Matthew 13:18

“Listen then to what the parable of the sower means.”

Here Jesus interprets his own parable, his little story. He us trying to help all of us who read his many, many parables to make sense of them and apply the learnings to our own lives.

He goes to the heart of the issue first of all – the readiness to receive the seed. This is the crucial point of this most interesting story – am I ready to receive the seed of God’s saving Word, nurture it in such a way that it will produce a bumper crop to the glory of God, the Lord of the Harvest?

Jesus lists reasons the seeds grow or do not.

The first problem is  that some who received the good seed simply have no idea what it is, so they are not unduly concerned when the evil one quickly snatches the seed and makes off with it. The second problem is that some people are so hard that the seed can not penetrate the soil. Though lying on the surface, very near the fertile ground, the good seed can not grow.  A third problem is that the field is full of weeds and thorns that ultimately choke out and kill the newly sprouting plant. The fourth soil, however, receives the seed and the careful farmer makes sure that nothing interferes with the growth of the new powerful plant that will ultimately produce abundant food.