In His explanation of the parable later in verses 36-43 Jesus explains that what His enemy sowed produced something that looked like true children of the kingdom, but were, in fact, children of the evil one. What we will see later in this series when we take a closer look at this parable is that the program of the devil and his demons is to sponsor religion. Religion is what steals away Jesus’ message of the kingdom in the parable of the sower. Religion is what the enemy sows in the parable of the tares. Religion produces what looks like children of the kingdom; but they’re really children of the evil one.
Later, in the parable of the mustard seed (verses 31-32) Jesus uses the same symbolism to further describe the activity of these “birds”. The word is peteinon, and means, “that which is able to fly” (for a more detailed explanation, read “The Kingdom of Heaven” where I talk about the parable of the mustard seed towards the end of the paper). In the parable of the mustard seed this word is used with ouranos, and literally describes “those who are able to traverse the heavens”. In the parable of the mustard seed, Jesus describes the kingdom of heaven as a large tree that becomes a shelter for birds, literally, a worldwide religious conglomeration in which resides the deception sponsored by the devil and carried out by his imps. Paul alludes to the same, warning against the “doctrines that demons teach” (I Timothy 4:1).
It is religion that snatches away the message of truth. It is religion that counterfeits truth. It is religion that offers a better way to God, an easier way, a quicker way. It is religion that the evil one offers to replace the difficult, narrow path (Jesus’ words, not mine) that leads to God. Satan’s devices have never changed from the beginning. He questioned what God had already said when he spoke to Eve in the garden. She rejected God’s truth and accepted the lie. And from that point in time down to the present, the Old Testament and then the New Testament chronicles the history of the rejection of truth and the acceptance of the alternative (religion). Satan continues today to question the words of Jesus and people are quick to grab onto the counterfeit he offers – the traditions, rituals and false doctrines of religion.
And so, what we see in the first part of this parable is an illustration of the effect of religion and its purpose in leading those who embrace it away from God and His message. And, we will clearly see, as we look at what follows the parable of the sower, Jesus illustrates this fact over and over again in Matthew 13 with the parable of the tares, the mustard seed, the leaven, the hidden treasure, the pearl of great price, the fishnet and the householder’s treasure. These all contain warnings about the deception of religion.
In the next lesson we’ll continue with Jesus’ explanation of the parable of the sower.