1.04 The Sower
IV. THE SOWER.
Matthew 13:1 - Matthew 13:9; Mark 4:1 - Mark 4:9; Luke 8:4 - Luke 8:8. Explana tion: Matthew 13:18 - Matthew 13:23; Mark 4:13 - Mark 4:20; Luke 8:11 - Luke 8:15.
All three Synoptists give this parable with unimportant variations in the details. In St. Matthew it is the first of a group of seven, four of which he alone records. We must not infer from his placing them together that they were all spoken on the same day: it is only an instance of the Evangelist’s love for sacred numbers, among which the number seven seems to have held the foremost place. Of the seven, only two, the parables of the Sower and the Mustard-seed, are common to the three Synoptists; a third, that of the Leaven, is related by St. Matthew and St. Luke; while the other four, the Darnel among the Wheat, 54 THE PARABLES OF JESUS the Hidden Treasure, the Pearl of Great Price, and the Dragnet, are peculiar to St. Matthew. This Evangelist is justified in grouping them all together, as they have a common subject, the Kingdom of God. The first gives the relations towards it of various classes of men who have received the good tidings, the second has for subject the attempt of the devil against it, typified by the enemy sowing darnel among the wheat; in the third, that of the Mustard-seed, its apparently insignificant beginnings are contrasted with its subsequent wonderful extension; the parable of the Leaven teaches its penetrative and transfor mative energy; the lesson of the fifth and sixth is the value of the Kingdom and the wisdom of sacrificing all things for the sake of obtaining it; and the seventh and last, the parable of the Dragnet, describes the member ship of the Kingdom as consisting of good and bad inextricably mingled together, a condition of things that will last till the end of the world, when a final severance between them shall take place. The first four were spoken to the people by the seashore; the three last were addressed to the disciples in the house to I- THE PARABLES OF JESUS 55 which He had withdrawn from the multitudes. In the teaching of which they are the vehicle we notice a distinct advance on that of the Sermon on the Mount; but this by no means implies a greater docility or receptiveness on the part of His hearers outside the small band of His professed adherents. On a certain day Jesus went out of the house at Capernaum in which He had been staying, and made His way to the shores of the Lake of Gennesaret. Great multitudes followed Him and, wishing to address them, He entered into a boat, which He used as a pulpit, while His hearers stood on the shore. From the boat He spoke to them the parable of the Sower. The sower went out to sow seed; and as he did so, some of it fell by the wayside, where it was trodden down, though not so deeply as to be safe from the fowls of the air, which came and ate it up. Other seed fell on stony ground where there was but little soil. In due time it put forth roots; but for want of sufficient earth in which they might develop fully, and of moisture whence they might draw nutriment, the little plant under the action of the scorching heat of the sun soon withered away.
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Again, other seed fell among thorns, which grew up together with it and stifled it, so that it bore no fruit. In Palestine thorns and similar plants are a much more formidable difficulty in the way of the agriculturist than with us. In the Old Testament there is a large number of words to denote these plants, though only few of them allow of identification with any fair degree of certainty. Finally, some fell upon good ground, and produced an increase in varying degrees of abundance thirtyfold or sixtyfold or a hundredfold. To anyone acquainted with the fertility of Palestine, and especially of Galilee, such an increase will not seem exaggerated. Jesus adds to the parable the words: “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
We are at no loss for the genuine meaning of this parable, as we have the authentic interpretation which Jesus Himself gave it when alone with His disciples, and from which we learn that He intended it in the nature of an allegory. The varying fortunes of the seed typify the varying fortunes of the word when sown in the hearts of men. It falls on the hearts of some; but before they have time THE PARABLES OF JESUS 57 to understand it or believe, the Evil One, represented by the birds, comes and snatches it away. On others the word makes some impression: they even receive it with joy, and for a time endeavour to frame their lives according to its dictates; but when affliction and persecution for the word befall them, they have no greater power of resistance than has the tender plant when the burning rays of the noonday sun beat full upon it. Others, who are spared the fiery ordeal of persecution, have within their own breasts enemies more subtle and quite as dangerous. Just as the thorns among which the good seed was sown grew up with it and rendered it unfruitful by depriving it of that light and nourishment which were needful for its full development, so the cares and anxieties of this world, and the seductive power of riches and pleasures, stifle the word in the souls of those who lack the necessary steadfastness and spirit of selfsacrifice. Finally, there are those who in a good and honest heart receive the word and bring forth fruit in patience, some thirtyfold, others sixtyfold, others a hundredfold.
One needs no very great powers of imagina- 58 THE PARABLES OF JESUS tion to picture to oneself the impression which the parable made on those who heard it.
Even if a certain vagueness attached to their conception of the Kingdom of God, it possessed for them a distinct form and substance, inas much as it could be expressed in terms of objects of intuition. It is true that they understood the words of Jesus only very imperfectly, but, for all that, they grasped their meaning sufficiently to perceive that in them there was no question of a temporal kingdom or of any privileges that belonged exclusively to the Jews. Henceforth they must have felt, in case they accepted His teaching, mere carnal descent from Abraham would be unavailing without those moral and religious dispositions on which the new Teacher, like the prophets of old, laid so much stress. It was only natural that they should find it hard to shake themselves free of their old prepossessions, and calmly and resolutely face the novel view of things presented to them. Contrary to current notions, the Kingdom which He proclaimed was before all things a spiritual Kingdom; and the religion which He propounded was severely individ- THE PARABLES OF JESUS 59 ualistic, though in His words nothing could be found to favour egotism or countenance the idea that it could be anything else than institutional, an idea, besides, quite foreign to the mind of His Jewish contemporaries. The individualism of Christianity need not make us forget its social aspects; and the ideal state of things prevails when neither the interior life on one side nor activity on behalf of the neighbour on the other is so exercised as to be detrimental to the other.
TAGS: [Parables]