Season 4 Podcast 115 The Stories of the New Testament, Matthew Ch 13:1-23, “The Parable of the Sower”
Season 4 Podcast 115 The Stories of the New Testament, Matthew Ch 13:1-23, “The Parable of the Sower”
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a parable is an allegorical or metaphorical saying or narrative; an allegory, a fable, an apologue; a comparison, a similitude.” The Dictionary adds, “A usually realistic story or narrative told to convey a moral or spiritual lesson or insight; esp. one told by Jesus in the Gospels.” Christ, of course, is famous for teaching in parables. We are introduced to the parables in a wonderful setting:
Matthew 13:2-3
“The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, “
The first parable listed in Matthew 13 is the parable of the sower.
“Behold, a sower went forth to sow; And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
There are three elements at play in the parable: the seed, the sower, and the scattering of the seed.
Where would the world be without seeds? In the creation story, seeds were organized on the third day.
Genesis 1:11-13
“And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day.”
One key phrase is “whose seed was in itself.” That which does not have seed in itself cannot reproduce. A seed is the embryo of the adult. It contains all the information necessary to become an adult which produces more seeds. The seed itself is generally very small consisting of the embryo and nutritive tissues protected by a hard shell. A seed will remain in that state forever unless acted upon by its environment. If the environment is not good the seed will not be good.
In this context, the seed is the gospel, the word of God, or the teachings of Christ. One of the most important seeds would be the Sermon on the Mount which contains the core of Christian doctrine. A seed, of course, remains a seed if not planted. The protective shell must be broken. The fate of the seed depends upon the soil and other conditions such as sun and rain.
Secondly, a seed must have a sower. The sower in the above parable would be the disciples of Christ. The resurrected Christ said to his apostles.
Mark 16:15-16
“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free