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The parable of the Sower may supply us with many valuable lessons, but to discover
the primary teaching is the object of this series. Let us bring the four sowings together,
viz.:--
"They seeing, see not,
Wayside hearers.
John the Baptist.
neither do they understand."
"Nothing but leaves. . . .
Stony ground hearers
The Lord Jesus,
it withered away."
the Twelve,
and the Seventy.
"No fruit to perfection, "Riches,
Thorny ground hearers.
Peter and the Twelve.
pleasures, the lust of other things"
(Heb. 6:).
"The honest and good heart."
Good ground hearers.
The final witness.
"Some hundredfold."
(the heart of
(Matt. 24: 14).
the New Covenant).
Parallel with this teaching of the Sower is the witness of the same truth in the parables
of the Fig Tree (Luke 13:) and the Great Supper (Luke 14:), which we must consider
after Matt. 13: is finished. The primary teaching of these parables is not merely to
supply a moral or spiritual lesson, but to depict the secret course of the mystery of the
kingdom on through its apparent defeat to its glorious close.
The parables of Matt. 13: which follow supply further details, but have no new
subject; all are connected with the rejection of Christ by Israel, and relate to the "mystery
of the kingdom of the heavens." We hope next time to consider the parable of the Wheat
and the Tares.
The Wheat and the Darnel.
pp. 68-73
In our last article dealing with the Sower, we considered the course of the several
ministries, or "sowings," of the word of the kingdom. We saw how the various grounds
depicted not only the state of the human heart universally, but the characteristic of the
hearers at different points of the history of the kingdom proclamation. To meet the
possible difficulty that might arise as to the reason why the gospel of the kingdom should
be so long refused is the purpose of the next parable. The key words are "an enemy hath
done this." The scene is not changed, but the symbols are. We have a wheat field before
the mind, as in the previous parable, but now we are definitely told that "the field is the
world." Further, the sower in this instance is "the Son of man." Let us look at the
parable before we consider its interpretation.