“That same day, Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. A large crowd gathered around Him, so He had to get into a boat and sit there; and the whole crowd stood on the shore. He spoke to them at length in parables and said to them, ‘Listen: A sower went out to sow. 

As he was sowing, some of the seed fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where there was not much soil; it sprang up immediately, because it had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, it was scorched; and, since it had no roots, it withered away. Some fell among thorns; the thorns grew up and choked it. Another part fell on good soil and bore fruit: one seed yielded a hundredfold, another sixty, and another thirty. “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”... Listen, then, to what the parable of the sower means: When a person hears the Word about the Kingdom but does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed that fell along the path. The seed that fell on rocky ground is the one who hears the Word and immediately receives it with joy; but he has no root in himself, so he lasts only a short time; and when trouble or persecution arises because of the Word, he immediately falls away. The seed that fell among thorns is the one who hears the Word; but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the Word, and it becomes unfruitful. And the seed that fell on good soil is the one who hears the Word and understands it; it bears fruit: one yields a hundredfold, another sixty, another thirty.”^[1]

The Word of God is given to us to impart wisdom in righteousness. The Lord God guides us through the Bible on how we should live our lives so that we may enter His Kingdom. A parable is a higher truth from the spiritual world applied to a lower plane, which is the material world. Not all spiritual truth can be fully expressed on the material plane, but only one aspect of it. For example, an African who has never seen snow cannot understand or even imagine what snow is. The same is true of spiritual reality, which humans cannot fully understand. Parables reveal divine truths, but they also conceal them.^[2] Truths are revealed to those with pure hearts, but their realities are hidden from those with defiled hearts. The Lord explains the parables He spoke to His disciples—who have pure hearts—but not to the crowd that was listening. Those who do not understand Scripture do so only because of the sin in which they live, for God enlightens those who purify themselves through His Word. Those who thirst and hunger in their hearts for God listen to His word in the Bible.

In this parable, the sower is portrayed by the Lord Jesus. Today, we who follow the Lord Jesus are the sowers. The condition for being sowers is to teach those to whom we preach the Gospel everything the Lord has commanded us to observe.

The good seed is the Word of God. Not every word that is preached comes from God; rather, some people sow seeds of tares. If a person does not speak solely from the Bible but uses his natural wisdom to speak from the Word of God, he sows good seeds mixed with tares, which are of no use.

What are the three main points of the Word that the Lord Jesus taught? First, we must understand that the Kingdom of God has drawn near to us through His church and through His coming: “It is time for you to wake up at last from your sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we first believed.”^[3] Then we must hurry to enter this kingdom while the door is still open: “Strive to enter through the narrow gate. For I tell you that many will seek to enter, and will not be able to.”^[4] We must go against our natural inclinations, for otherwise it will be impossible to enter the kingdom of God. The gate will close one day, and for many it will be too late, because they chose to live according to the desires of this world. We enter the narrow gate by repenting and believing in the Gospel.^[5]

Likewise, the Word of God teaches us that we must live in holiness, according to the standards given to us by the Lord in the Gospel of Matthew in the Sermon on the Mount. This is the only way and the only truths through which we can reach heaven.^[6] As long as a person lives on earth, he is capable of deciding for himself what to do regarding eternal life. God has given us free will and allows each of us to decide what we choose to do for the eternity of our souls.

But what do the four types of soil symbolize?

The seed that falls by the wayside symbolizes the one who hears the Word but does not understand it. The conclusion is that the devil is present wherever the Word of God is preached, in order to steal the seed that has been sown. There are people who do not heed the Word proclaimed by the Lord’s messengers; therefore, they cannot understand anything. “There a highway will be cut through, a road called the Holy Way: no unclean person will pass along it, but it will be for the holy ones alone; those who walk on it, even the simple-minded, will not be able to go astray.”^[7] God’s way is so easy that even those without a refined education can understand it. The Gospel is simple and pure. The person who does not understand does not want to understand, because the way of salvation is for everyone. Luke adds that the seed is immediately snatched away from such people, because they treat God’s precious things with superficiality.

The second kind of soil into which the seed falls is the rocky ground. The rocky ground had little soil and little moisture. The seed sprouted immediately, but because it had no roots, it withered. This, too, is due to people’s superficiality. Their enthusiasm upon hearing the Word of the Lord arises very quickly, but it fades just as quickly, because such a person has not considered the cost of the Word of the Lord. There are people who receive the Word with joy, but this joy fades as soon as trouble arises, or when they face persecution for the Word, or when temptation comes. Some people believe that if they come to the Lord Jesus, they will no longer have troubles, even though the Lord Himself said that in the world we will have troubles, but that we can overcome them just as He overcame the world.^[8] Scripture also speaks of the fact that we will be hated by all people because of our decision to follow the Lord Jesus.^[9]

Third, we will all be tempted, but as Scripture says, no temptation has overtaken us that is not common to man, and God, who is faithful, will not allow us to be tempted beyond our ability; but along with the temptation, He has also provided a way out, so that we may be able to endure it.”^[10] The choice to be victorious or defeated belongs to each of us. To be a disciple of the Lord, we must take up our cross every day, and in this way we will gain eternal life. Whoever seeks to live for this life will lose eternal life.^[11]

The third type of soil where the seed fell is among thorns. These are the people who follow the Lord, remain in a church, do not falter in the face of trouble, and withstand persecution and temptation. They grow, but only to a certain point, because along with the wheat, they also allow thorns to grow (the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things that choke the Word, people who go their own way and allow the seed to be choked by the cares, pleasures, and desires of the world). We will be tested so that the Lord may see what is in our hearts. The Lord wants us to put our trust in Him and not worry about anything at all, as long as we are in His hands. He guarantees that we will have food to eat and clothes to wear, but if we seek to have more than what God promises to give us, we cannot follow Him to the end.^[12] The evil one will always lie to us, saying that if we have material security and seek to become rich, we will be happier, but this is a lie that leads us to destruction. This type of Christian will not bear fruit for God because they allow themselves to be led by the desires of this world. The thistle must be pulled up by the roots so that it no longer sprouts and does not swallow us whole. This category of people are Christians in appearance because they seek to make a name for themselves in life, straying from the narrow path they were meant to follow, and this category of Christians is very widespread.

The fourth type of soil is good soil that bears fruit. Our main fruit is sanctification, and its end is eternal life.^[13] Bearing fruit is a vital sign of the process of salvation, the greatest proof that we are on the right path. This category of Christians lives for heaven; they do not allow themselves to be overcome by temptations, trials, worries, and other such things, but trust in the Lord with all their hearts. Every Christian should belong to this category in order to be worthy to enter the Kingdom of God. A grain of wheat that dies bears much fruit; so too does the person who denies himself, who dies to the things of this world, and who makes his sole purpose in life to be sanctification and bearing fruit for God. This Christian will bear fruit in patience, waiting for God’s timing and accepting His will in all things.

The Christian who lives in accordance with God’s will is the one who bears the fruit of the Spirit in his life: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”^[14]

A true Christian bears witness to the Lord before others. “Through Him, let us always offer to God a sacrifice of praise—that is, the fruit of lips that confess His Name.”^[15] Every Christian must be a sower of the Lord’s word.

^[1] Matthew 13:1–9, 18–23.

^[2] Matthew 13:13.

^[3] Romans 13:11.

^[4] Luke 13:24.

^[5] Mark 1:15.

^[6] Hebrews 12:14.

^[7] Isaiah 35:11.

^[8] John 16:33.

^[9] Matthew 10:22.

^[10] 1 Corinthians 10:13.

^[11] Matthew 10:39.

^[12] Matthew 6:25–34.

^[13] Romans 6:22.

^[14] Galatians 5:22, 23.

^[15] Hebrews 13:15.