by Nadine Drayton-Keen

Created on: June 30, 2008   Last Updated: July 07, 2008

The Parable of the Sower

The parable of the sower is found in Matthew 13:3b-9, and the meaning of the parable is found in Matthew 13:11-23 (cf. Mark 4:3-20 and Luke 8:5-15). In the parable of the sower, an earthly farmer's seed-planting method is being compared to the heavenly farmer's "good" seed-scattering method. Since Israel, in the time of Jesus the Christ, understood the farming principle of sowing and reaping, the Lord, then, is "laying one thing down by another," which is what the term "parable" means. Jesus the Christ, then, is placing right beside the Hebrews' very familiar work of sowing natural seeds, God's very foreign work of sowing a spiritual seed.

Since the term "sowing" means to scatter seeds upon the earth in order to produce growth, it is apparent that Jesus the Christ is illustrating how an earthly farmer's natural seed-sowing process is analogous to the heavenly farmer's spiritual seed-sowing method. That is to say, earthly farmers make sure that they plant, water, and cultivate their seeds in the right season(s), at the correct temperature, and in the best soil so that their seeds will produce, for example, mature wheat or rye. Likewise, the heavenly farmer makes sure that He plants, waters, and cultivates His spiritual seed in the right seasons (every spring, summer, fall, and winter), at the correct temperature (fire of the Holy Spirit), and into the best soil (born again human spirits) so that His seed will produce spiritually mature children of God who are holy, righteous, loving, joyful, tranquil, patient, kind, respectable, faithful, humble, and self-controlled. Furthermore, by comparing the earthly farmer with the heavenly farmer, Jesus the Christ paints a vivid picture about the conditions that will determine productivity within the earthly and heavenly farmers' fields. It is obvious that the great harvest for either of these sowers will depend on the farmers, the seeds, and the soils into which those seeds are planted.

Metaphorically speaking, the sower in the parable is Jesus the Christ (and/or His ministers). The Gospel of Christ (Word of God) is the spiritual seed that is being sown. Moreover, this spiritual seed, like a seed of grain, not only produces life, but also is life - has life within itself - which would mean that the spiritual seed also symbolizes eternal life. The field in which the spiritual seed is scattered is mankind. Lastly, the different soils in which the spiritual seed germinates are: (1) a footpath (unbelievers);

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