A Sower Went Out To Sow.

It is probably not right to assume that Christ preached all of "the sermon on the mount" in one setting. Matthew's paraphrase of it is much longer than Luke's is so it is logical that Matthew gathered more material from Christ's various sermons, than Luke did, and laced them together into what appears to be one continuous lecture.

Christ was an itinerant preacher and He preached wherever He went and no doubt He repeated the same thoughts many times because He continuously had a new audience.

The reason I repeated this now is to show that what was said about Christ's various sermons can probably also be said about His parables.  It seems unlikely that Christ would have given the same audience all eight "object lessons" at one sitting but it does make sense that Matthew gathered them together and put them as one segment in his writings just as, some say, he had done with the sermons.

Christ's Parables

On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 

And great crowds were gathered together to Him, so that He got into the boat and sat; and the crowd stood on the shore. 

And He spoke to them many things in parables. Mat. 13:1.

Those of us who dare to Think Again repeatedly run into the likes of the following scenario.  

When Jesus taught from a boat, surely that was a new thing. We can imagine some critic saying, “You can’t do that! Teaching belongs in the synagogue or in some other appropriate place.” It would be easy to come up with objections: “The damp air might make people sick” or “There are a lot of mosquitoes down at the shore” or “Someone might drown.” Guzik.

Whatever ideas we postulate that "rock the boat" are thoughtlessly condemned by others not because they do their own thinking but because of what they grew up believing.  About them Christ said For the heart of this people has become dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes have closed, lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn back, that I should heal them. Mat. 13:15.  They will not, or cannot, accept any new ideas. 

In studying parables one must always remember that not every detail that seems apparent needs to represent an important lesson.  Only those things that the speaker emphasizes are to be taken as having meaning.

The Sower and The Seed

Here is the parable of the sower as the masses heard it:

Behold, a sower went out to sow.

And as he sowed, some seed fell alongside the road; and the birds came and devoured them. 

But others fell on the stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth. 

But when the sun rose, it was scorched, and because it had no root, it withered away. 

But others fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them out.

But others fell on good ground and it was yielding fruit: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 

He who has ears to hear, let him hear! Mat 13:3-9. 

Here is the same parable as it was explained to the disciples:

According to this parable, there are at least three things that conspire against a preacher when he preaches the word of the kingdom:

1. some seed fell alongside the road - soil along the roadside has not been cultivated; it is hard and the seed just lies on top so the birds eat it.  This uncultivated roadside represents the people who will not dare do their own thinking.

In the spiritual sense: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand, then the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. 13:19.  If he has not taken the trouble to open The Book and think how can he possibly understand the lesson?  The evil one will make sure the message is removed from the heart.

2.  others fell on the stony ground but when the sun rose, it was scorched, and because it had no root, it withered away - between the stones there might be some soil; possibly some seeds could survive for a little while but the soil is not deep enough to sustain them in times of drought.

In the spiritual sense: the seed sown on stony ground.  The stony ground is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but is short-lived. For when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he falls away. Mat. 13:20-21.  He hears a new teaching, immediately snatches it up, does not do his own studying to prove its validity and when people ridicule him for what he believes he "ditches" the new teaching whether or not it was right.

3.  others fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them out.  Thistles have a way of choking out desired plants.  The thorns are those who have so many earthly "things on their plate" that they do not have the time to listen to the word.

In the spiritual sense: the seed sown in the thorns.  The thorn is he who hears the word, and the anxiety of this age, and the deceitfulness of riches chokes out the word, and it becomes fruitless. Mat. 13:22. 

Christ zeros in on two very prevalent, up to date, problems:

• the anxiety of this age - it seems we would rather worry than trust.  We are much too wound up in temporal things.  Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares about you. 1 Peter 5:6-7.  

In this setting, verse seven is almost always quoted by itself, and consequently, out of context.  Have you ever noticed that in most translations there is no period between verses 6 and 7?  With that punctuation change, the meaning changes from our anxiety should not be about temporal problems to our thrill should be on the fact that God will exalt us in due time.

• The deceitfulness of riches chokes out the word, and it becomes fruitless. - Paul wrote it like this: For the love of money is a root of all evils, of which some by aspiring have strayed away from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 1 Tim. 6:10.  Can we even imagine that we will live godly, Christ pleasing lives if the word has been crowded out of our lives by temporal riches?

But the seed sown on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Mat. 13:23.  Christ did not intimate that all of us have to produce 100 fold (100 times as much).  Some of us have been blessed with only enough to produce 30 fold, but then, that much is expected from us.

Christ tells us exactly what He means by those words - You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grape clusters from thorns, or figs from thistles? Thus every good tree produces good fruit, but a rotten tree produces evil (ill, that is, diseased; but especially (morally) culpable) fruit. Strong G4190.

Consequently, by their fruits, you shall know them.

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Mat 7:16-21.