The road of the Sower leads us to Capernaum, the home base of our Lord’s ministry. Capernaum was located to the north of the heart-shaped Sea of Galilee, the heart of His ministry. There He performed the majority of His miracles, taught in the streets and synagogue, confronted the scribes and Pharisees, and fulfilled the prophetic Word that He would speak using parables: “I will open My mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old” (Mt. 13:35; Ps. 78:2).
The word parable means to throw alongside. It was a story told, or a familiar image used, to illustrate a spiritual truth—using something we understand to teach us something we are seeking to understand. The road of the Sower leads us to the parable of the sower, which is not only the first of the seven kingdom parables but is also key to understanding the others: “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?” (Mk. 4:13).
The parable of the sower
In this parable, the road of the sower illustrates the different responses of people to the message of the Word of God. Considering the components of the parable will help us to understand how this works. First, the characters in the parable are the sower, the seed, and the soil. Then the conditions of the soil described in the parable are the wayside (the road), stony ground, thorny ground, and good ground. Finally, the comparisons of the parable are given to us by our Lord Himself.
After the Lord spoke outside to the multitudes by the seashore, He came inside the house where the disciples asked two questions, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” and “What does this parable mean?” (Mt. 13:10; Mk. 4:10). His answers reveal much.
To answer the first question, Jesus said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables.” The fact that it had been given to them to know the mysteries does not mean there was no need to study and inquire of the Lord as to the meaning of the mysteries. The beauty of parables is that they draw out our hearts to follow Him and seek His face (Ps. 27:4). Thanks to the desire of the disciples to understand the parable, we also benefit—as if we, too, heard what He said outside and then came inside and sat at His feet to hear His word.
Then He answered their second question about the meaning of this parable. The parable of the sower, recorded in all three synoptic Gospel accounts, is unique in that it was first spoken, then explained, and also expounded. Therefore, the comparisons we make are accurate because we are not left to our own surmising. It is clearly stated that the sower is the Son of God, the seed is the Word of God, and the soil represents the four different types of hearers. The parable is all about the way we listen.
The Lord began the parable with the call to “Listen!” When He finished the parable, He challenged the people saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” Overall, the word hear is found nine times in the verses of Luke 8:4-15 and even more in Matthew’s account.
The four different types of hearers are easily noted. The wayside pictures those who are indifferent hearers: the message does not penetrate their lives but is stolen away by Satan. The stony ground represents those who are emotional hearers: they get excited about the message, but only for a short time, until testing comes. The thorny ground reminds us of worldly hearers who allow the message to be choked out by the cares of this world and the desire for gain. The good ground speaks of receptive hearers that bring forth fruit in differing degrees, some thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, and some a hundredfold. The good ground is the only one of the four that truly receives the Word of God for salvation.
Seed by the wayside
So what happens on the road of the sower? We see the roadside mentioned in the first of the four soils in the parable. Whenever the Word of God is presented and the hearer does not respond, the Lord compares this to the seed that has fallen by the wayside. The wayside is the ground that has become so hard that nothing can take root. The seed lies on the top of the barren ground and the birds of the air snatch it up. The Lord Jesus said the birds that swoop down and snatch up the seed represent Satan snatching away the Word.
That’s a good reason to sow the seed again and again.
What is the problem when people hear but don’t understand? I should know, and you should, too. How long did we hear but not understand? The Lord quotes from the prophecy of Isaiah and gives us the detail of that wayside hearer and the hardness that has prevented the seed from taking root. He states, “And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull’” (Mt. 13:14-15a).
We see the progression of the wayside hearer. First, they are hard of hearing. The Lord continues to quote, “Their ears are hard of hearing” (Mt. 13:15b). There are so many voices and so much noise in our clamorous world that deafen the hearer to the truth. Men become hard of hearing. But it gets worse.
The unbeliever is hard-headed. I know. I was likeminded. “Don’t confuse me with the facts!” is the expression that describes what the Lord quotes next from Isaiah, “And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears” (Mt. 13:15c). This is the lot of those who have already determined that they not only cannot hear but will not hear! But, again, it gets worse.
They become hard-hearted. Just as the wayside ground is impenetrable, hearts become hard to the gospel message. As our Lord’s final quotation from Isaiah declares, “Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them” (Mt. 13:15d). We hear from Isaiah and from the Lord Jesus that the readiness and desire of the heart of God is to get through to their hearts. He weeps over Jerusalem saying, “How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing” (Mt. 23:37). He would, but they would not!
Truly, the road of the sower calls to us to put our ear to the ground and ask our hearts the question, “Are we listening?” He pleads, “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.”
Why is hearing so important? Think of it. We have two parables in Luke 8: the parable of the sower and the parable of the lamp. Both are surrounded by three warnings to listen (Mk. 4:3; Lk. 8:8, 18) saying, “Therefore take heed how you hear.” Then, these two parables are followed by an interruption from His mother and brothers who were outside desiring to see Him. He seized the moment and concluded His teaching saying, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the Word of God and do it” (Lk. 8:19-21). We need to hear His Word if we are to obey it and please Him.