Not What You Would Expect
Have you seen the videos of people caught on camera trying to steal packages off of people’s front porch, but when the thief starts to make off with the package it explodes and covers them with paint? Like cat videos, there’s just something special about those videos!
The thieves think they’re getting someone else’s goodies, but instead they get blasted with paint. They think they’re getting one thing but instead they get something else.
This is what Jesus’ parables are like. A common understanding of parables is that they were simple stories to make simple points. There’s some truth to this, but this view of parables is incomplete. Jesus did use ordinary things to make spiritual points. But the points he makes aren’t immediately obvious. Parables are simple but not easy to understand. Like the exploding boxes that thieves try to steal, parables aren’t what you’d expect.
In our text today, Luke 8:4-21, we’re going to see Jesus give the parable of the sower. In this parable, Jesus teaches us that many things happen to God’s word when it’s “planted” in the world and that there’s a way to know whether God’s word is growing in you or not.
The main point of this text is that when God’s word lands in a good heart it produces genuine fruit. We’ll see that when God speaks (vv. 4-8), many hear (vv. 9-15), but only a few listen (vv. 16-21).
God Speaks
In verses 4-8, we see that God speaks, or to put it differently, we see the sower sowing. This parable is often called “the parable of parables,” or “the mother of parables,” because Jesus used it to explain why he spoke in parables.[1] In Mark’s version of the parable, Jesus says, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?” (4:13)
This parable is about a sower who scatters seed on the ground and how the seed lands on four different types of ground. Some seed falls on the path (v. 5), some on rocky ground (v. 6), some among thorns (v. 7), and some on good soil (v. 8).
This would’ve been a familiar scene in ancient Israel: a farmer with a bag of seed over his shoulder, moving his arm back and forth, throwing seeds onto the ground. Perhaps someone was doing it nearby as Jesus taught. These four types of ground were prevalent in Galilee. Farming in ancient Palestine was difficult and often not profitable work, so farmers would sow unsparingly. That’s why Jesus pictures this farmer sowing in an almost wasteful way. The more seed that went out, no matter where it landed, the better chances of producing a crop. The farmer is so intent on getting a crop that he sows in very corner of the field, even on the path, hoping that his seeds will find good soil somewhere.
But unfortunately, birds, rocks, and thorns render three quarters of his work fruitless. These are discouraging odds. What if you knew that three quarters of your work was going to be a total waste of time? But the farmer keeps sowing and the parable ends on an encouraging note (v. 8). A one-hundredfold harvest was unheard of in Palestine. This kind of harvest is either a miracle or at least evidence of God’s blessing.
Jesus is saying that when God’s word goes out, despite heavy odds against it, it will burst through the soil and grow (Isa. 55:10-11). This parable is Jesus’ way of saying that nothing is stronger than God’s word. No matter who or what stands against it or ignores it, it will find its intended target. When God’s word goes out, things happen.
Many Hear
Secondly, we see in verses 9-15 that when God’s word goes out, many hear, but not all respond to what they hear.
Before Jesus explains the parable in verses 11-15, he tells them why he’s using parables in verse 10. In parables, we think we’re getting nice little illustrations of heavenly things in easy-to-understand packaging. But Jesus says that parables aren’t what we think they are.
He says in verse 10, “To you,” that is, “to my disciples,” he’s given the ability to know the secrets of God’s kingdom, but for everyone else, he speaks in parables so that even though they think they see they don’t, or even though they hear, they don’t understand.
Jesus says the disciples have a unique position because God has revealed to them the mysteries of his kingdom. But notice that they didn’t earn it. Rather, this privilege was “given” to them. This saving knowledge is based on grace, not merit. These “secrets,” or “mysteries,” cannot be found or researched or attained through enlightenment or religious rituals. The mysteries of God can only be revealed by God (Dan. 2:27-28).
The parables, Jesus says, are for “others” who haven’t yet received what the disciples have. And then Jesus tells them why, “so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand” (v. 10).
Jesus is quoting Isaiah 6, when Isaiah sees the vision of the holiness of the Lord and says, “Here am I send me!”, and the Lord essentially says, “Okay I’ll send you, but no one will listen to you” (vv. 9-10). Israel had persistently rejected the Lord’s word, so he tells Isaiah that his word will harden them even further and they won’t get it.
Jesus uses this text to say that, in his day, there’s an “Isaiah situation” still in Israel. The Lord’s word has gone out in Jesus but it’s being rejected by many, especially the leaders. Jesus is saying, “Because my words are being rejected by so many, I’m speaking in parables as an expression of judgment on an unbelieving Jewish nation.” He’s saying that his parables are meant to conceal. Like one-way glass, you can only see through them if you’re on the right side of the glass. But if your heart is hard, you’ll try to look through them and only see yourself.
This challenges the conventional understanding of parables. Jesus is saying that his parables are actually designed to prevent people from understanding the kingdom of God. This is why the stories are easy to follow while their meaning is much harder to discern.
To put it another way, the parables discriminate. Jesus uses them to differentiate those who’re on the inside of the kingdom from those who aren’t, to deepen the understanding of those who accept Jesus and to darken understanding for those who don’t.
Why would he use parables like this? Remember how our passage began in verse 4. Great crowds were following Jesus, but how many people were there to really listen to what he had to say? People wanted to see miracles and hear new teaching and check out the latest trend. But how many people really wanted to follow Jesus?
The parables were enigmatic in order to weed out the people who were there only to be entertained or have their bellies filled or to be seen as part of the in-crowd. The parables revealed who was there because they really wanted to understand spiritual truth about God. They separated the sincere from the superficial.
Jesus understands that not everyone who hears him is actually listening. It’s possible to have hearing ears and a deaf heart. How do you know if that’s you? Jesus helps us examine ourselves in verses 11-15.
Four Soils
Using four soils, Jesus shows us that the word of God only grows if the conditions of a person’s heart are right. There are four types of heart that God’s word lands on.
Hard Soil
The first kind of heart is hard and indifferent (v. 12). Paths are made up of well-worn and packed in dirt. When I was at Arbor Hills Nature Preserve this week, I noticed how hard the dirt paths were. There was vegetation on either side, but the paths were solid as a rock. A seed couldn’t grow there if it wanted to because the dirt was too hard to penetrate.
Jesus says that some people’s hearts are like this. They hear the gospel and it goes in one ear and out the other. This is why some people hear the gospel many times and it makes no impression on them. The problem isn’t with the word or with the one sharing it, but with the person’s hard heart. Maybe they’ve been hurt by the church or have unresolved pain in their life or love their sin or have a cold indifference to God. Whatever the case, God’s word bounces off their hard hearts.
But notice that Jesus says something else happens here. The enemy swoops in like a bird and plucks up the seed before it has time to do anything. Satan doesn’t want anyone, even the hard-hearted, to think for too long about God’s word. He knows that God saves people through his word, so he wants to get it off people’s hearts as soon as possible.
Did you know that the devil is at work stealing the word of God from people’s hearts? He knows that if he waits, the person may think about it long enough to believe it, so he snatches it up before it has time to grow. This even happens in churches when the gospel is preached. Nineteenth-century Anglican pastor J. C. Ryle describes it like this:
“Nowhere does (Satan) labor so hard to stop the progress of that which is good, and to prevent men and women being saved (as in the church). From him come wandering thoughts and roving imaginations, listless minds and dull memories, sleepy eyes and fidgety nerves, weary ears and distracted attention. In all these things Satan has a great hand. People wonder where they come from, and marvel how it is that they find sermons so dull, and remember them so badly! They forget the parable of the sower. They forget the devil.”[2]
Have you ever wondered why it’s so easy to remember and talk about sports and politics and news but barely remember the word that was preached at church on Sunday? The evil one is actively working against the word every time it goes out because he knows in it is the power that will eventually undo him. This is one reason why we have a moment of silence after the sermon. Those moments are for you to think carefully about what you’ve heard before it’s snatched up.
Rocky Soil
The second kind of heart is explained in verse 13. This kind of heart is shallow and superficial. This is the person who hears the gospel, believes it and gets excited about it, but “falls away” when testing comes. This person “apostatizes,” or leaves the faith, but they never truly believed or they would’ve persevered to the end.
This person doesn’t understand that following Jesus comes with a cost. They think when they come to Christ all their troubles will be over. They don’t realize they’re following in the footsteps of a suffering Savior.
Some people who seem to believe never get rooted in the gospel. They enjoy church and have favorite preachers and believe Jesus is good. But there’s no depth, no roots. Their faith “has no moisture” (v. 6) or isn’t getting watered and so as soon as the scorching sun of affliction comes out, their faith withers away. It doesn’t pass the test. As Phil Ryken says, “Trouble is the test of true Christian faith. When trouble comes, the rootless will fall away, but faithful Christians will grow stronger through their pain.”[3] Which way do you run when trouble comes, to God or away from him?
Thorny Soil
The third kind of heart is in verse 14. This heart is preoccupied and distracted. The seed doesn’t outgrow the weeds of distractions, so the weeds end up taking over the garden.
Jesus is saying that good things can drown out the word just as much as bad things. We can start spending so much time worrying about our health and finances and relationships and work that we forget to tend to the garden of our soul.
There are many things in life that aren’t wrong in themselves but can choke out God’s work in our lives. Things like building a career, finding a spouse, having kids or grandkids, or owning a house. Even the normal rhythms of life can distract us from eternal things. Notice that Jesus says, “but as they go on their way…” He’s saying that “as we go along” through life, worries and riches and pleasures don’t make a sudden assault on our souls. Rather, they ooze their way in slowly, over time.
If you’ve traveled through the southeastern US, you may’ve seen kudzu vines covering forests. It slowly crawls over everything in its path until it suffocates it to death. So it is with “cares and riches and pleasures of life.” They crawl over your soul until you don’t even realize you’re not breathing spiritually anymore. This is one reason why having healthy, growing friendships in the church is so important. Our friends help us see what may be suffocating our souls. Does anyone know you well enough to help you tend the garden of your soul?
Good Soil
Then in verse 15, we see the kind of heart that’s receptive to God’s word, an honest and good heart. Remember the seed is the same in each soil: the word of God (v. 11). There’s no deficiency in the seed. Like the gospel, it has inherent power and life in it and will grow if the conditions are right. Whether the word is truly heard is what matters. The woman who anointed Jesus’ feet (7:36-50) and the women who followed Jesus (8:1-3) are prefect examples of “good soil.”
We may wonder why we would even scatter the seed of the word if most people aren’t “good soil”? How do we know who’s heart is the “good soil”? Well we don’t, so we scatter seed as far and as widely as we can. As Spurgeon said, “(We) have to leave the fate of the seed in the care of the Master who gave it to (us), for well (we) understand that (we are) not responsible for the harvest, (but) only responsible for the care, the fidelity, and the integrity with which (we) scatter the seed, right and left with both hands.”[4] Our job is to scatter the seed, God’s job is to prepare the soil.
A Few Listen
When the seed of the word goes out, many hear but only a few listen. How do we know if we’re listening? The next several verses help us look at ourselves (vv. 16-21).
Luke places these verses right after this parable to help us understand it. These verses tell us that the few who listen hear the word and grow in obedience. As God’s word grows in the heart of good soil, obedience is the fruit that comes out.
In verse 16, Jesus is telling us to not hide the light of the gospel, to not be useless like a lamp under a jar, but to rather let it shine out. As the children’s song goes, “This little light mine, I’m gonna let it shine. This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine. This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine, let it shine, praise the Lord.” And then, “Hide it under a bushel? No! I’m gonna let it shine!” This is a bold declaration that we’ll live for Jesus in open and obvious ways. This is what happens when the seed of God’s word finds good soil.
Then in verse 17, Jesus addresses the question of what happens to those who hide the light of the gospel in their lives. He says they won’t get away with that forever. People can fool themselves into thinking they’re standing in the faith, but eventually the real truth will come out and it’ll become clear that they weren’t shining the light of the gospel. The one who thinks they’re good soil but the light of the gospel never shines through their life will be tragically disappointed on judgment day. Unbelief masquerading as belief won’t be hidden forever.
The practical application of this is in verse 18, namely, that we need to be very careful how we respond to God’s word. The word of God can’t be given superficial attention. It must be weighed, engaged, and pondered.
Then Jesus says that those who have saving knowledge will continue to grow in that knowledge, while those who don’t will lose what they “think” they have. The “haves” are those who gladly receive Jesus’ word and make good use of what he says. They’ll keep growing because their hearts are a fertile field of faith.
The “have nots” think they know the truth. They claim to be Christians and go to church and sit through sermons and have been baptized and take the Lord’s Supper. But they’re not living out the gospel. They’re just as angry and bitter and selfish as ever. They’ve taken the light of the gospel and hidden it away. But eventually they’ll be found out and they’ll lose everything.
It’s worth asking ourselves, “What result is there from our Bible study and our church attendance? What spiritual changes is God bringing into my life?”
The only sure way to know whether our hearts are good soil is to examine our lives (vv. 19-21). Those who’re related to him are those who “hear the word of God and do it” (v. 21). Jesus’ true family isn’t based on biology but on hearing and doing the word of God.
If we are increasingly, though not perfectly, doing what Jesus says, we can rest assured that we’re “good soil” and that God’s word is growing in us. And the first thing he tells us to do is “repent and believe the good news” (Mk. 1:15).
God’s Word Evaluates Us
If we aren’t sure what kind of soil our hearts are, this parable is a gift to help us. But we have to get inside it and let it search our hearts, let it ask us serious questions like, “How am I responding to God’s word? Are pain or pleasure distracting me from the work that the Lord wants to do in my life? What’s the real condition of my heart? Is my heart hard and indifferent, shallow and superficial, preoccupied and distracted, or honest and good?”
We’re all in this parable somewhere. It’s easy to think the parable is for someone else so we have to let it help us think about us, not about others. It’s easy to listen to God’s word preached and say, “That was a good sermon,” or “That wasn’t a good sermon.” It’s easy to listen to sermons and evaluate them. But according to this parable, it’s God’s word that evaluates us.
So which soil are you?
[1]Philip Graham Ryken, Luke, Volume 1: Luke 1-12, Reformed Expository Commentary (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2009), 356.
[2]Quoted in Ryken, 360.
[3]Ibid., 362.
[4]Quoted in Ryken, 366.