A parable, then, is a fictitious narrative that uses an example of common life to convey a moral or a lesson. While it is a simple instructional vehicle, the underlying message is as non-fiction as they come—as we will see in the Parable of the Sower.

What is the purpose of parables? Let us answer this directly from the scriptures

Matthew 13:10-11 And the disciples came and said to him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" He answered and said to them, "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given."

It is as though the disciples are scratching their heads looking at Christ with a puzzled look as to why He used a parable to teach the masses. Their question makes it evident that they did not understand the purpose of the parables—the teaching was directed at them—a restricted audience. Parables were intentionally devised to hide the meaning of His teaching from the multitudes.

Adding verse 18, he goes on further to state that, "Many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it."

Clearly, Christ is setting the stage for the importance of parables.

Now let us drill down into some facts about the Parable of the Sower. The Parable of the Sower marks a couple of important firsts.

1. It is the first parable presented in all three gospels, and therefore its position in scripture has importance.

2. It marks a shift in teaching by Christ—up until the Parable of the Sower, every time Jesus Christ encountered multitudes or great multitudes it is connected with a healing and/or followed by distancing Himself and his disciples, from them (Matthew 4:25; 5:1; 8:1, 18; 9:8, 33, 36; 11:7; 12:15, 23 and 46).

Mark 4:13 And he said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?"

These two questions clearly state that without understanding the symbolism in this parable it will not be possible to understand the symbolism of the others. Thus, this parable sets the stage for Christ beginning His preaching to the unconverted world and the church at the very same time.

What principle is at the heart of the Parable of the Sower? The answer is, the law of sowing and reaping!

Galatians 6:7-8 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.

In the context of what we just read, the Parable of the Sower is unique in that while God, the one who does the sowing of the seed, also requires that man has a role to play during the growth process in order for any reaping to occur at the time of harvest. Typically, a seed is planted and it is water and sunshine that take care of the rest. Yet on the spiritual side with God, He plants the seed, and we must do our part to ensure that maximum growth occurs.

Now let us go to the actual Parable of the Sower. For your reference, it is in Matthew 13:3-9, Mark 4:3-9 and Luke 8:4-8. I am only going to read the account in Matthew 13:

Matthew 13:3 Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: "Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

You will see if you were to go back and read the other two accounts in Mark and Luke that there is not a lot of difference in the wording. But when you get into the explanation that is where the rubber meets the road, and we get into the interesting stuff. As we go through the explanation of the parable, which is contained in Matthew 13:18-23, there are a couple of disclaimers.

The first one is that you will see that without it being stated, there appears to be a progression of time. In other words, as we step through each group the length of time increases, and as we go through each group I will be explaining this.

Secondly, with the second and third group, there is no clear indication either way if these people are baptized or not. Since scripture does not make any statement either way, the possibility exists for both options. So, brethren, what I am saying is that the second, third and fourth group are in fact in the church.

I am going to read the explanation of the Parable of the Sower from all three accounts. I want to do this so that you can understand the differences as we go through them.

Matthew 13:18-23 Therefore hear the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. But he who received seed 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.

Mark 4:14-20 The sower sows the word. And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts. These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they stumble. Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.

Luke 8:11-15 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.

It is in the explanation that interesting details emerge from each account, and when pieced together give a fuller picture of this amazing parable that is rich in instruction.

The actual sower of the parable is almost completely ignored in the explanation. It is only the gospel of Mark that identifies what the sower does.

Understanding who the sower is then we have the correct anchor point from which the rest of the explanation is built. If we do not understand this crucial point, we will not understand how to identify who the four groups are. The sower is none other than Jesus Christ.

There are a number of common denominators in this parable. There are, in fact, four distinct groups of people:

Those by the wayside.

Those who received the word on stony ground.

Those who received the word among the thorns.

Those who received the word on good ground.

The explanation begins with a command by Jesus Christ to "hear" the parable. Using the word "hear" is very succinctly tied to Matthew 13:17. Christ was not talking about simply hearing the words, but hearing the meaning or message of the voice. As a cross reference you can write down Acts 22:9, and you can see the concept there as well.

The intention of hearing becomes clearer when one understands who these four groups are, and how they touch the church of God. We may be able to go as far as to say that three out of the four groups comprise potential demographics of those who are called in this age.

The seed represents the word of God, and the soil represents the heart of each of the groups in which the seed is sown.

The first group mentioned in the explanation of the parable is "those by the wayside." This is covered in Matthew 13:18-19, Mark 4:14-15, and Luke 8:11-12. "Some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them."

There are a few points here that I would like to cover.

Matthew describes the first group as "anyone" who hears the word of [the kingdom] God and does not understand it. Now I have to admit that my preconceptions had led me to an incorrect understanding.

I used to think that this group represented the masses of humanity... but is that accurate? If you think that the answer is a yes, which I did, I would like you to consider the following. There have been many people that have lived and died and never heard the name of Jesus Christ, or the gospel of the Kingdom of God.

Consider the phrase, "fell by the wayside." The Bible Exposition Commentary explains:

A wayside refers to hard soil—a path that ran through the common field, separating the plots; and the foot traffic hardened the soil.

Thus the word wayside means—"out of consideration: into a condition of neglect or disuse."

Mark and Luke use the phrase "takes away" and it is Strong's #142, 'airo,' and it means to lift up. By implication, it means remove in the sense of take away, or steal. However, Matthew uses a much stronger word, 'harpazo' (Strong's # 726) and the verb means: (1) snatch, steal, seize and (2) tear something away (quickly, greedily, or firmly).

Since this group is described as hearing—they have the opportunity to hear the word of God, but they do not hear the meaning or the message.

How can we connect this group to the church? Well, let us begin with the phrase, "many are called..." This group of people does come into contact with the church and the true gospel. And in times past, this may have been people who heard the radio program, watched The World Tomorrow television program, or attended some evangelistic campaign that the church hosted. In our modern era, people usually come across the gospel via the Internet due to the global reach that the church of God can leverage. In fact, brethren, the Church of the Great God appears to be a much bigger organization than we really are.

Yet once the true gospel is heard, if it does not prick the heart so that this group is crying out "men and brethren what should we do", instead it is soundly rejected out of hand as foolishness or legalism.

Let us connect this group, "those by the wayside," with Jesus Christ. As our High Priest, did Jesus Christ have to endure an attempt to have the seed snatched away from Him? The answer is yes, as HHe had to endure a forty-day fast, and with His Father's help withstood Satan's attempt to snatch away the seed.

Let us move on to the second group, those who receive seed on stony ground. We can find this in Matthew 13:20-21, Mark 4:16-17, and Luke 8:13.

Matthew and Mark capture that this group hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. This group is very zealous and energized by the truth of God, but sadly as quickly as they receive the Word, they abandon it when they experience tribulation, or are persecuted for the word of God. What immediately brings them joy, in turn immediately brings them fear and sorrow.

There are a couple of interesting things to think about when it comes to this group.

Firstly, this group of people does not just come into contact with the church... they are in the church! The stony ground is usually near the edge of a field or not in the prime of the land. When the sower throws the seeds, some will inevitably land on this type of soil. Is that a bad thing? Can plants grow in stony ground? Absolutely! Can we make do with the hand we are dealt? Does your seed landing on this type of ground mean that you are destined to fail?

Everyone in the church will experience stony ground during his or her time in the church, or during the process of conversion.

The phrase "for a while" or "for a time" is sandwiched by the two immediate declarations. The length of time between when the truth is immediately received with joy, to it being immediately abandoned when the persecution comes, is unknown. Could this be a short period of time... like weeks or months? Absolutely it could, but what is more intriguing is that scripturally, there is no clear indication of how long this period of time is. I found that Barnes' notes commented that this phrase could mean a considerable period of time.

Now let us think back, in recent history, to our experience in the Worldwide Church of God. How many people had been in the church from a short period of time to decades that as soon as the persecution of the doctrines came, they immediately abandoned them for "another Jesus?" For those of us who have been in the church for a while, we did live and see that firsthand.

Another interesting detail with this group is recorded in Luke's gospel.

Luke 8:13 but the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away.

What makes Luke unique is that Luke uses the definite article before the word rock.

The word rock here is Strong's 4073—'petra.' Now there are two words for rock—'petra' and 'petros,' and they have different applications.

Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words defines: 4073 'rockpetra' denotes "a mass of rock," as distinct from 'petros,' "a detached stone or boulder," or a stone that might be thrown or easily moved.

The Complete Word Study Dictionary, defines Pétros (Strong's 4074) always means a stone, never a rock. Petros is the Greek name for Peter.

I Corinthians 10:1-6 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.

Why did this group not have any root in them? What goes wrong? These people are described as people who capitalize on opportunity. I call it the 'save your own skin mentality.' Again, dating back in the church how many people came into the church with the concept of going to the place of safety to save their own skin, without really focusing on having a relationship with God.

In times of persecution, it becomes clear that this group only believes for a while, because they did not drink from or build/grow on the correct rock. Connecting this to the Days of Unleavened Bread, the trials that God brings upon us, to overcome and purge out the old man, will be for naught if He is not included in the process.

This next group is described as those among thorns. This can be found in Matthew 13:22, Mark 4:18 and Luke 8:14

The third group is painted in an interesting manner. Matthew states that the seeds are received; Mark says they are sown—by the sower—among thorns, and Luke states that the seeds fell among thorns. But nowhere does it state the size of the thorns when the seed is sown.

When a field is being prepared to be planted, a plow or rototiller is used to overturn the soil. The very nature of this act almost certainly guarantees that there will still be thorns or weeds. It may be next to impossible to get them all out. After all they just need a root structure to begin growth again, and amazingly weeds and thorns seem to grow at a much quicker pace then the seed planted.

I have this issue personally with my lawn. Even a common thistle has the ability to quickly spread its leaf base and within a short period of time it can quickly choke out the surrounding grass.

Without it being stated, the thorns that the seeds fall among are small. How can I make that statement? Well, I gleaned that from descriptions contained in Matthew, "he becomes unfruitful" and from Luke, "bring no fruit to maturity." The seed did have the opportunity to grow and become fruitful, where it would have choked out the thorns. What happened? The seed became choked out.

Proverbs 24:30-32 I went by the field of the lazy man, And by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding; And there it was, all overgrown with thorns; Its surface was covered with nettles; Its stone wall was broken down. When I saw it, I considered it well; I looked on it and received instruction:

It is through laziness that thorns—the cares of this world take over and choke out the ability, as Mark describes it, for the word to become fruitful. When your mind is not focused on the things of God, it is focused on the things of self.

Now it is human nature to think we are invincible, or to put off getting serious about our relationship with God for yet another day. Yet these thorns are not to be taken lightly. How many people have left the church by being carried out by the cares of this world.

I looked up the word "thorns" in Vine's Expository, and it is used in all three accounts of the Parable of the Sower—it is Strong's 173—akantha.

Now this word illustrates the danger of the cares of this world because the type of thorn identified here is of "Zizyphus Spina Christi", that grew along the Jordan River. This species of thorns can grow to some twenty feet high or more.

Also remember I mentioned that in the second group it is not stated whether or not they are baptized... well, the same applies here.

I say this because I want to include those in the church who are not baptized, and more specifically the young people. I look at this world today and it has so many distractions. The pressure must be immense to fit in and be accepted. With the church in the scattered condition that it is in, the young people no longer have the large numbers of peers to be with every Sabbath. Thus the world is a greater pull on them. As a parent, this scares me to death.

This group is not making the choice to repent and overcome - they think that they are okay.

Revelation 3:17 Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'—–and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—

Most "cares of the world" do not just appear, they have usually been there for quite a while, they seem to stick to us, and we have a hard time getting rid of them. When I was at Ambassador College we would walk by the runway, and they used to have all of these briars in the hay grass. You would walk out and they would be stuck to your socks and it would take you fifteen or twenty minutes to get them out. So, brethren, we can extrapolate too, that this group of people can in fact be in the church for years.

The last aspect of this group that I would like to discuss is in reference to Jesus Christ Himself. Think back to when Christ was about to be crucified. He had a crown of thorns placed on His head in such a manner that it would have caused bleeding and a great deal of pain. We must apply this lesson in our lives. And the lesson is, that Christ allowed the thorns to pierce Him without it altering its purpose. In no way did the pain deflect His drive to accomplish what He had to do.

Now the last group, those who receive the seed on the good ground, are covered in Matthew 13:23, Mark 4:20, and Luke 8:15. This is the group we all want to be in. This is the only group that understands it, as Matthew states, and accepts it as Mark states, and keeps it as Luke states. There is a clear difference here from the second group (those on stony ground) who hear the word yet do not understand it. I want to connect this group in an encouraging way to Jesus Christ.

Hebrew 2:16-18 For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.

Interestingly, Matthew and Mark do not characterize the heart; instead they both focus on bearing fruit and by orders of magnitude. When we read Luke, we see that he is the only one that describes the actual heart—he refers to it as a noble and good heart.

Brethren, as this year gets into full swing by man's calendar, we are seeing that the foundations of our life are being challenged. The spring holy days provide an ideal time to honestly look at ourselves and improve our walk with God.

We may even find that through the conversion process we will find ourselves facing circumstances where Satan wants to snatch the truth away from us, stony ground of persecution for believing in God will start to occur heavily in the not too distant future, and the cares of this world will never let up. All of these can derail us, but it is our responsibility to work diligently because conversion is a lifelong process and one that I am sure that we would all agree seems to get more difficult each year.

This should move us to reliance on Christ and the Father to see ourselves as we should—in comparison to Jesus Christ.

I hope that you can look at the Parable of the Sower and appreciate its ties to the themes of the spring holy days. It is time to look to God for the answers, and stop relying on our wisdom.

Let us conclude in Philippians 2:

Philippians 2:12-13 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure

WDL/pp/vls

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