Treasures
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When speaking to the multitudes, Jesus often taught them in parables, seemingly simple stories about everyday events, circumstances, and concepts that His listeners could easily relate to. Parables were an effective means of conveying His message because they were stories that engaged the listeners and drew them in. These stories sometimes challenged the cultural and religious norms of the day, and the listeners were often surprised when the story lines went in unforeseen directions and had unexpected outcomes.
Jesus would often follow the parable with an explanation of its meaning—whether to the crowd or just to His disciples, as even though the parables used concepts the hearers could understand, they didn’t always understand the point that was being made.
The “Parable of the Sower” is one of the few parables that is found in three different Gospels: In Matthew 13, Mark 4, and Luke 8. This parable reveals four different responses people can have to the message of the gospel. The Parable of the Sower is somewhat unique, as Jesus told it to a large crowd without offering any interpretation for it.
In the Gospel of Mark’s version of the story, we read: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered, because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew, and produced a crop—some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”
Jesus ended the story by saying, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear” (Mark 4:2–9).
After presenting this parable to the multitude, Jesus later interpreted it for His disciples, who had not understood its meaning. He explained, “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved” (Luke 8:11–12).
When the life-giving seed of the Word of God is sown on this first kind of hardened and unreceptive ground, the seed is snatched away before the hearer can understand it and it is able to take root in their lives and grow. The Bible tells us that “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17), but “the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:3–4).
Regarding the second kind of ground that Jesus described, He explained, “Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root in themselves. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away” (Luke 8:13).
This second kind of ground refers to people who initially receive the gospel message with joy and their faith begins to grow, but when a time of testing or trial arises, their enthusiasm wanes, and their faith withers and fades away. They simply “have no root in themselves” and they never grow and become fruitful. They haven’t truly received God’s Word and let His truth sink deep in their hearts and take root.
In Jesus’ explanation of the third kind of ground, He said: “Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful” (Mark 4:18–19).
The thorny ground represents those who hear and receive the message of God’s Word but allow it to be choked out by the cares and concerns, and riches and desires of this temporal world. The things and the “affairs of this life” (2 Timothy 2:4) take their time and attention away from the Word of God, and as a result their spiritual growth is severely stunted, and the thorns of this world choke out their fruitfulness.
The Bible warns us of the deceitfulness of the pursuit of wealth and other desires above God, as we read in 1 Timothy 6:10: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” When we value riches and wealth and material things more than God and His Word, our ability to bear fruit for Him will be choked out.
Finally, the fourth kind of ground that Jesus describes points the way to lasting growth and true fruitfulness: “The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” (Matthew 13:23).
Unlike the other unfruitful grounds, this fourth kind of ground represents those who hear, receive, and understand God’s Word and patiently persevere until their faith grows and matures and becomes fruitful for God’s glory. Fruitful Christians are those who hear and understand God’s Word and allow it to transform their minds, hearts, and lives. As a result, it bears fruit in their lives and the lives of others and accomplishes His will and purpose (Isaiah 55:11).
Before His ascension, Jesus commanded His disciples to preach the gospel, make disciples of all nations, and to teach them to observe His teachings (Matthew 28:19–20; Mark 16:15). Jesus was faithful to preach the message to everyone, even though not all of the hearers received it, which sets the example for us to follow in preaching, teaching, and discipling others. Not everyone we share the good news with will believe, and not all of those who receive the gospel message will continue to grow in their faith. Our job is to do our part to share the gospel with others and to help them grow in their faith.
May we be faithful to share the good news with others, and may our lives be a living example of the “good soil” in the Parable of the Sower that will draw others to Him.
From an article in Treasures, published by the Family International in 1987. Adapted and republished August 2026. Read by Reuben Ruchevsky.
