SUNDAY 10th
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23m- The Parable of the Sower
For some of this week, we will take a brief look at some of the parables of the Lord Jesus. The parable before us today is a well-known story, the sower and the seed. Jesus gave the parable to the crowd who were listening, (v2) but, it seems that he only gave the explanation to the disciples (v10-11).
Let’s set the scene, Jesus had gone to sit down by the sea, I can imagine him just listening to the gentle sound of the breaking waves, watching the sunlight glistening off the sea and the birds diving to catch the fish that swum too close to the surface. A moment of personal space, but not for long as the crowds arrived and so he got into a boat and began to speak to them in parables.
When I read this parable, I like to think (forgive my imagination) that Jesus was not only looking across the crowd, but out beyond them and in the distance he could see a man who had not joined them, he was too busy, he was one of the local farmers and he had work to do. He needed to get the fields planted to enable a harvest in a few months and so the inspiration comes for the parable.
In our modern age it is too easy to think in modern ways, but we need to remind ourselves that this farmer didn’t have a tractor and a seed drill that could cover a vast area each time he drove up and down the field. Back then it would have been an extremely hard day’s work, walking back and forth sowing the seed in the scorching sun. The sowing would have taken place by ‘broadcasting’, that is by taking a handful of seed from a sack or bag hanging from the shoulder and throwing it out across the soil. I remember when I was about 14 years of age, my dad saying to my brother (18 months younger) and I that we were going to spend a few days at a great uncle’s farm near Leominster. We assumed that we were having a few days holiday, but soon learned, not so, (we should have known better) our great uncle had some work that needed to be done and we were going there with the purpose of helping him out. We soon discovered that he needed a field to be planted with grass seed, and no, we weren’t going to be using a tractor and seed drill, we were going to have to do it the old fashioned way by walking in straight lines back and forth using a seed riddle. It was hard work, even for farmer’s boys!
And the sower in our story for today was working hard, up and down, back and forth, sowing the seed in readiness for a harvest.
We know the story well, some fell on the pathway and became food for the birds, some on the rocky ground where the seed had no soil to root, and so it withered and died, some fell among the thorns and thistles and as it began to grow it became tangled and choked, but some fell in the good soil and it rooted, grew and produced a harvest.
We could look at the farmer and think well why was he not a bit more careful with where he sowed? Why did he cast some seed on the pathway, why cast some seed among the rocky ground, why cast it among the weedy areas, why not be more careful? Well, we could ask these questions and never find any answers, but the one thing that is so important in this story is this – at least he sowed and at least out of what was sown he reaped a harvest, some a hundred fold, some sixty, some thirty.
Can I use my imagination again? As I look back in my mind and see Jesus sitting in the boat, telling the parable to the crowd that were listening, and at the same time seeing this man sowing, even if some of the seed fell on the path, or in the rocks, or among the weeds, at least some of it fell in good soil and he got a harvest! Is it possible that we can become so content sitting at the feet of Jesus, coming into fellowship week after week, listening to sermon after sermon,(and yes I believe in the importance of and priority of preaching) that we forget to sow! We are wanting to be spiritually fed ourselves (and yes this is vitally important) while at the same time we can easily forget that outside there is a world full of people that are dying in their sin and heading to a lost eternity. I wonder how often we have heard it said, ‘God will bring them in,’ well although this may happen, the reality is God expects us to go and get! (Matthew 9:37-38 ‘Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”’)
We have the answer, it is the seed of the Word of God, the seed that was planted in our hearts however many years ago it may have been is producing fruit, but the same seed needs planting into the hearts of men and women around us. (1 Peter 1:22-25 ‘Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.’)
I have already mentioned that back in Jesus’ day, sowing wasn’t easy, and often we don’t find the task of sowing the seed of the gospel easy, but just as modern methods have made it easier for the farmer today, so modern methods make the sharing of the gospel so much easier today. We have easy accessibility to so many tools to help us in our ways of sharing the gospel.
May God help us individually and collectively to be willing to become sowers of the seed of the Word of God, looking for opportunity to share the good news of the gospel, yes, we may get rebuffed, we might come across stony hearts, or hearts that are full of weeds, but at the same time we will come across hearts that are ready to receive the seed as we plant it. Just remember this, no sowing, no harvest!
In John’s gospel, after Jesus met with the woman at the well, we read of him saying to the disciples, (John 4:35) ‘Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.’ During this difficult few months with the pandemic, hearts have become troubled, people have realised not only how fragile life is but also how precious it is, we need to be praying that one of the outcomes will be that hearts will also be ready to receive the seed of the word of God, that will bring to them hope not only for the here and now, but hope that will last into eternity.
I do not ever remember going back a few months later to see how successful my brother and I had been in sowing the field with grass seed. Our great uncle did not come looking for us so I assume it must have been okay! (and we went back to help him again) The point here, we had sowed but he (our uncle) got the benefit. We may sow but never see the benefit, we may sow and as the seed grows the individual may end up going somewhere else, what matters is that we have sowed. 1 Corinthians 3:6-9 ‘I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So, neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labour. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.’
To the work! to the work! we are servants of God,
Let us follow the path that our Master has trod;
With the might of His power our strength to renew,
Let us do by His grace what He calls us to do.
Work for Him by His grace;
Work thru Him for His praise;
Work with Him all the days;
And work in Him in many ways.
To the work! to the work! let the hungry be fed;
To the fountain of life let the thirsty be led;
In the cross and its vict’ry our glory shall be,
While we herald the tidings, “Salvation is free!”
To the work! to the work! in the strength of the Lord,
By the pow’r of His Name, with the light of His Word,
All the slaves of the darkness of Satan set free
And His riches of grace in His glory we’ll see.
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