The very nature of a parable is that a person must figure out the meaning of the parable and then apply that meaning – to one’s own life.
Unfortunately, of Jesus’ forty parables, only two of them have explanations attached to them.
The parable of the sower is one of those two parables that have an explanation attached to it.
The parable of the sower is also Jesus’ “first parable.”
So attaching an explanation to it – helps with trying to figure out the other remaining parables and their meanings.
In Matthew chapter 13 – there are seven parables about the Kingdom of Heaven, alone.
You may remember that Matthew was originally a collector of taxes – he also quite obviously collected stories about Jesus, too!
He was a systematic organizer and he organized these seven parables all into one sub-grouping and they ended up being all in one chapter.
I like the image of Jesus sitting by the sea. I can easily imagine him sitting on the shores of Lake Michigan, looking out over the waters and reflecting.
Jesus is actually mixing things up a little bit here…no longer is he teaching in synagogues, but now in the openness of nature.
A local synagogue, like the one in Capernaum would probably have sat about one hundred people…at best.
But by mixing things up a little – teaching in the open air and along the shores of the sea now made it possible for Jesus to teach and reach thousands of people…giving him much more exposure.
I can actually see Jesus teaching off the shore of Bradford Beach with hundreds and hundreds of people hanging on to his every word.
“Great crowds” the scripture says, flock around Jesus. He would have been in their center. This would “not have been” surprising. Jesus had significant support in the region of the Sea of Galilee. The people loved Jesus and thrilled to his message. He is always presented as being a “man of the people.” As word spread that he was out and about, the crowds grew in size.
To presumably accommodate them all, Jesus gets into a boat. The stated reason is that Jesus needs a place to sit—and he needs to sit in order to assume the posture of a teacher.
And the scriptures just declare that he taught them many things “in parables.”
It is speculated that whenever the crowds got extremely large like this people would have been wanting food, healings, miracles, signs and wonders and freedom from political oppression.
And some would be there just because they wanted to hear what “this particular” rabbi had to say. Curiosity would have been another draw.
There would have been a lot of different agendas all going on at the same time.
And to be brutally honest – most people would be more interested in food for their stomachs, a return to better health, miracles and even politics – rather than having God rule over our lives.
His was not always an easy sell.
But what a deft piece of political theatre it was. Jesus is sitting in a fishing boat, which is quite literally on the sea.
So in a sense this is Jesus speaking “to” and “for” all who try to make a living out of the sea. It is not a coincidence that fishermen were some of Jesus’ very first supporters.
This was after all, the most important harbor city on the entire Sea of Galilee. The two greatest industries in all of Israel were fishing and farming…so in this first parable, Jesus is pleasing both groups.
Jesus is in the fishing boat delivering a message that would resonate with farm folk from the farming country of Palestine.
And he even gets a little ‘witty’ using some humorous exaggeration. His story was incredible, fantastic and outlandish…that probably left more than a few people scratching their heads…
To say that the soil could produce 30-60-100 fold is like saying you have a tomato plant with more than one hundred of the largest-most-perfectly-plump-sized- tomatoes on it – that you have ever seen. And all from just one plant! And all without fertilizer!
It was obvious to some that day – that what the young rabbi was talking about was that God intends luxurious growth for our lives. For all of our lives…huge growth, crazy growth, outlandish growth…and maybe a little wisdom along the way…
But to obtain such growth we have to listen to him…