The Parable of the Sower in the Bible

The Parable of the Sower is recorded in all three Synoptic Gospels: Matthew 13:3-23, Mark 4:3-20, and Luke 8:5-15. Jesus begins, "Behold, a sower went forth to sow" (Matthew 13:3; compare Mark 4:3 and Luke 8:5). As the sower scatters seed, some falls by the wayside and is eaten by birds (Matthew 13:4), some on rocky ground, some among thorns, and some on good ground that brings forth fruit, "some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold" (Matthew 13:8). This is one of the few parables Jesus Himself explains in detail. In His explanation Jesus identifies the seed as the word of the kingdom and the soils as four kinds of hearers (Matthew 13:18-23). The wayside is the heart that hears but does not understand, so the evil one snatches the word away. The rocky ground is the one who receives the word with joy but has no root, and falls away under tribulation. The thorny ground is the one in whom the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word so that it becomes unfruitful. The good ground is the one who hears, understands, and bears fruit (Matthew 13:23). The parable teaches that the same word produces different results depending on the condition of the heart that receives it. The sower is faithful and the seed is good; the variable is the soil. This both explains why the gospel is received so differently and presses every listener to ask what kind of soil his own heart is. For believers, the Parable of the Sower is a summons to receive the word rightly and to guard the heart. We are to clear away the hardness, the shallowness, and the thorns of worldly care so that the word may take root and bear lasting fruit, as Matthew 13:23 describes a harvest of thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. It also encourages those who sow the gospel: not every seed will spring up, but the good ground will surely yield an abundant harvest.