Parable of the sower.

(Mat. 13:1-23; Mark 4:1-20; Luke 8:4-15).

In this parable, the Lord envisages Himself as being the Sower, the seeds as His Divine Words and the soil upon which they are sown, as the hearts of listeners. The Lord cogently reminded them of their native fields — interrupted by a road running through them - of which some sections were overgrown with thorny bushes (brambles), while others were covered with only a thin layer of soil. The sowing is a magnificent example of the preaching of God’s Word, which, in falling on a heart, remains either sterile or brings forth a big or a small harvest — depending on its state.

“For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him,” — repeatedly mentioned by the Lord throughout different sections of the Gospel (eg. Mat. 13:12, 25:29; Luke 19:26 etc..). The meaning of this saying is that with effort, whatever a person is rich in will become richer, while a poor individual, if he is lazy, will lose even what little he has. In a spiritual sense it means: you, Apostles that have already been gifted with knowledge of God’s Heavenly mysteries, are able to penetrate further into these mysteries, understand them more completely. At the same time, the people would lose even their sparse knowledge of these mysteries which they had retained if, with the revelation of these mysteries, they weren’t given assistance through a sharp sermon that was more appropriate to them. Saint Golden Tongue explains it this way: “He who wishes and strives to obtain the gifts of grace, God Himself would grant everything; but he who has no wish, exerts no effort, then even what he thinks he has, will bring him no benefit.”

He, whose mind is darkened and heart coarsened to such an extent that he doesn’t comprehend God’s Word, this Word settles on the surface of the mind and heart superficially. Just like the seeds along the road, not having roots, they are exposed to every passer-by, and the cunning one — satan or the demon — entices them and makes their meaning sterile. Stony surfaces are presented as those who, while interested with the Gospel’s epistles as pleasant news — at times sincerely and with an open heart, finding pleasure in the sermons — their hearts remain cold, hard and immovable, like a rock. Such people are incapable of changing their life-style, leaving their beloved, habitual sinning for the sake of the Gospel’s demands — commence a struggle against temptation, enduring sorrows and deprivations for the sake of the truth in the Gospel’s teachings. In the struggle with temptations, they become tempted, fall in spirit and betray their faith in the Gospel. The ground with thorns represents people’s hearts that are entangled with passions: to riches, to indulgences, to earth’s blessings in general.

The meaning of good and fertile soil is that of people with kind and pure hearts, who upon hearing the Word of God, firmly resolved to have it control their lives and to create fruits of virtues. “The appearance of virtues are varied, just a varied as those who succeed in spiritual wisdom” (Blessed Theophylactus).