Matthew 13: 1-8 & 18-24; Mark 4: 3-9 & 13-20; Luke 8: 5-8 & 11-15
Context:
•During Jesus’ first preaching tour in Galilee
•That day, he already healed many, Pharisees called Him
Beezelbul, and was ‘grilled’ by the religious leaders… withdrew
from the crowd into a home, His mother and brothers came to
see Him, and after a while went outside to sit by the lake
•A crowd gathered and He began to teach – telling parables…
this one is called the ‘parable of the sower/farmer’
A look at the synoptic same and differences of the
parable itself:
•A sower/farmer sowed some seeds and it fell on four types of soil:
•The path/walkway: Matt and Mark say, “the birds came and ate it
up”; and Luke state, “it was trampled on and the birds ate it up”
•The rocks: Matt & Mark say, “not much soil, grew quickly because
soil was shallow, sun came up –plants withered because they had
no roots…” Luke says, “when it came up, the plants withered
because they had no moisture.”
Continue:
•The thorns/weeds: Matt and Luke says, “seeds fell among
thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.” Mark said,
“thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so they did
not bear grain.”
•The good soil: Matt & Mark say, “it came up (grew) and
produced a crop 100X more; Luke says, “it came up and
yielded a crop 100X”
Jesus interprets/explains the parable:
Matt 13: 18-24; Mark 4: 13-20; and Luke 8: 11-15
•Luke (only) identifies the ‘seed’ as the word of God
•The path: Matt states the ‘path-heart’, “hears the word but does not
understand it and the evil one comes and snatches it away”… Mark says,
“as soon as it (the word) is heard, Satan comes and takes it away”… Luke
states, “Satan takes away the word from their heart so they may not
believe and be saved”…
•The rocky soil: All three writers say, “they hear the word, receive it with
joy, has no roots, ground is shallow, lasts only a short time, troubles come
and they quickly fall away”…
Jesus’ interpretation continues:
•The Thorns: Matt & Mark state, “they hear the word, but the
worries of life, the deceitfulness of wealth and desires for other
things choke the word and they become unfruitful”… Luke says,
“they hear but as they go on their way, they are choked by life’s
worries, riches and pleasures…they did not mature”…
•The Good Soil: Matt said, “hears and understands the word and
becomes productive”; Mark – “hears and accepts (obeys) and
produces; Luke – “the noble and good heart hears the word,
retains (keeps) it, preservers and produces”…
Could it be that within our
hearts:
Path = Don’t want
Rocks = Hurts, feel “no good”,
think “can’t can’t can’t”…
Thorns = Overwhelmed
Healthy ground = Whole and
Healthy soul –area of
obedience
What does your heart
look like?
Path
Rocks
Weeds/Thorns
Good ground
The more we yield to the
Lord and His word, the more
our hearts are taken over by
the good ground… you
choose…
