A Couple More Thoughts on the Parable of the Sower

I have been thinking some more about this. I am wondering if we must necessarily relate this to the hearing of the Word that brings salvation. In other words, I was thinking that perhaps this "sowing of the seed" is every time we hear the Word of God. Does that particular seed land in a spot on my heart that is rocky or thorny ... or ready to respond? Does it find understanding in my mind ... or am I unfruitful in regards to those Words of God, those seeds that are cast my way? Could this perhaps apply to all of us at any time we hear the precious Words of our Creator?

My thoughts were tempered when I looked at Luke 8, because Jesus says this when explaining the parable:

Luke 8
11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.

(I find it interesting that he doesn't mention anything right here as a prerequisite to be saved, other than believe.)

So, it is Jesus Himself who says this is a parable about being saved.

This led into some more interesting discovery for me. I looked back at Christ's explanation in Matthew and I see the phrase believe and be saved isn't used in Matthew.

Matthew 13
18 Therefore hear the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside.

Yet, He uses a word here in Matthew that is not used in the Luke passage. It is the word kingdom. At this point I was reminded that these gospels are very different from one another, they have different themes and purposes. I can't remember how many times the word kingdom is used in the book of Matthew, but it is a relatively high number, because the kingdom was his theme and His main audience were those awaiting the kingdom - the Jewish people. Luke doesn't even mention the kingdom in the explanation of the Parable of the Sower. Who was his target audience?

I just thought it was interesting to again have this specificity of purpose in the gospels re-affirmed to my mind.

I'm still not sure about my original thoughts regarding the everyday hearing of the Word and the condition of our heart's soil ... I am not sure if this is what Jesus had in mind when He told this parable ... but I think it is not a hurtful idea, and I am going to pray God wil chuck out some rocks and cut down some thorns.