Foundations of Faith and Life in Jesus
The Parable of the Sower
Questions:
What is the parable of the sower? What is the seed? Who is the sower? What is the soil?
What are the four types of growing conditions? What are the four responses?
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered
around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. Then he
told them many things in parables, saying: "A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was
scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on
rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.
But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no
root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell
on good soil, where it produced a crop--a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. He who
has ears, let him hear."
The disciples came to him and asked, "Why do you speak to the people in parables?"
He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but
not to them. 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 to them in parables:
"Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: 'You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people's heart has become calloused; they
hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their
eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.'
But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For I tell you the
truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear
what you hear but did not hear it.
"Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the
kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his
heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The one who received the seed that fell on rocky
places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root,
he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly
falls away. The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the
word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.
But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and
understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."
Matthew 13:1-23 (p. 727)
Note: (Page numbers in parentheses are for "The Holy Bible," New International
Version, International Bible Society)
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