Growing up, I remember my father having handy proverbs to precisely drive home just about any point. He would effortlessly reach into his repertoire of Nigerian (Yoruba), English and French sayings and come up with the perfect expression that gave weight to the message he was trying to pass across. Never mind that some of those sayings were lost on me back in the day, but the older I got, the better I appreciated his penchant for good ol’ wisdom expressed in pithy little sayings. To a far greater degree, much more can be said of Jesus, who skilfully used parables to teach great truths.
One of such parables is the focus of today’s blog post. An account so familiar, one could easily miss its import – yes, you guessed right – it’s The parable of the sower!
In Matthew’s account, Jesus had been performing miracles and doing a lot of public (large crowds) and private (disciples only) teaching before arriving at Chapter 13, where great crowds had now gathered around him by the sea.
It is at this point that he tells the parable of a sower who went out to sow. As he sowed, the seeds fell on four different types of soil and inevitably, strikingly different results were produced.
Four soil types; four responses
- Seeds sown along the path were eaten by birds: when anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart.
- Seeds sown on rocky ground didn’t have much soil and were scorched by the sun: this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.
- Seeds sown among thorns were choked by thorns: this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
- Seeds sown on good soil produced bountiful harvest: this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.
Clearly, Jesus did not use this agricultural illustration to teach them how to be better farmers, rather he was reaching more for their hearts. Going by His interpretation of the parable, these soil types represent different heart responses to the word of the kingdom. As Christians who hear the word more frequently or less, we do well to pay attention to these different responses, and perhaps pause to ask ‘what soil type am I?’
Thanks for reading!
Sike Osinuga.