I.
Our passage for this week is a very familiar parable of Jesus.

The parable of the seeds? Or is it the parable of the soils? Or maybe even the parable of the sower?

Take some time to read (and reread) this parable and determine what name seems to fit best for you.

II.
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 (NRSVue)

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!”

“Hear, then, the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet such a person has no root but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

III.
We hear Jesus tell us this parable is about “the word of the kingdom.”

Jesus even names it, “the parable of the sower.”

But at initial reading it certainly seems more about seeds and soils than a sower.

If so much of it is taken up with talk of seeds and soils, why might anyone call it “the parable of the sower”?

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}