Readings
- Leviticus 25:35–55
- Colossians 1:9–14
- Matthew 13:1–16 (17)
- Psalms: 80; 77, [79]
Matthew 13:1–17
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: "Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on a path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. If you have ears, hear!"
Then the disciples came and asked him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" He answered, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance, but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. The reason I speak to them in parables is that 'seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.' With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says:
'You will indeed listen but never understand, and you will indeed look but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes, so that they might not look with their eyes, and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn — and I would heal them.'
But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it and to hear what you hear but did not hear it."
Notes
The lectionary is going to wander for the next few weeks, so we'll follow it through the Gospel of Matthew. Today is the parable of the sower—or, more accurately, the parable of the soils—and Jesus' first explanation of why he speaks in parables at all. This passage opens Matthew 13, the parables chapter.
Verses 1–3. "Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach."
Notice the geography. Jesus comes out of the house. The crowd gathers on the beach. The disciples, as we'll see in verse 10, come closer. Three concentric circles: house, beach, boat. The structural pattern of the whole passage is who is willing to draw nearer. The crowd gets the parable; only those who come closer get the explanation.
Verses 3–9: the parable. A sower goes out to sow. Some seed falls on the path: birds eat it. Some on rocky ground: springs up, withers. Some among thorns: choked. Some on good soil: thirty, sixty, a hundredfold harvest.
Three things worth noticing.
The sower is profligate. She scatters seed everywhere—on the path, on rocks, among thorns, on good soil. No triage. No selection of worthy soil before he begins. She just sows. Not very Calvinist of her.
The sower is not in control of the outcome. The seed is the same in every place; the difference is the receiving ground. Same word, hundredfold here, nothing there. The outcome is up to the soil.
The focus is on the soils. The traditional name "parable of the sower" puts the emphasis in the wrong place. The parable is about the kinds of ground the word lands on. We will be one of those kinds of ground.
Verses 10–13: why parables? The disciples come closer and ask the question that has bothered readers: Why do you speak to them in parables?
Jesus' answer has been read in some strange ways. To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given… The reason I speak to them in parables is that "seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand."
The recurring question is: does Jesus actually want the crowd not to understand? No. Jesus is not stating intention; he is stating fact. The point is not that Jesus wants people to fail to understand. The point is that some people will not understand, and parables are how Jesus speaks into that reality.
The people of Isaiah's day continued into Jesus' day, and continue into ours. The parable of the sower is itself, finally, about parables, about the fact that the same word lands differently in different people. The sower keeps scattering; the soils keep doing what soils do.
Verse 12. "For to those who have, more will be given… from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away." This sometimes gets misread as prosperity gospel or as a description of divine arbitrariness. Neither holds. Having here is responsiveness. Those who receive the word develop more capacity to receive; those who close themselves to it lose even the openness they began with. Descriptive of how spiritual perception works, not a comment on wealth.
Verses 16–17. The blessing. "Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear… many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it." The disciples are not in the inner circle by accident. They have drawn near. What they receive is rare; many faithful ancestors longed for it.
Questions for reflection
Three concentric circles in this passage: house, beach, boat. Which one are you in this season? What would it look like to move from the crowd toward the questions?
The sower throws seed indiscriminately and the soil does what it does. Where in your life right now is the seed of the word landing, and what kind of ground are you offering it?
