The MVP - the sower
Although Jesus was Israel’s promised Savior, when He started His ministry, most of the Jewish population had the wrong idea about the coming Messiah. Many Jews had locked in on the idea that the Messiah’s immediate plans were to conquer Israel’s enemies and set up the Kingdom of God…with Jerusalem as its capital. Jesus knew those actions were not His mission at that time. To get the people past this mental stumbling block, as He traveled from town to town, Jesus taught many things to the crowds that came out to meet Him. The truth about Himself and the Kingdom of God were taught indirectly, through parable-stories. However, the setting for these parables was always something local and familiar to His audience.
Jesus referred to The parable of the sower as the key to understanding all His parables (Mark 4:13), or as I’m calling it, The Most Valuable Parable – The MVP. All three of the synoptic gospel writers included it, and it can be found in Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20, and Luke 8:4-15. Before we get to the meat of the parable; however, we need to look at the main character of the parable – the sower. Understanding his role – in the way Jesus’ audience recognized him – will help us understand the parable as a whole.
Let’s think about the setting. Farming was everywhere, and sowing seed in a field was a common activity. Farmers didn’t have fancy, fast machines to spread the seed, either. They sowed “broadcast” style…casting the seed by hand as he walked up and down the field. The sower always spread extra seed to allow for full coverage, and he was not concerned about wasting seed. Every inch of ground on the field was seeded in the hopes of generating the largest harvest possible. The ideal seed depth was 1-3 inches into the ground, in favorable conditions, but that wasn’t always the case. Terrain was often rocky and uneven, sometimes with only a thin layer of top soil.
A sower’s activities would have been something everyone would relate to because they had either done the work themselves or they had seen someone else do it. Focus on the sower’s actions as you read through Luke’s account:
Luke 8:4-15
As a large crowd was gathering, and people were coming to Jesus from every town, He said in a parable:
”A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some seed fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the sky devoured it. Other seed fell on the rock; when it grew up, it withered away, since it lacked moisture. Other seed fell among thorns; the thorns grew up with it and choked it. Still other seed fell on good ground; when it grew up, it produced fruit: a hundred times what was sown. As He said this He called out, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”
Then His disciples asked Him, “What does this parable mean?” So He said, “The secrets of the kingdom of God have been given for you to know, but to the rest it is in parables, so that
Looking they may not see,
and hearing they may not understand.
“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. And the seed on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy. Having no root, these believe for a while and fall away in a time of testing. As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who, when they have heard, go on their way and are choked with worries, riches, and pleasures of life, and produce no mature fruit. But the seed in the good ground – these are the ones who, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it and by enduring, produce fruit.
So what observations do you have about the sower?
Did you notice these two things?
· The sower is not responsible for the success of the seed…his job is only to sow.
· The sower does not pre-judge the soil’s potential or its responsiveness to the seed. He cast the seed without discrimination or concern that it may not bear fruit or be wasted altogether.
How many times have we looked at someone and not shared the gospel because we assume they wouldn’t respond in faith? But what we’ve seen in Jesus’ parable is that the sower spread the word of God liberally to all soils, to any ground who might receive it, instead of to just those soils sections that the sower was confident to get a fruitful harvest.
This would have been an encouragement to the disciples and should also encourage us as we encounter opportunities to sow God’s word. We may not see immediate harvest-results. The sower certainly didn’t. Harvest comes later…and the sower may not even be the one to participate in that event. But that doesn’t matter when it’s time to sow.
So let’s be faithful and sow as we have opportunity. Not because we think the person is worthy to hear about the gospel, but because that is the task God has given us to do.
Keep Pressing,
Ken