The Parable of the Sower

(Luke 8:4-15)

The parable of the sower has a vast array of meanings and many things can be learned from it. There are four groups of people and four ways they react when hearing the word of God which is one of the lessons that we get from this parable.

The Seed on the Path

Some people when they hear the word of God immediately have it taken away. There may be many reasons why the word is taken from them. It may be the love f the things of this world, peer pressure, pre-conceived and wrong ideas of what Christianity is. Whatever the cause the devil immediately teakes the word away from them and they do not get the chance for it to take root. The representation in the parable is the birds that come and grab whatever is sown on the path.

The Seed in the Rocks

There are some people when they hear things immediately take to it with enthusiasm. This happens whether it is Christianity or many other things. In the world today we see this with diet programs, exercise programs savings programs and so on. These things often start with enthusiasm, but as the hard work and the grind sets in, the enthusiasm weakens, passions fall and they soon give it away.

This is the same with Christians where the word does not take any root. They come along enthused at the opportunity but they have no staying power. The word does not go into their heart and take root. And then when things get tough, as they always will, these people do not have either the strength, will or desire to tough it out.

The Seed in the Weeds

This is one of the most sinister methods by which the devil takes people away from the Lord. He strangles out the word of the Lord after they hear it through filing their life with other things.

Inevitably when people coem to the Lord all of a sudden things start to pop up in their life to smother the word. They get invited out when church is on, their favourite TV shows have a change of time slot to when they had decided to do bible study or prayer, the kids, family, work, whatever need attention when they had planned to spend time with the Lord, and so on.

The word eventually gets strangled by these other things as the person succumbs to these temptations. In the end they drift away.

The Seed in the Good Soil

This is where the word finds a person ready and receptive to hear and do the word of God. It takes root and they change their lives as they come to God and walk with Jesus Christ.

Why Parables?

There is much we can learn from this parable and the above barely covers the tip of the iceberg. What is interesting also is when Jesus was asked by the disciples about this and other parables he said to them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but for others they are in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.” (Verse 10)

The words of God are a mystery to the people of the world because the message is not a message of man but of the spirit. To be able to understand the things of the Spirit needs a person to be guided by the Spirit of God. The people of the world cannot learn the things of God because they do not have the Spirit of God.

But when a person comes to the Lord and takes the word to heart, the Lord sends the Holy Spirit to be their guide, counselor and teacher so that they can understand the things of God.

This is why Jesus says that seeing they do not see and hearing the do not understand when he speaks of the world. They cannot see for only the Lord through the Holy Spirit can open the eyes and ears of a person to be able to see and understand the words of God.

It is important to remain strong so that you can learn the ways of the Lord and then bear fruit like one of those who fell on the good soil.

John

Hi! I’m John, the owner, author, and editor of this site. Over the past 50+ years as a Christian I have been teaching, preaching and writing about the Bible to help Christians gain a deeper insight into the scriptures that are easily understood. I also answer specific Bible related questions, so feel free to contact me.