Matthew 13:1-23 - Homiletics

The parable of the sower.

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES .

1 . The time. It was the day, St. Matthew says (the order in St. Luke is different), on which our Lord had cast the devil out of the blind and dumb man; the day on which the Pharisees had so fiercely accused him of intercourse with Satan; when his own mother and brethren had feared for his safety, and sought to guide and regulate his work; when, as appears from St. Luke ( Luke 11:37 ), a Pharisee had invited him in no friendly spirit to his house, and there the disagreement had been so great, the antagonism so marked and intense, that the scribes and Pharisees, in their bitter anger, pressed vehemently upon him, catechizing him with wrathful and ensnaring questions, to find, if possible, an opportunity for accusing him. "The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the seaside." After all that fury of opposition he was quiet and collected. In the holy calm of his soul he was able to think of others, able to teach them on that very day of strife. It is a blessed thing to be enabled by the grace of God to turn from the cares and conflicts of life to holy meditation, and to find rest for our troubled soul in communion with God.

2 . The audience. Multitudes followed him, excited probably by the startling events of the day. They longed to hear again the great Teacher who had held his ground against those famous rabbis, and had convicted them of hypocrisy and envy and falsehood. Many, doubtless, came from curiosity, some from better reasons. The Lord would lose no opportunity of saving souls. Wearied as he must have been, he went into a boat and sat down to preach to them, the whole multitude standing on the beach of fine white sand that borders the lake.

3 . His mode of teaching. He spake in parables; now, it seems, for the first time. The parable was a bright, lively way of presenting truth, best suited for the dull understanding of the listeners. It would excite their interest; it would rivet their attention; it would stimulate them to think. The parables of Christ have sunk deep into the very heart of the Church. Perhaps they have been especially blessed to the simple and the unlearned; but they have been a rich store of spiritual teaching for all Christian people, the most educated as well as the ignorant; they have given us many precious sayings, current now in daily life; they have coloured our language. Another advantage in the use of parables at that time was that the parable would give the Lord's enemies no opportunity for their malicious accusations. They might perceive (as in Matthew 21:45 ) that he spake of them, or with reference to their doctrine; but they could find no ground for a charge of heresy. We shall meet with another reason for the introduction of this mode of teaching in verses 13-15.

II. THE STORY .

1 . The call for attention. "Behold," the Lord said; in St. Mark there is the further preface, "Hearken." It is the Lord who speaks. We must listen; we must give him the attention which he claims. His words are simple, but they are full of spiritual instruction. Meditate on them; pray over them. They will throw a light on the dark mysteries of human life; they will guide us on our way to God.

2 . The incidents. They were taken from the commonest details of daily life. The Lord's hearers might see them any day at sowing time. Perhaps they were to be seen at that very moment. It may well be that the Lord, sitting on the raised prow of the boat, could see the corn land descending, as we are told it does, to the water's edge. He saw, it may be, the sower as he went forth to sow. He could see the hard-trodden pathway running through the midst, with no fence to prevent the seed from falling on it. He could see the countless birds hovering over the rich Plain of Gennesaret. He could see the rocky ground of the hillside protruding here and there through the cornfield. He could see the large bushes of thorns springing up, as they do now, in the midst of the wheat. "He could see the good rich soil, which distinguishes the whole of that plain and its neighbourhood from the bare hills elsewhere descending into the lake, and which, where there is no interruption, produces one vast mass of corn". And he saw in these common sights a happy illustration of the varied effects of that Word of everlasting life which he came to preach. Happy are those who see in earthly things the shadows of heavenly realities, who walk by faith, not by sight.

3 . The enforcement. "Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." The Lord had bespoken attention at the beginning; he enforces that requirement again. He had shadowed forth solemn truths in those simple words; he would have men ponder them in their hearts. But; not all would do so, he knew. All had listened with the outward ear; but to many it was simply a story, a story and nothing more. They would not penetrate into its real meaning; they had not ears to bear. But "who hath ears to hear, let him hear." Let him whose heart God hath opened weigh well these holy words, for they relate to the most momentous issues in our earthly life.

III. THE CONVERSATION WITH THE DISCIPLES .

1 . Their question. It was the first time, it seems, that the Lord had taught by parables. His disciples were struck by the change in his mode of teaching. When the multitude had departed and they were alone ( Mark 4:10 ), they asked him, "Why speakest thou unto them in parables?" Men who are in earnest will be inquirers after truth.

2 . The Lord ' s answer.

IV. THE INTERPRETATION .

1 . The seed. It is the Word of God. Even the weightier words of men are seeds germinant with a living power; they strike root in the heart, and produce, sometimes noxious weeds and poisonous fruit, sometimes good and fruitful growths. How much more is this true of the living Word of God! The Lord Jesus himself was the Sower. Others, in their measure, have been sowers—his apostles, evangelists, and pastors—but, in the first and highest sense, the Lord himself. He had been sowing now for many months. His holy words had taken root in some faithful hearts; many had heard listlessly without serious thought; some, like the Pharisees, had rejected the Word with scorn and anger. He is the Sower, and in a true and deep sense he himself is the Seed. He soweth the Word, and he is the Word. The spoken word will not live in the hearts of the hearers without his grace, his presence. Christians are born again of incorruptible seed—"by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever" ( 1 Peter 1:23 ; comp. also 1 John 3:9 ). That incorruptible seed is the grace of Christ, Christ's presence, Christ himself abiding in the heart by his Spirit. His grace lives in the soul, growing, spreading through the heart, filling it with a new life, transforming him in whom the seed abideth into the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. The Word soweth the Word. He is both Sower and Seed, as he is both Priest and Sacrifice.

2 . The wayside. Some hear, but do not heed; they do not send their thoughts forth to meet the Word. It falls upon their ears; it does not excite their attention; it does not reach their hearts. And that for two reasons.

3 . The stony places. Here and there in the field the rock rose to the surface; there was a thin covering of earth lying on a sheet of rock. The seed could not sink in; it sprang up quickly because it had no deepness of earth. But when the sun was up it was scorched; it had no moisture, no root, and it withered away. The heart was as hard as in the first case; it was utterly selfish, it had no capacity of real self-denial. But it had an appearance of softness. There was an outside of feeling, or what seemed like feeling; there was quickness of apprehension, a lively interest in novelties, a liking for excitement . But there was no depth, no real conviction, no truth of love. Underneath that outside of seeming life there lay the heart unchanged, unconverted, hard and cold as rock. Such persons are easily excited; they receive the Word with joy. But it is only the external beauty of religion, its attractiveness, its poetry, that charms them; they like religious excitement just as they like other forms of excitement. But they have not counted the cost; they have looked only on the fair side of religion, not on its severer aspect. They have never thought deeply of the sharpness of the cross, of their own danger, of the sacrifices which the cross demands. That premature joy is often a bad sign; it often means that there is no sense of sin, no genuine sorrow and contrition for the past. Such a one has no perseverance; he dureth for a while, but only for a while. The novelty wears off; perhaps trouble comes, or sickness and pain. The sun kindles into more vigorous life the deeply rooted plants; it scorches those that have no depth. So it is with affliction; it refines and strengthens the true disciple who is rooted in Christ; it offends the superficial Christian. The religion of excitement and outward form will not help us in sickness and in the hour of death; we want something deeper. The root of the plant is not seen; it is hidden in the earth. So is the true life of the Christian. It is rooted in Christ, hidden with Christ in God. Such a man doth not fall away in time of temptation; his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. He does not need novelty and excitement. The old story of the love of Christ is ever new to him. Nothing can separate him from the love of Christ, neither tribulation nor distress; for he dwelleth in Christ, and Christ in him.

4 . The thorns. In this case the soil is good; the seed sinks deep; all promises well. But there were thorn roots left in the ground. The thorn bushes had been burnt or cut off, but the roots remained. And so the thorns sprang up with the wheat and absorbed its nourishment, and grew above it, taking away its light and heat. It did not wither, it still grew; there were stalk and leaves and ear; but the ear was empty; there was no fruit. The Lord is thinking of men, not superficial and thoughtless like those described last, but men of character, men of depth and thought and power, men of earnestness and stability. But, alas! there are thorn roots. Such a man might have been a great saint; he becomes only a great merchant, or a great writer, or a great statesman. He never casts aside his profession of religion. He is upright, moral, attentive to the outward ordinances of worship. But he brings no fruit to perfection; and that because of the thorn roots. He had not by diligent self-examination and anxious prayer weeded out the tendencies to worldliness which lie in every heart. They grew up, and acquired daily more height and strength. The soil was good, the thorns grew thick and strong and high. He met with great successes; he prospered in his undertakings; his engagements became more and more numerous. His cares increased. The cares of this world little by little filled his heart, leaving him no time, he supposed, for thought and self-examination and prayer. He grows rich; his riches become a snare; they draw him further from Christ. The love of money, the root of all evil, becomes a tyrant passion; it rules his heart. Or, it may be, the pleasures of this life allure him with their deceitful glitter; and he fritters away in frivolous gaieties the talents that might have raised him high in the service of Christ. All the time he keeps up the respectabilities of a religious profession; his life is decent and fair to look upon. There are leaves, but no fruit. The thorns have choked the wheat. The cares and pleasures of life have filled the heart that should have been given to Christ. He has no time, no thought, no real love, for the things that belong to his peace. He beareth no fruit. The fruit of holy thoughts, holy words, and holy deeds; the blessed fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance;—he hath none of these things. He might have been a saint of God; but, alas! he hath gained the world, he hath lost his soul.

5 . The good ground. The honest and true heart is the good ground. Such a heart offers no hindrance to the growth of the Divine seed, to the gracious inworking of the Holy Spirit of God. The soil is deep; there are no thorn roots; or rather they have been extirpated by diligent care. The heart is thoughtful and serious; evil passions and covetous desires have been subdued by the grace of God. Such men bring forth fruit with patience. They go on from strength to strength in patient continuance of well doing. They differ from one another in their natural gifts, in their opportunities; also in the degree of their devotion, their self-denial. But all bring forth the fruit of holy living, "some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." "One star differeth from another star in glory;" but all are bright, shining with the reflected glory of the Sun of Righteousness.

6 . General reflections.

LESSONS .

1 . Hearken! it is the Lord's voice. His disciples must listen with solemn attention.

2 . Blessed are they who hear the Saviour's voice. The saints of the Old Testament had not our privileges; let us value them.

3 . Pray for an honest and good heart. God can soften the hard hearted; he can make the frivolous thoughtful; he can turn men from the cares of the world to the holy love of Christ. Pray always; despair not.