The Story

The opening verses of our story tell us of loving women who were with the Lord, Mary from Magdala and others. Remember them, and especially Mary Magdalene, for we shall hear of her again. (Mark 15:40, 41; John 20:11-18)

As we begin to read the parable, "A sower went out to sow," we see the Lord sitting in one of the fishing boats on the Sea of Galilee; the people were listening from the shore. Behind them was the plain with grain fields, crossed here and there by beaten footpaths. In neglected corners of the fields thistles were growing rank. Every year when the autumn rains softened the ground the farmers loosened the soil with their rude plows, and the sowers scattered the grain broadcast. Some grains fell upon the beaten paths and were quickly picked up by the flocks of birds. Around the borders of the plain, ledges of rock from the hills lay near the surface of the ground. Here the grain would start quickly but would soon dry up and wither. Some seeds fell among the thistles and were crowded out. Some fell into good ground and bore fruit. Read the parable.

They all know how the seeds fell when the sower sowed. Perhaps the sowing was going on around them. But did the Lord's lesson mean more than this? It was a parable, and a parable is a story about natural things, which really teaches about heavenly things. The sower meant the Lord Himself, who was sowing His words among the people who stood on shore. They were His field. Who were like the wayside? Those whose minds were full of other things so that the Lord's words were quickly caught away by other thoughts. Who were like the stony ground? Those who were interested to hear what He said, but did not take His words deeply to heart and were easily discouraged. Who were like the thorns? Those who tried to do what He said, but did not try enough. They let wrong things overpower the good in their hearts. And who were like the good ground? There are all these kinds of people among those who hear the Lord's words to-day.

1. Mary Magdalene; why was she so called? For what do we chiefly remember her?

2. Who are the good ground in the parable of the sower?

3. Whom did the Lord call His mother and His brethren?

Do you remember what meaning we saw in the Lord's calling the disciples from their nets, and saying that they should be fishers of men? The sea is a little world with the cold, heavy water for its atmosphere. It is like a mind buried in natural, worldly interests and knowledge. The Lord called the disciples to learn and teach spiritual things and they would help to lift men up out of a natural state into heavenly sunshine. So we all at death are, as it were, drawn to the shore.

What can it mean when the Lord went into a ship and sat, and taught the people from the sea? It pictures His coming down to meet men in their natural state of mind, speaking in natural forms of thought, in parables of everyday natural things. (E. 514)

If someone is teaching and we say, "I see," what do we mean? Do we mean more when we say, "I hear"? What does the Lord mean when He says, "Who hath ears to hear let him hear." (See also Revelation 2:7; Deuteronomy 5:27; 6:3, 4; A. 396, 4653.) Was it of natural or spiritual ears and eyes that the Lord spoke when He said of the people that their "ears were dull of hearing and their eyes they had closed." They understood little; they listened with little willingness to obey. It was better that they should be thus blind and deaf than that they should understand and return to their evil life. (A. 301-303)

See clearly the several states of reception described in the parable of the sower: the preoccupied, those with merely intellectual interest, those not faithful in temptation, those "which in an honest and good heart, having heard the Word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience." (Life 90)

The candle or lamp is truth in the understanding and memory. It is set on a stand as it is lived. (Matthew 5:16) So every truth should be brought forth from its hiding. (Verse 17) As truth is lived goodness is added to it; if it is not lived it is soon forgotten. (Verse 18; A. 2474; P. 227)

Compare verse 21 with John 1:11-13; 3:4-6. (R.32)

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