The parable of the sower is one of the most important parables that Jesus used in His teaching. It was mentioned in the three Synoptic Gospels and explained by Jesus Himself (Matthew 13:3-23, Mark 4:3-20, Luke 8:5-15). In fact, this parable is worthy of keeping it before our eyes whenever we read or listen to any teachings so that the words of any teaching bring fruit within us.

The church reads this parable in the first two Sundays of the month of Hatour which is the season of sowing the seeds of Wheat in Egypt. The church means to tell us that if there is a materialistic sowing that preoccupies the minds, there is also different kind of sowing that is more important and far more beneficial to our lives, the spiritual sowing, and to which we ought to pay attention. The meaning of this spiritual sowing is to sow the  word of God in our hearts and through it our lives is enriched and filled with fruits.

There are several important factors to the success of growing plants: The seeds, soil, climate, watering, fertilizing, and pruning. These are all important factors, but in my opinion, the two most important factors are the condition of the soil and the quality of the seeds. Therefore, we will be talking about these two factors in this series of articles.

The quality of the soil:

+ Lord Jesus spoke about four types of soil, wayside, stony ground, thorny ground, good soil. He indicated in the parable that the quality of the soil has a direct impact on quality of its product.

+ He also emphasized that the sower gives an opportunity to all types of grounds. He spreads the seeds over all types of grounds so each one would have a share. That is to say that God doesn’t fall short in making His word reach out, in many ways, to all hearts. How fruitful can these hearts be? This depends on how the heart reacts to the word.

+ Our heart may have different patches with different quality levels. I mean that there might be some parts of our hearts that are stony and some full of thorns or some that became a wayside. The condition of the soil may change to the worse if we neglect it, or it may change to the better if we care for it.

+ We must keep in mind that we will be judged for every word that falls on our hearts whether it gets lost, chocked among thorns, fall on the rocks, or bring fruits. The words of the Lord Jesus are clear: “For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more” (Luke 12:48)

+ We should also note that the plants give value to the land. Likewise, when the word of God dwells within someone’s heart it elevates him and gives value to his life. That is to say that the value of the land appreciates more when it is planted. Barren and unfruitful land is usually valued at low price, but when planted it appreciates and becomes priced multiple folds. So are we, if we want to be valuable in any community, we should continually sow the word of God in our live and care for its growth in our hearts and minds in order to bring fruit. Only then we become like a tree planted by the streams of water, all people eat its fruit and become delighted eating joyful.

God willing, we will discuss the different conditions of grounds in the next few articles.