Mark 4:3

Hearken: Behold the sower went forth to sow: and it came to pass as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside, and the birds came and devoured it. And other fell on the rocky ground, where it had not much earth; and straightway it sprang up, because it had no deepness of earth: and when the sun was risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered way. And other fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. And others fell into the good ground, and yielded fruit, growing up and increasing; and brought forth, thirtyfold, and sixtyfold, and a hundredfold. And he said, Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER

The interpretation of the various things of this great parable will be undertaken in connection with the Saviour's own explanation of it, beginning in Mark 4:14.

Hearken ... and Let him hear ... are, in a sense, the Lord's own double exclamation points bracketing the parable first and last, and thus indicating its very great importance.

Seeds ... (in Mark 4:8), being plural, and thus contrasting with "some" and "other" seed mentioned in Mark 4:4 and Mark 4:7, is important, according to Cranfield,[4] who saw in this an indication of a great harvest, the size of the harvest, in his view, being the great message of the parable.

A fact of great significance is that Jesus our Lord saw in the entire world around him the analogies between earthly and heavenly things. His mightiest teachings were related to a farmer planting wheat, fishermen casting nets, the lamp, the bed, the bushel, the candlestick, the hen and little chickens, the yoke, pruning grape vines, patching old clothes, making bread, a son leaving home, a merchant seeking pearls, a shepherd finding the lost sheep, searching for a lost coin, lighting a lamp, sweeping the house, etc. "Earthly things must remind us of heavenly. We must translate the book of nature into the book of grace."[5]

A proper understanding of this parable depends upon a knowledge of the method of sowing grain which was used in Jesus' times, and which may still be observed in the world today. The sower put a bag full of grain on his shoulder, having first prepared his field; and then he strode forth scattering the seeds with his hands, fanning them out in an arc before him as he walked. Naturally, such a sowing is a jubilee for the birds. Also, any seeds falling upon a pathway, or into thorn-infested ground, were unproductive. However, the farmer mentioned by Jesus made a good crop.

[4] C. E. B. Cranfield, The Gospel according to St. Mark (Cambridge: The University Press, 1966), p. 150.

[5] Thomas Taylor, On the Parable of the Sower, 1634.