Parable of the Sower

[HKHaugan]

Parable of the Sower

 The most immediate thing we see as we look at the Parable of the Sower, it follows a statement of intimacy.  Someone told Jesus that His mother and brothers were outside waiting for Him.  He replies with a question as to who made up His real family.  He told them that anyone who follows the will of His Father is His brother and sister and mother (12:48-49).  He starts His parables in the context of relational intimacy by saying “That same day…” to open the Parable of the Sower.  He is bringing a whole new dimension into the human equation.  Before Jesus, everything was institutional religion, political power, economic and intellectual status.  He elevates the relational worth of every individual, both male and female, above those categories.

 Each of the images Jesus uses are contextual.  That is, the location, the lake, the boat and the house are descriptions of the location in which His teaching takes place.  The seeds, the farmer and the four soils mean something.  A farmer’s action, the evil one’s deceit and even the birds are part of the larger picture with a central theme involved.  The seed falls in four different places, a path, a rocky place, a thorny place and a place with good soil. 

 The meaning, theme, object of the parable is to get the disciples’ attention centered on three things, the wisdom in the parable, the spiritual reality behind the images in the parable and, most importantly, on Jesus Himself as the teller of the parable.  He is the source of the wisdom, the bearer of the Spirit touching their hearts and the initiator of a personal relationship with them.  Just telling them the parable is a gift He wants them to experience on an ongoing level. 

 So, there are several things to see in all of the parables.  First, He has chosen them to see, hear and feel what hasn’t been known since Adam, intimacy with God and how it gives them a new view of purpose, relationship and mission.  Secondly, He is developing a new sense of people’s need for spiritual rebirth.  Third, sharing who and what Jesus teaches is the key to a restored humanity, what it means to be an image and child of God.

 Again, it is important to see Jesus as the source of this new wisdom, purpose and effect of His parables.  He is not a guru passing on some already established lifestyle and thought over which we gain control for personal truth and life.  He is the truth, the way to live and spiritual life that is eternal.  He is the new lifestyle.  He is the intimacy of God in the flesh and Spirit.  “Before Abraham was, I am (Jn.8:58).”  What’s more, He reveals the truth that every individual is born brand new with the intention of being reborn for spiritual intimacy with God, that sin is inherited from physical birth but overcome with spiritual rebirth.  That spiritual birth brings the grace, love and truth of God to the mind, heart and spirit.  And, to offer this reality to others is our purpose and privilege; His gifts to us.

 So, look at the location of the Parable of the Sower.  Chapter 12 shows He has been in a house debating the Pharisees who have been trying to find something with which to trick Him.  They ask Him for a sign to which He replies that it is a wicked and adulterous generation that seeks a sign.  He states the only sign will be that of Jonah, Nineveh and the Queen of the South looking to Solomon for wisdom.  That was to let them know that one greater than Solomon was among them.  Then He shifts the discussion to evil spirits taking over a house.  Isn’t that a direct confrontation of the Pharisees and their deceit?  At this point He is informed His mother and brothers are outside waiting to speak to Him.  He has just alluded to the evil of the Pharisees in the house and outside are His family.  Here is a given opportunity.  He uses them to illustrate that outside the house are those waiting to see Him but that it is those who do His Father’s will that are His real family, a spiritual family.  They are not in the religious Temple but outside and waiting to become His spiritually relational family. 

 The fact that He leaves the house and starts speaking to the crowds indicates His intention to spread Himself into the world of people outside the religious, political and social structures.  All the images He uses are known by the common people.  Now the real picture emerges.  He gets into a boat.  He’s on the lake, silhouetted by the shimmering water, the grassy hills, the massive and sunlight sky, standing alone in the center of Creation.   All this is the context in which He teaches the Parable of the Sower.

 Obviously, the people are probably not thinking these thoughts but they are sights that will later remind them of His being God the Son through Whom everything came into being.

 Can we not see Him telling the disciples, “The knowledge of the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven has been given to you, but not to them?”   Then, “Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance.  Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.  This is why I speak in parables (vs.11-12).”  And this is precisely why He quotes Isaiah here about seeing and hearing but not really doing either (vs.13-15). Then in vs.16-17 He refers to Himself as the One whom prophets and righteous men of the past longed to see but now, those present with him, have been blessed to see Him.

 Because they have seen Him He proceeds to interpret the parable for them.  This becomes the method by which all His parables can be understood.  It is the invisible reality being given in the midst of visible reality.  Like sacraments, they are the visible signs of an invisible grace.  It’s when we start seeing everything is a spiritual context is when the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven are revealed.  It’s the insights from Scripture that become the means to seeing relational insights led by the Spirit.  When those become more frequent we gain spiritual grounding and confidence enabling us to minister to others. 

 Applying spiritual thinking to the Parable of the Sower allows us to dig into our own experience and identify the places, people and things that have motivated our mind’s belief, our heart’s trust and our spirit to act in faith.  The farmer has his own field.  He is localized in a place, time and among a local group of people.  He meets us in the field.  Have we really been conscious of and met the farmer along the way?  What are the paths, the rocky places, the thorns and the good soil in our past?  What has been the influence of the Scripture in each?  Where are we now?  Or, are there other questions that you ponder as you read this parable?  Rather than my interpretation, what is the Spirit leading you to apprise?  What can help here is remembering it is Jesus who told the parable.  Our thinking has to be consistent with who He is.  We just don’t make random comparisons.  Jesus didn’t.  He was a scriptural person all the way.  The Spirit led Him.  The same is necessary and available for us.   It’s what He saved us for.