Matthew 13:1-23 (Luke 8:4-15;Mark 4:1-20)
Interpretation:
Seed is the word of God (Gospel).
Sower- the one who sows (preaches) the word of God.
Earth- human heart.
The parable of the sower contains allegorical elements, but this does not call into question either its authenticity or the authenticity of its interpretation. The details of the parable are very secondary to its main truth. The message contained in the parable would not be any different if we were dealing with only two types of this soil, three or six. Likewise, nothing would change if the barren soil became so for completely different reasons. The seed, for example, could be washed away by an unexpected rainstorm; tender shoots could be trampled by careless passers-by, and other seeds could be eaten field mice. Suchdetails do not affect the main message:The Kingdom of God came into this world to be accepted by some and rejected by others. The kingdom has already arrived, but its success depends on whether man responds or not.
So, according to the parable, there are four types of soil, and only one of them is capable of producing fruit. It is clear that the soil is the heart of man. We all know that just as the soil is different, so are the hearts.
ON THE ROAD
Excerpt Matthew 13:3 “Behold, a sower went out to sow; 4 And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, and birds came and devoured them.”
Meaning of Matthew 13: “19 To everyone who hears the word of the kingdom and not understanding, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in his heart - this is who is meant by what was sown along the way.”
This part of the parable is about those who do not accept the word of God at all. The road is a piece of soil that is trampled and therefore hard. IN dry time The hardness of the soil surface is particularly high. Once on such a piece of land, the seed will not even be able to penetrate it, so it will simply remain lying on its surface, in an open, clearly visible space, where birds can easily see it and peck it, or it can simply be trampled underfoot (compare with Matthew 7:6).
ROCKY SOIL
Excerpt Matthew 13:5 “Some fell on rocky places where there was little earth, and quickly sprang up, because the earth was shallow.”
Meaning of Matthew 13:20 “sown on rocky places means one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 But it has no root in itself and is unstable: when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, immediately it is offended.”
1. Rocky soil can symbolize a heart hardened by many wounds and sin. Constant rejection, hurt, and hurt harden the heart so that it is much more difficult for God's word to penetrate deeply into such a heart. The heart becomes closed. What do you do with such soil? In practice, rocky soil is well dug up, removing stones from it, so that the soil becomes suitable for farming. Likewise, with the heart, all grievances and sins must be brought out.
2. Talking about superficial faith. God says, “I will take out of you a heart of stone and put in a heart of cloth.” A heart of stone is a state of unrenewed old (sinful) nature. A person understands God's word with his mind, but he is usually too lazy to work on his character. They don't really want to change. They find a teaching that is comfortable for themselves and sit in it. Therefore, as a consequence, when tested, the old nature always comes out.
3. Impermanence- this is superficiality, lack of depth, lack of dedication. These are the people who don't have it in them inner rod , roots, which is why they are not constant. For example, you give a person information, he lights up, runs, is active. It works for a week, a second, a third, and then boom it stops. You call him or meet him, ask “What happened or where did you go?” And he answers - listen, I started new project so cool, new topic, super plan and also begins to invite you to his new company take part in this. Then it turns out that he already has 10 of these projects. Or even starts doing some other things. That is, such people are not constant in their decisions. There is no internal rod.
Such people will also not bear fruit.
THORNS(weeds)
Excerpt Matthew 13:7 “Some fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.”
Meaning of Matthew 13:22 “And what was sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”
1. Thorns are our passions, human attachment to earthly things. These are people who live for themselves. They understand the truth well, but the desire to live for themselves is still stronger. That is, they first arrange their lives, but do not seek His Kingdom. The life of such a person is spent in vanity; he is like an ant running around an anthill. Such people may consider themselves Christians, but their faith is somewhere in the “corner” of their consciousness - so sometimes we put some kind of unnecessary thing in the corner of the room: and it’s a pity for us to completely throw it away, and at the same time we cannot find a use for it. As a result, faith is drowned out by vanity. And the more vanity, the less faith there is.
2.There's not enough time for anything. In the noise of everyday worries the voice of the Spirit is not heard, sensual passions drown out faith in his heart. And if you give some information to such a person, he is unlikely to react to it, because he does not have time, not only to change something in his own, but even to think about it. Such soil will not bear fruit.
3. People who, in principle, are happy with the current state of affairs that they have. That is, they come home from work, sit down in front of their TV, often being in trouble. But in order to change something, you need to do something, call someone, communicate with someone. What for? Laziness. Such people generally do not want to do anything (Prov 6:6-11), so they will not bear any fruit either. The sinner loves himself to the point of forgetting God and his neighbor, in contrast to the righteous man who forgets himself for the sake of love for God and people. Therefore, Christian love is always sacrificial.
4.Thorns (weeds) in practice grow faster than good plants and therefore often choke their growth. Therefore, weeding is always used in agriculture. All weeds must be removed before they reach their full growth. You also need to ensure that, as it is written, no bitter root did not penetrate us (). In our region on land plots On the banks of the Dniester you can often see reeds. It poses a threat not only to root vegetables, but also to fruits growing on low bushes (for example, tomatoes). Despite the freshness of the shoot, the reed sprout has a very high penetration ability, so even the youngest reed shoot spoils the planting of plants. To get rid of this weed as effectively as possible, it is necessary to carefully remove all of it while digging. root system. This requires deep digging and attention.
People - “thorns” often “wake up” at the edge of the grave and only then realize how empty and aimless their life was.
GOOD SOIL
Excerpt Matthew 13:8 “Some fell on good ground and brought forth fruit: some a hundredfold, and some sixty, and some thirty.”
Meaning of Matthew 13:23 “What is sown on good soil means who hears the word and understands, which and can be fruitful so that some bear fruit a hundredfold, others sixty, and others thirty.”
The Lord said to Adam: “Keep and cultivate the Garden of Eden” (Gen. 2:15). Someone said that the garden is our heart, and from the heart flow the springs of life (Prov. 4:23)
Os.10:12 Sow to yourselves in righteousness, and you will reap mercy; plow open your newness, for it is time to seek the Lord, so that when He comes, He will rain down righteousness on you.
So, here it is said about those who have kept the word of God in a good, kind heart. How to find such people? You just need to sow the word, spread the Gospel. Like the sower, you will encounter all types of soil or all categories of people, but our task is to continue to sow the word without choosing. Not all the seeds fell on infertile soil, and yet some of them bore fruit. So we can find such people who will rise in the Lord and bring their harvest of saved people. There are such people.
In its present work the Kingdom is like a sower sowing seed. The word by which the Kingdom is proclaimed can, like a seed, lie by the side of the road and never sprout; it may be taken too superficially, and it will soon die, or be smothered by the cares of this age, which are hostile to the Kingdom.Neither the parable nor its interpretation places emphasis on the harvest. The only thing that attention is paid to is the nature of the sowing, that is, the action of the Kingdom already taking place and the reaction to it. WITHit rests on the human heart. God is prophetically revealing that people are now examining their hearts very well. He also draws attention to the parable of the man who built a house on stone or sand. People have stopped studying the gospel and the words of the Lord, but have gone into thoughts and do not measure their lives with the word. Usually a person reading almost from the Gospel thinks, well, I know I’ve already read that, let’s move on.
God is simply pointing out to everyone once again to look at what soil is in our heart? This parable also applies to those who are considered members of the church. But not everyone who comes to church is actually disciples of Christ, just as faith without works is dead (and demons believe). Therefore, let's think once again about why we live and what is our life filled with?
Hebrews 3:15 as long as it is said: “Today, when you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the time of murmuring.”
Among men, the Kingdom works quietly, secretly. It does not impose itself; it must be accepted voluntarily, but where it is accepted, the word of God, which is essentially identical with this Kingdom, bears much fruit.
Interpretation option
If you compare the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, where this parable is written, you can see that the interpretation of the good land is slightly different, although the whole parable in all three Gospels is similar. And there is another interpretation of this parable.
This parable says about three false paths which cannot bear fruit and one true path which bears fruit. You can see that the sequence of these paths is the same everywhere.
The first are those in whom the evil one steals the seed.
The second are those who are not rooted in the word.
Still others are those who have a word, but are burdened with worldly worries.
All this indicates that these are three obstacles on the way to the good land.
1.The good land can be reached by passing these three obstacles.
The first thing to do is understand what God's gospel is. Satan steals the seed of faith in a person if he does not understand God's Gospel and the power of the cross of Christ. But how does he kidnap? For example, Satan replaces the truth with a human gospel, which does not save or liberate. Therefore, the first thing to do is to learn to distinguish between God's Gospel and man's. Paul wrote that the gospel he accepted was not human. By this he made it clear that there is also a human gospel.
2. The second thing to do on the way to the good land is delve into God's Gospel. And this can only be done by those who have understood it. It is useless to delve into the human gospel.
3.The third thing to do is deny yourself. By denying himself, a person destroys worldly desires in himself. It is from this stage that the Apostle James begins to address in his epistle (James 1ch). It is important to note that only one who understands the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His word is rooted in him can deny himself. The very word of God gives this power. This is why so many Christians, reading the epistles of James, where it is said that they would meet various temptations with joy, actually do not meet these temptations with joy. And even on the contrary, they are defeated by them. This suggests that they have not yet understood the truth of God and have not delved into it. This means they do not have the spiritual strength to resist sin.
Jacob writes:
James 1:18-22 Having desired, He begat us with the word of truth, so that we might be some firstfruits of His creatures. So, my beloved brethren, let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to become angry, for the anger of man does not bring about the righteousness of God. Therefore, putting aside all uncleanness and the remainder of malice, meekly receive the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. Be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deceiving yourselves.
These three steps are also visible here:
1. Birth from the truth.
2. Deepening into the word that can save. And for this you need to listen more and talk less.
3. Be a doer of the word.
James 1:25 But whoever delves into the perfect law, the law of freedom, and remains in it, he, being not a forgetful listener, but a doer of the work, will be blessed in his action
In general, the parable of the sower is not a parable about the fact that good soil is saved, but bad soil is not. This is a parable about how one listens to the Word. For some it falls on good soil (the result may be salvation or spiritual growth), for others it does not. Watch how you listen and how you perform - this is the meaning of the parable.
God gives us his seed Word. But so that a good grain grows from this seed, we must cultivate the soil of our heart, no one will do this for us. If we are idle and careless towards God's Word, our land will produce thorns and thistles. Any good fruit requires effort on our part.
Matthew 11:12 Kingdom Heavenly force is taken, and those who make effort delight him
And it’s not like you worked hard today and then can do nothing, it’s daily work. The heart of man is extremely corrupt and there is no need to delude himself that God Himself will cleanse and renew it, as many people think, need to work yourself.
Therefore, after reading this parable, let us think once again: if I still have problems with hearing the word and fulfilling it, then I need to correct it as quickly as possible (run to the lists): dig and loosen the soil, remove stones from it if there are any, pull out the weeds and water well with the Holy Spirit and God's love so that the soil of our heart bears many fruits.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Today is the day to read the parable of the sower.
Her words are heard year after year, and her details are familiar to many of us. But from this, from its repetition, or knowledge of words, it itself does not grow old and it will be read again and again, since we have no other book of life except the New Testament, from where it is brought to us.
The renewed newness of the words of today’s narrative, as well as every word of the Gospel, is hidden in the renewing and regenerating power of God’s grace, which is tirelessly given to us from above from the Lord for every day and every hour of our existence and leads us to eternal life.
Apostle and companion of Christ Peter, after many of former students The Lord departed from Him and no longer walked with Him. To the question of their Divine Teacher, he answered: “Lord! who should we go to? You have verbs eternal life" These are the verbs, the words of command that the Lord sows.
The sower, year after year, cultivates the land again and again, without grumbling, without languishing from the heaviness and without getting bored with the monotony of labor, without giving up in view of the uncertainty of the fate of the future harvest from weather conditions goes to hard work to earn his daily bread.
And the Lord, year after year, day after day, comes to us with the good news of the Gospel word and Gospel parable. The message of love, the message of faith and the message of hope in us, so changeable and unfaithful, without abandoning us and without being offended by us for our darkening by passions and coldness of heart, for being completely absorbed in the desires of our flesh. This is His hope that together with Him we will prepare the soil of our souls for a blessed harvest.
The different states of the earth on which the holy grain falls are mentioned in the parable not so that I, or any of us, compare other people with each other, or compare them with ourselves, and of course in our own favor, but so that we realized that all these words are about each of us, about our variability and inconstancy, about the different states of one soul of one person. About us who have not yet found firmness and fidelity to the Word of God.
But despite this inconstancy, we desire and demand sincere and constant sympathy from our neighbors and loyalty from friends; we so want in this life self-confidence, constancy of circumstances and understanding of the meaning of the events taking place either with us or around us.
It seems to us that with just one last effort, happiness will be achieved, and we cannot stop striving to improve our earthly existence, but it, the unattainable happiness, eludes and runs away from us. And we forget that our life is a vapor that appears for a short time and then disappears. And that the fields of our soul are full of the weeds of passions, that our heart is indifferent to the sorrows of others.
“The field is desolate, the earth mourns; for the bread is destroyed, the grape juice is dried up, the olive tree withers.”
This describes disasters native land the prophet of God Joel, whose memory is celebrated today in the Church and who lived seven centuries before the birth of Christ. Then the attack of enemies devastated the land and the people.
Similar words can be used to describe the distress of the human soul, which is under constant and terrible attack from the outside by crafty spirits - and from the inside - tormented by her own passions and vague desires. We are languishing in separation—either voluntary or involuntary—from God. And this languor dries up the soul, like a cracked crust of earth scorched by the sun without moisture.
And on this path, full of adversity, on the path of life, on which some have just entered, and others are already approaching its edge, we again hear the familiar and familiar words of Christ’s parable: “The sower went out to sow.”
For the Lord's listeners from the common people and for the apostles, they were incomprehensible and surprising, as the apostles Matthew and Mark mention. What was incomprehensible, first of all, was the thriftiness and wastefulness of the farmer, who must protect every grain as a guarantee of the future harvest.
But the sower in the parable does not scatter ordinary grains from a meager earthly bag, but it is God, Almighty and rich in mercy, Christ the Savior, who sows the word of life, the word of repentance, which does not fall on the dust of the earth, but touches our souls. The seed of truth is truly alive. And one grain is enough for it to sprout with mercy in the heart, so that it alone produces a harvest moral convictions and deeds that are joyful for the Lord and for the neighbor. But today we were distracted, and a minute ago we were distracted; while listening to the word of God, something annoyed us, we had Bad mood, someone pushed or pushed us. And we scattered, thought about our own and our sorrows and lost the grain of truth. But all is not lost. Today, in just a minute, our soul will perk up and be attentive.
What will soften our heart? What will prepare him for the diligent and humble acceptance of God’s Providence in his life, for a meeting with God? What can the thorns of self-confidence, complacency, hostility and pride tear out of us?
The words of the apostolic reading, which preceded the reading of today's Gospel parable, help to understand this.
The Apostle glorifies the Cross of the Lord, with which the false world was crucified for him, and he was crucified with it for the world of passions.
And then, with the work of his life, he confirmed this.
With the Tree of the Cross, like a plow, the petrified scab of self-sufficiency and distrust in God is deeply plowed and torn apart, and the shell of spiritual blindness is destroyed.
“But I do not want to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ... For in Christ Jesus there is nothing but [everything] is a new creation.” (Gal. 6, 14-15)
Anyone who has ever worked on the earth knows how rough and heavy its matter is, how difficult it is for a spade to tear apart the dense tangle of blind roots. But anyone who has approached his heart with spiritual attention knows how difficult and dense the fabric of the passions that entangle him is, how difficult it is to break the web of vices rooted in the soul.
But there are people whose hearts have been plowed deeply - with suffering and compassion, love, grief, to which the consciousness of the terrible loneliness of a person has reached when there is no God in his life. In such a heart, the seed of God’s word falls as if into good soil, it goes deep, takes root, comes to life with all the experience of this person’s life, both suffering and joy - it feeds on everything, and germinates, and bears fruit. But how few such words have borne fruit in the lives of each of us, in my life, and probably, undoubtedly, in your life!
But today we are busy with something of our own. And the Lord continues to bring us the word of His truth, and the words of this or that parable, or events from the life of the Savior, will suddenly one day fall on the good earth. The Lord does not forget us, the Lord believes in us.
Once, Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh, while in Russia, then still in the USSR, received the question: “Okay, do you believe in God. And what does God believe in?” And I answered him: “God believes in man.”
This faith of the Lord in us is the main condition for our Christian rebirth: this is the great sacrament of God's mercy. Together with God, we ourselves begin to believe in man, we begin to believe in ourselves. With His support, the Lord, we understand what it means to love our neighbor as ourselves. To love means to be ready to do everything possible so that the loved one rejoices in life, grows to the full extent of his capabilities and is worthy of his human, highest title to eternal life, and so that with him the seed of faith grows in us.
“And it shall come to pass after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh,” says the prophet Joel.
The prophet speaks of the future abundance of mercy and grace of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which will be given to everyone who believes in the name of Christ, who came to save the world and revive our souls.
And no matter how many times we hear living word God, it will be new and joyful for us, it will lift us up and be ready to bear fruit.
We only need to hold on to this word so that it falls into the crevice of that stone that we carry within ourselves, which we call our heart, our consciousness, our soul. And then it will become alive and active. And when retained, it will begin to sprout and bear fruit.
Let's think about who we are in this parable told to us today by the Lord Himself? Where did the grain of his words fall?
And if our heart is not yet like that, then let us ask ourselves the question: How can this stone be crushed, how can a cold heart be brought back to life? Let us ask the Lord that the word of truth may not be contained in the soulless depths of a petrified heart, but that great and good treasures will be opened to us, that His blessing will not forsake us, that we may avoid everything that drains our fruit. spiritual work.
Let us work in the field of our lives, so that the word of truth that falls on it, when the time of harvest comes, and we throw off this temporary shell, will bear the fruit of eternal life, about which Christ the Savior spoke: I have brought you life, life more abundantly - such fullness life that the earth cannot give. Amen.
The parable of the sower and other parables, set out in the 13th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew and in parallel passages of the Gospels of Mark and Luke, were pronounced by Christ in front of such a large crowd of people that, due to excessive crowding, the Savior was forced to preach to the people standing on shore of Lake Galilee, from a boat. The parable of the sower, the first parable of Christ, is a prophecy about the acceptance of the Gospel gospel by mankind. It tells how people receive the Word of God in different ways, and how this word affects people differently, depending on their state of mind. Evangelist Matthew puts this parable like this:
“Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, and birds came and devoured them. Some fell on rocky places where there was little soil, and soon sprang up because the soil was not deep. When the sun rose, it withered, and, since it had no root, it dried up. Some fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew and choked it. Others fell on good soil and brought forth fruit: one hundredfold. and another at sixty, and another at thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” (Matthew 13:1-9)
Parable of the Sower watch online
The parable of the sower is not difficult to understand, for the Lord Himself interprets it. In this parable, the “Sower” is Jesus Christ; “seed” is the word of God, and “earth”, “soil” is the human heart; a good heart is “fertile land,” and an evil heart, crushed by sins, is “worthless land.” From Scripture we learn that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Rom: 10:17). That is why Christ sowed the word of God everywhere - in villages, cities, deserts, and at sea. He chose the apostles so that they too would sow the word of God. The apostles appointed successors for themselves - bishops and presbyters, who continued and continue to this day the missionary work of spreading, sowing God's word. The Church continues the work of Christ on earth - to sow the word of God into our hearts.
When the living word of God is sown into the sinful nature of fallen man, new life arises. All people without exception are given the opportunity to accept the word of God and everyone is equally given the chance to receive this new life from hearing the word of God. The main concern of all Christian life is to permanent job over your own heart to prepare the ground for receiving the seed (word) of God. People approach this task differently. While we are explaining the meaning of the parable of the sower, let everyone, according to the word of Bishop. Theophan the Recluse, “...will judge for himself which class he belongs to.”
Some people are inattentive, absent-minded and do not revere the word of God. The heart of such people is like a well-trodden path, where no good fruit can grow, for the seeds of the Divine word are thrown onto the soil of a morally coarsened heart, trampled by passions, thoughts, and lusts. The soul of these people, like a road, is open to all impressions and thoughts; They seem to be on the go, always thirsting for new hobbies and fun. Every good thought in such people is constantly trampled underfoot by the tide of new impressions. To such people, while reading or listening to the word of God, the enemy of our salvation secretly comes, and, as St. right John of Kronstadt, “like a thief from the careless owners of a house, takes away the word of God from their hearts so that they do not believe and are saved.” For these people, the word of God soon disappears from memory, it is forgotten, as if it had not been heard at all.
“The seed that fell on rocky ground” refers to those people who, perhaps, willingly and attentively listen to the word of God. This group of people may even be sensitive to all good, but they accept the word of God on the surface of their minds and do not allow it to penetrate into the depths of their hearts; they have no root in themselves, like a seed along the road, open to all who pass by. The trouble with such people is that they are frivolous, impatient, and fickle. They are ready to accept the word of God as long as it does not require sacrifice from them. Under favorable circumstances they believe, but under unfavorable circumstances they betray their faith. They do not want to change their way of life in order to be worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven, they do not want to wage a spiritual struggle - “invisible warfare”, as the Fathers of the Church put it, they do not want to follow the narrow path. When some kind of sorrow occurs, they are not ready to endure, they throw off the cross, and then fall into despondency, impatience, murmuring, and the seed of God, sown in the soil of their superficial heart, perishes. But Christ says that “only he who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 10:22).
“The seed that fell among the thorns” are those people for whom the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word of God. It should be emphasized that it is not the century itself that is to blame, but precisely the concerns of this century. Such people will listen to the word of God, understand it and, as it were, take it to heart, and begin to live according to it. But they are soon attacked by worldly worries or seduced by all sorts of momentary worldly pleasures, and the word of God, which has barely received a narrow place in the heart, is suppressed by these phenomena, and, alas, there is no fruit into eternal life because of what these people collect fruits into temporary life. Unfortunately, there are more of these people. The Word of God speaks of heavenly bliss, but such people prefer earthly bliss. Moreover, they often reason like this: “One day we will receive heavenly blessings. And the world gives us its blessings now.” Some even understand the need for repentance, but put it off. “Let’s repent, get ready in old age,” they think, “and now let’s take advantage of ready-made pleasures,” forgetting that, perhaps, in old age there will be neither strength nor opportunity...
Finally, “the seed that fell on good soil” are those people who, having heard the word of God, accept it and keep it, firmly deciding to follow it and bear the fruit of good deeds. Receiving in listening and reading the word of God the fullness of knowledge about Divine truth, cognizing this truth, they listen to its voices and serve it. These people invariably follow the covenant of the Apostle Paul: “It is not the hearers of the law, but the doers of the law who will be justified” (Rom. 2:13).
In the Sacrament of the Eucharist, the priest, offering bread and wine, says to God: “What is Yours, we bring to You!”, that is, “What is Yours, we bring to You!” The parable of the sower also concerns the “mysteries of the Kingdom of God.” To understand this secret, the listeners must have an orientation of the will corresponding to it and a disposition of the heart appropriate for its perception.
The Word of God, that is, the seed spoken of in the parable, is not at all something external to us, alien to us. Just as the Divine Word (Logos)-Christ is not someone alien to the Father, but His only begotten, making “One” with Him (John 10:30) and coexisting with Him “from the beginning” (John 8:25), and just as the Son lives by the Father (John 6:57), and no one can come to the Father except through the Son (John 14:6), but he who has seen the Son also sees the Father (John 14:9), for the Son told us everything that he heard from the Father (John 15:15), likewise the word of God, the word of the Gospel, sown by Christ into our hearts at birth, is not something alien and foreign to us.
The Gospel is not some book that is read or studied externally. The Gospel is life in God, to which we have been introduced since our very conception by the power of the Holy Spirit, the power that makes us conformable to God, God-like. In the Gospel, the human soul does not learn some information about some strange and alien events recorded by the apostles, but in the Word of God the human soul recognizes itself, its kinship and its involvement in God. In the Gospel, the human soul recognizes the voice of its Creator, its Heavenly Father, sounding in the heart. In the language of philosophy, this is called that the Word of God is immanent to us, that is, it is in us, with us, and not outside of us and is not at all alien to us (although it exceeds our understanding). It is beyond our understanding.
The seed of the Kingdom of God is sown, sprouts and grows incomprehensibly, mysteriously for us. Scripture says that man sleeps and gets up night and day, and does not know how the Kingdom of God grows in him (Matthew 4:27). It grows in him in an imperceptible, miraculous way. The fruits of the Kingdom of God sown in us germinate in us as miraculously and incomprehensibly as a “flowing seed,” and we cannot determine what the multiplication of the seed is thirty, sixty or a hundred times, we only know that when our heart begins to burn in us, like the Emmaus disciples, and it seems to us that the Lord Himself opens our mind to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:32) and introduces us to the secrets of His Kingdom, when, instead of the desire to learn something from the Gospel about God, our heart begins to recognize Him in oneself - this is evidence that the seed “bears fruit.”
We cannot judge the quantity and quality of the fruits from the seed of the Kingdom of God sown in us; we only know that the highest thing for us would be the return of all the fruits to the One from whom we received them. Thus, showing us an example, the Son of Man, summing up His earthly life, said on the Cross: “Into Your hands, Father, I commend My Spirit!” So, at the Liturgy, praying for the sending of divine grace, we cry: “Thine from Thine is brought to Thee!” Thus, about the fruits of the seed of the Kingdom of Heaven, God says to man: “My son! Give Me your heart!” (Prov. 23:26). This means everything that you have, human being, your gifts and talents, your deeds and thoughts and feelings, everything that you love and believe in, that is, your whole life, your whole heart, to the One who gave it to you, give it back.
But we must give pure thoughts and feelings to God, pure love and faith clean life, and an immaculate heart. We must be ready, following the psalmist, to say: “My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready” (Ps. 56:8). But how can one prepare the heart so that it is ready to receive the seed, the word of God?
The parable of the sower ends with the words: “He who has ears, let him hear!” With these words, Christ seems to be knocking on the heart of every person, calling us to look carefully into our souls, understand ourselves, and determine to which category of the above people we belong.
In the parable of the sower, Christ sets the same goal for everyone: to accept the word of God with all his being, to accept it into a pure and kind heart. The property of a pure heart cannot be expressed in stronger words than in the words of St. Paul, who said about himself: “It is not I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”
In order for the word of God to take deep roots in our soul, we need to properly prepare the soil of our heart, as a smart farmer does, clearing the ground of thorns and other weeds that interfere with the growth of useful fruit. In spiritual life, this means making a revolution in ourselves through repentance. Evil will be plucked from the heart only when a person gives freedom to the word of God to act within himself, and the word of God “by Divine change,” as the expression goes, is holy. Gregory the Theologian, will regenerate the very nature of man.
The parable of the sower indicates that God saves a person not without the participation of the person himself. The Lord the Sower puts His life-giving word into the heart of man, but man must open his heart, accept the word into it and bear fruit.
In the Lord's Prayer “Our Father” we repeat the words: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, as it is in heaven and on earth,” and Christ answers these aspirations: “The kingdom of God is within you.” But this Kingdom we desire, according to the word of Christ, is achieved only through effort. This means that the Lord expects activity from a person - active service to God and neighbor, active personal improvement.
Jesus Christ was on the shore of Lake Gennesaret; many people surrounded him. He entered the boat and from there began to speak the following parable:
The sower went out to sow. And while he was sowing, another seed fell by the road, and birds came and devoured it.
Some fell on a rocky place where there was little soil, and soon sprang up, because it was not deep in the ground, but it burned from the heat of the sun and, having no roots, withered.
Others fell among thorns; and thorns grew and choked the seed.
Some fell on good soil and bore fruit thirty, sixty, and a hundred.
When the apostles asked Jesus Christ about the meaning of this parable, He explained it to them this way:
The seed is the word of God.
Those sown along the way mean those in whom the word of God is sown, but to whom the devil immediately comes and snatches away the word sown in their hearts.
The Word of the Lord must bear fruit in our hearts, that is, arouse faith and zeal for the fulfillment of all Christian duties. But just as a seed that falls along the road does not grow, so a word taken without attention does not bring any benefit; it is immediately forgotten. Jesus Christ said that the devil carries him away, but the evil one has power only over those who themselves allow him to come to them through their sins, laziness and inattention to prayer and the word of the Lord. If we begin to fight against evil, listen carefully to the teachings of Christ and try to fulfill them, the good seed will take root in our hearts, and the evil one will not be able to steal it.
Sown on rocky place means those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy, but the word of God does not take root in them; at times they believe, but at times of temptation they fall away.
All of us for the most part We listen with joy to the word of the Lord. But this is not enough; one must be ready to fulfill God’s law even if it means being subjected to hardships, labor and suffering.
IN old times, when the Christian faith was not yet established, Jews and pagans cruelly persecuted Christians. They were imprisoned, separated from their families, tortured and killed. But even in this they did not agree to renounce Christ, endured suffering with patience and went to death, rejoicing that they could thereby prove their loyalty to God. We honor the memory of these sufferers and honor them as saints. Now there are no longer obvious persecutions of Christians, but every day there are cases when we can prove whether we are faithful to God. We are faithful to Him if we prefer the fulfillment of His commandments to any benefit, to any pleasure. We are faithful to Him if we endure disasters and suffering with patience, knowing that they are sent to us by His will. If, on the contrary, we act against His commandments in order to obtain some benefit or pleasure, or to avoid danger and labor, then we become one of those who believe at times, but fall away when tempted.
Not only adults, but also every child can prove whether he is faithful to God, because everyone has his own responsibilities according to his strength. About those children who study lazily, who do not obey their parents, or who, out of fear of punishment, tell lies and hide their guilt, about those children it cannot be said that they love God and are faithful to Him.
And the seed that fell among the thorns signifies those who hear the word; but then it is drowned out in them by worries, wealth and worldly pleasures, and does not bear fruit.
These are the ones for whom earthly concerns, the vain affairs and pleasures of life are more important than the word of Christ. In church they listen to the word of the Lord, but therefore they indulge in a vain life and empty amusements, not trying to overcome their sinful inclinations. That is why everything bad takes root in their hearts and drowns out everything good, just as bad grass drowns out good grass.
And what was sown on good soil means those in whose hearts the sown word is kept pure and bears abundant fruit.
This is how it should be with the word of God sown in our hearts. If we try to drive away all bad thoughts from ourselves, if we diligently ask God to help our good intentions, then the word of God will bear rich fruit in us. The habit of goodness will take root and strengthen. Every day we will be more and more corrected from our sins, become better, patiently endure the suffering and hardships sent to us by the will of God, and actively and lovingly fulfill the commandments of the Lord.
Reprinted from the book: Stories for children about the earthly life of the Savior and Lord our God Jesus Christ. Comp. A.N. Bakhmeteva. M., 1894.
Parable of the Sower
The Savior's disciples and listeners were often simple and illiterate people. To make it easier for them to understand his teaching, he explained it with parables - simple and understandable examples.
One day Jesus told people this parable.
“A sower went out into the field to sow. He scattered the seeds, and some of them fell on the plowed ground, and some near the road, where the plow did not pass, and the ground remained hard and unplowed, and the birds immediately pecked at them. Other seeds fell on rocky soil and sprouted immediately, but then withered and were unable to grow because there was little soil and moisture. Some fell among the weeds, and when they grew, they covered the grains sunlight, took all the moisture and the weak sprouts also withered. The seeds that fell on well-plowed soil, moist and soft, took strong roots and produced ears of corn, on which thirty, sixty, or even a hundred new grains grew.”
The people asked Jesus to explain this parable to them, and he said this:
– The earth is the soul of every person. The seed signifies the word of God. Fallen along the road and eaten by birds, this is the word of God heard by a person who did not prepare his soul to receive it. The devil comes and easily steals this word from a person. Such people do not believe in God and will not be saved.
The seed that fell on the rocky soil is the word of God received by a soul that is not yet ready enough to receive it. At first she gladly accepts him, believes in him, but not firmly. And as soon as trouble comes and persecution of faith begins, such people abandon God.
A seed falling among the weeds is the word of God heard by a person who soon forgets about it, thinking more about his pleasures, entertainment, and wealth. They block the light and warmth of God's word from him.
And finally, the seed that fell on the well-plowed ground is the word of God, accepted and protected by the person who prepared his soul to receive it.
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