Thoughts on the "Parable of the Sower"

This coming weekend I will have the opportunity to give the message at Zion Congregational Church in Cheyenne, WY. The message that I have been working on has been on the "Parable of the Sower" from Luke 8:4-15 (//Matt 13:2-23; Mark 4:1-20). In general, I have understood this passage as an explanation by Jesus to His disciples of the mixed response to His message of the kingdom. On the one hand some, like the disciples, respond with faith to what Jesus says, while on the other hand, others, like many of the religious rulers (Mark 3) or even Jesus' home town (Luke 4), do not. Thus for me, the parable was essentially "negative"--a warning to the hearer to avoid being part of the "failed crop" but instead, to belong to the harvest of the "good soil."

After reading William L. Lane's commentary on Mark this week, I wonder if my usual take on this parable misses the bigger picture of what Jesus wants to say. From all three gospels we see that Jesus' explanation of the parable was given only to His disciples--those who had responded by faith to His message. Thus, the point of the parable is not to focus on those who do not respond, but to highlight the miracle that any actually do. We would expect a fallen world to reject God's Son. What is not expected is that some respond in faith and, as  Luke's version states, bear a crop "a hundred times as great" (8:8).

While I will leave the theological implications of this to my Calvinist and Armenian friends, Jesus' observation should greatly increase the joy of any one who "has ears to hear." This is the miracle of salvation, the miracle of faith. The Parable of the Sower is not primarily about a failed crop. Rather, about a harvest, one that is sure to take place.