Luke 8:9

And his disciples asked him what this parable might be. And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God; but to the rest in parables; that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. And those by the way side are they that have heard; then cometh the devil and taketh the word from their heart, that they may not believe and be saved. And those on the rock are they who, when they have heard, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. And that which fell among the thorns, these are they that have heard and as they go on their way they are choked by cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. And that in the good ground, these are such as in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, hold fast, and bring forth fruit with patience.

It will be noted that Luke's account, though not as full as the others, is nevertheless effective. Here the same multiple analogies noted in Matthew and Mark are drawn by the Saviour. In fact, Luke more fully identified the thorns in their threefold character of riches, cares, and pleasures. To understand the parable in its fullest implications, it is necessary to read and study all three accounts.

Critical scholarship has more trouble with Jesus' words giving his reason for speaking in parables, "that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand," than with anything else in this passage. Some are simply incredulous that Jesus would have used a device specifically to blind and harden some of his hearers; but such was undoubtedly the case. The explanation is in Matthew, where that sacred author quoted at length from Isaiah 6:9,10, thus explaining the use of parables as God's means of bringing about the hardening of Israel, the parables, of course, not being the cause of the hardening, but the occasion of it. The real reason of the blindness and unbelief of Israel lay in the fact that they had "closed their eyes" to the truth. Summers missed the point altogether when he accused Matthew of elaborating on "the idea to the extent of quoting Isaiah,"[7] that quotation deriving not from Matthew's "elaboration" but from Jesus' announcement of it in connection with his explaining why he taught in parables. Of course, erroneous Markan theory blinds some scholars on this, Matthew's account being original, older, and fuller than the others in this section. Furthermore, what is said of the parables here is true of the whole Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was so designed that stubborn, willful, and self-deluded, hardened hearers of it will actually be destroyed by the holy Gospel itself. Paul said:

We are indeed the incense offered by Christ to God, both for those who are on the way to salvation, and for those who are on the way to perdition: to the latter it is a deadly fume that kills, to the former a vital fragrance that brings to life (2 Corinthians 2:16, New English Bible).

There can be no wonder then that Jesus cried with a loud voice and said: "Take heed how ye hear!"

The dual quality of the parables: (1) enlightening them of right spirit, and (2) blinding and hardening the ones who were evil, must therefore be understood as pertaining to the entire Gospel itself. The same sunshine melts butter and hardens putty; and the same glorious Gospel saves some and destroys others; but the difference lies, not in the Gospel, but is found inherently within men themselves. It is what a man IS that determines, more than anything else, what he gets out of the Gospel.

For a list of analogies, and line-by-line comment, see the parallel accounts in my Commentary on Matthew and my Commentary on Mark.