Matthew 13:1–23
13 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears,1 let him hear.”
10 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11 And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:
“‘“You will indeed hear but never understand,
and you will indeed see but never perceive.”
15 For this people’s heart has grown dull,
and with their ears they can barely hear,
and their eyes they have closed,
lest they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart
and turn, and I would heal them.’
16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 17 For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
18 “Hear then the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.2 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”
1 Some manuscripts add here and in verse 43 to hear 2 Or stumbles
Section Overview
Matthew 13 is the third of the apostle’s five major blocks of teaching, and it perfectly fits its location. In chapter 12 the Pharisees slandered King Jesus, and his family doubted him. Therefore it is fitting that Jesus explains why his kingdom is ignored, opposed, and subverted and why it still has transformative power.
The parable of the sower compares the kingdom of heaven to a farmer who scatters seed. As physical seed can be fruitful or unfruitful, so it is with the “word of the kingdom,” which comes gently and is easily rejected, like a seed. The parable labels three ways in which seed can be fruitless: the hardhearted ignore it, the weak commit to it falsely, and the double-minded try to love both the kingdom and the world. Just as there are three ways to reject the kingdom, the kingdom also bears fruit at three levels: thirty, sixty, even one hundred times what was sown. This ending makes the reader hope in the kingdom’s triumph, despite the opposition witnessed in chapter 12.
Section Outline
V.F. Third Discourse: Parables of the Kingdom (13:1–52)
1. The Kingdom Is Like a Sower Whose Seed Bears Variable Fruit (13:1–9)
2. Note: Parables Give to Some and Take from Others (13:10–17)
3. The Parable of the Sower Explained (13:18–23)
The parable of the sower (13:1–9) differs from most later Synoptic parables in that its “characters” are seeds and soils rather than people. The sower, sowing his seed, is the main character, and the others respond either unfaithfully in one of three ways or faithfully to three increasing degrees.
The parable uses simple concepts familiar in an agrarian society: seeds, weeds, stony ground, good soil, roots, and fruitless or fruitful labor. And the meaning certainly is familiar to contemporary readers. But the call to listen and the plea for explanation reveal that Jesus needed to explain his story. And yet the baffled disciples ask Jesus to explain not the parable itself but his decision to speak in parables. In the end, Jesus does both.
In form, Jesus’ teaching in verses 10–17 is, once again, poetic, but the points are simple. First, parables give the “secrets of the kingdom” to disciples but take them from others. Parables also have a punitive element, hiding the truth from those who appear to see and hear but do not. This fulfills Isaiah, who declares how unbelievers will “hear but never understand” and so never be healed (vv. 14–15).
In verses 18–23, Jesus offers to explain the parable of the sower. His commentary seems to stress the hearers, not the sower, but the need to respond to the sower unifies the interpretation around the central, God-like figure. Jesus’ concern is the effect of the word whenever someone “hears the word of the kingdom” (v. 19). Three times, Jesus says, “This is the one who hears” (vv. 20, 22, 23). Only later, in the explanation of the parable of the wheat and the weeds, does Jesus reveal that he is the sower, scattering good seed that inaugurates the kingdom (v. 37). In that way, Matthew links the two parables.
Response
One correct response to the parable emerged earlier when we noted that most of Matthew’s readers believe, perhaps incorrectly, that they are members of God’s flock. But if they bear no fruit, they are not, and they need to know it. Churches should not let people dream that a positive response “unaccompanied by productive living is saving faith.”
This parable prompts listeners to consider how they listen to the Word. Longer parables typically have an authority figure—a father or king—and contrasting subordinates, one faithful, one unfaithful. The parable of the sower is unique in having three “subordinates”—three fruitless soils—that are unfaithful in distinct ways. The parable, as Christian leaders often say, prompts hearers to ask, “What kind of soil am I? Deaf, distracted, fruitless, or fruitful? What sort of hearer do I want to be?” The Lord does grant ears to hear and hearts to understand, if one asks. But it is easy to stay deaf. Distractible listeners should know that wealth and pleasure will seek their loyalty. And faithful hearers should seek wisdom and grace to bear more fruit.
The parable requires leaders to align with the ways of the kingdom. It comes gently, like a seed, not (at this time) with the triumphant power or trampling armies. God’s work is slow and gentle. Like a seed, it is easily crushed or ignored. We must listen and accept this.
Beyond these individual responses, there are cosmic lessons. God always speaks, and his creatures respond: Israel, the church, the nations, angels, even animals. Indeed, lower creatures shame mankind with their ready obedience.
Finally, chapter 13 presents the mystery of God’s election and human responsibility. Jesus chooses to give the mysteries of the kingdom to some but not others. As Calvin says, God enlightens “those whom he has freely chosen.” Others are blinded, yet the responsibility is theirs, because “this blindness is voluntary.”This does not resolve the riddle of sovereign election and human freedom, which Scripture affirms elsewhere too. Exodus says that Pharaoh hardened his heart and that God hardened his heart as well (Ex. 4:21–11:10). Romans 9 asserts God’s freedom in election as decisively as does any passage in Scripture, then Romans 10 pronounces the free offer of the gospel and the call to believe just as decisively (cf. Gen. 50:19–20; Judg. 14:1–4; Isa. 10:5–7; and John 11:49–52). Let the elect be grateful for the gift of the Word and the ability to hear it. Let no one play the part of the fruitless soils. Let everyone know they are accountable to heed the Word.
To summarize, God, Father and Son, is sowing the Word among all kinds of soils or people. Many will respond unfaithfully, whether because of the direct power of evil or because of the ease of temporary and superficial faith, or because an interested listener cannot endure the demands of discipleship. But a vast number do respond in the faith and obedience that bears much fruit. So the kingdom will grow despite opposition and grow to the great size of God’s plan.
Some manuscripts add here and in verse 43 to hear
Or stumbles
13:1–9 The phrase “that same day” (v. 1) connects kingdom parables to the controversies of chapter 12, in which Pharisees accused Jesus of casting out demons through the “prince of demons” (12:24). Jesus countered that the charge was absurd and that their evil words arose from an evil heart (12:25–45). In 12:46, Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived and demonstrated that they were not Jesus’ allies either (12:46–50). The loose temporal marker at 12:38 (“then,” Gk. tote) indicates that chapter 12 might span several days. Still, the events connect thematically. The Pharisees doubted Jesus because he healed on the Sabbath, which they judged a great sin. The disciples, however, trusted Jesus. This disagreement had to prompt questions. How could Israel’s spiritual leaders oppose Jesus, God’s prophet? How could Jesus perform signs that demonstrated his identity and face such opposition?
Whatever the disciples’ consternation about religious opponents, the crowds still love Jesus. Beside the sea he meets such a throng that he has to find room to speak by stepping into a boat by the shore (13:1–2).
Jesus’ parables begin with a sower (vv. 3–9). His methods seem strange today, but they were plausible, if not typical, for the culture. Farmers sometimes scattered seed, then plowed their fields. The soil and conditions varied, and the seed fell everywhere: on a foot path that cut through the sower’s field, on rocky ground, amid thorns, and on fertile soil. After the sower cast his seed, he plowed his land and waited. Birds devoured the seed on the path, the plants that grew on rocks quickly withered, and the plants that grew among thorns were choked out, while the seed that fell on good ground bore a remarkable harvest. The yield would have surprised Jesus’ audience, when a yield of ten-to-one was quite successful. This far exceeds normal results, as if corn stalks bore fifteen ears or tomato plants bore in the hundreds. The parable ends with an epigram, “He who has ears, let him hear” (v. 9). This provokes reader to wonder, “Do I have ears to hear?”
13:10–17 The lesson is familiar to well-trained Christians, but the disciples are dumbfounded and ask Jesus why he speaks in parables, in obscure, figurative language (v. 10). In Luke 8:9, the disciples “asked him what this parable meant,” while in Mark 4:10 the disciples simply “asked him about the parables.” Since Jesus eventually explains the parable and his methods in all three Synoptics, we can assume that they have doubts about both.
Jesus says that he speaks in parables because they give to some and take from others, because “to you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given” (Matt. 13:11). “To you” and “to them” are both emphatic, sharpening the contrast between you and them. “It has been given . . . it has not been given” are both divine passives. That is, God has chosen to deliver the mystery of the kingdom to his disciples and to hide it from others. In Scripture, a “mystery” is a divine secret, possibly an apocalyptic truth that God chooses to reveal. Ladd summarized the mystery of the kingdom this way: “The new truth, now given to men by revelation in the person and mission of Jesus, is that the Kingdom which is to come finally in apocalyptic power, as foreseen in Daniel, has in fact entered into the world in advance in a hidden form to work secretly within and among men.”
The decision to speak in parables touches on God’s sovereignty and human responsibility. By teaching through parables, Jesus reflects God’s sovereign decision to reveal his secrets to some but not others. By using parables, he gives more “to the one who has” and takes away “from the one who has not” (v. 12). We see a double referent for “the one who has” or “has not.” In the immediate setting, the disciples “have” while the Pharisees “have not” (cf. v. 11). But Matthew’s audience—numbered in the billions—also has or has not. The parable of the sower continues to declare that many hear the Word and fail to respond to it. Surely most Israelites considered themselves faithful, but most were not. So too, the vast majority of Matthew’s readers believe, often erroneously, that God numbers them among his people. Yet if they hear the Word, disobey, and bear no fruit, they are not redeemed.
In the immediate setting, Jesus’ parables “take away” from his adversaries, who no longer hear plain teaching. Everything comes to them through elusive stories. Jewish leaders are free, therefore, to dismiss Jesus as an eccentric storyteller. But parables give to the faithful. They are graphic, memorable. They stand close to reality, yet they twist it in provocative ways. Open-ended parables, like the parable of the sower, prompt listeners to think, to finish the story themselves. A parable can give listeners opportunity to rethink their positions. Finally, many parables have surprise endings, like jokes, that jar listeners and provoke thought.
Verses 11–12 stress God’s sovereign will in revealing the secrets of the kingdom. Still, when Jesus says he speaks in parables to punish blind, deaf, and hardhearted listeners (vv. 13–15), he also affirms human agency and responsibility. Parables follow unbelief. Jesus speaks in parables “because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear” (v. 13). Jewish leaders see the miracles, hear the teaching, and call Jesus Satan’s agent. This is culpable behavior, and the punishment—parables—fits the crime. Amos 8:11 warns that because Israel rejected the covenant, God “will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread, . . . but of hearing the words of the Lord.” The famine is not absolute, since Jesus still speaks. But parables allow him to harden some and enlighten others.
Because the leaders spurn God’s revelation, Jesus stops speaking clearly. Parables hide Jesus’ revelation even as he speaks. This fulfills Isaiah, who told Israel, “You will indeed hear but never understand. . . . For this people’s heart has grown dull.” Because their eyes were closed, the Lord gave them nothing to see, removing hope that they would turn and be healed (Matt. 13:14–15; Isa. 6:9–10).
Jesus sees his parables as a recapitulation of Isaiah’s prophetic ministry. Under the baleful influence of wicked King Ahaz (Isaiah 7–8) and a tide of unbelief in Judah, God charged Isaiah to prophesy even though his messages would close eyes and harden hearts. If anyone rejects the truth once, they turn from it more easily the next time. The same pattern held in Jesus’ day. Israelites chose not to repent until repentance became impossible (Matt. 13:15).
Both Matthew and Mark affirm divine sovereignty and human responsibility, but they offer complementary perspectives. Matthew emphasizes that Jesus speaks in parables to punish Israel’s spiritual blindness and deafness, “because [hoti] seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear” (v. 13). Mark 4:11–12 says Jesus speaks in parables “so that [hina] ‘they may indeed see but not perceive, . . . lest they should turn and be forgiven.’” Thus Matthew’s parables sound like punishment for freely chosen sin, whereas Mark’s parables sound like a reflection of God’s sovereign decision to reveal himself to some but not others.
Both are true. Jesus speaks in parables both because of unbelief and to seal unbelief. Both Matthew and Mark assert that parables are secrets given to Jesus’ disciples and hidden from deaf listeners. Matthew emphasizes that parables punish unbelief, whereas Mark says that they cause incomprehension, but both Gospels affirm both principles. Unbelievers chose to harden their hearts, but Jesus punishes their unbelief by hiding himself and hardening them. For the Gospel writers, divine sovereignty and human responsibility are compatible. Still, Jesus’ primary goal is to bless his disciples, that they may see things that “many prophets and righteous people longed to see” (Matt. 13:16–17).
13:18–23 Having explained why he speaks in parables, Jesus interprets the one about the sower. Jesus explains that the four soils represent four kinds of listener, or, more precisely, two types, fruitful and unfruitful, with three varieties of fruitlessness. Critical scholars object to Matthew’s allegorical interpretation of the parable, judging it an inauthentic addition. The objection seems largely aesthetic, since literary critics typically regard allegory as an inferior form. Craig Blomberg’s Interpreting the Parables shows that theologians, following the Gospels themselves, normally interpreted the parables as allegories until the twentieth century and were fundamentally correct in doing so, even if unrestrained interpreters allegorized too many features of the parables. In Matthew, allegorical interpretation of the parables begins with Jesus himself. In Jesus’ hands, most parables are low-level allegories, with a limited number of figurative elements. So a king, master, or father may represent God, while good and bad servants may stand for disciples and unbelievers (cf. 18:23–35; 20:1–16; 21:33–41). These principles allow responsible allegorical exegesis.
Parables may be compared to jokes or onions. Like jokes, parables often have a punch line, which hearers either get or miss (20:1–16; 21:33–46). Like onions, parables can have layers of meaning that hearers slowly peel back. This particular parable seems like an onion, since Jesus interprets it twice, adding a significant element on the second occasion. In 13:18–23, Jesus interprets the soils, comparing them to the way people respond to the word. At verse 37, he adds that the sower “is the Son of Man.”
Most simply, the parable signifies that although the seed is the same, results vary, depending on the soil. At this level, the parable says that the results of labor depend less on the laborer or the methods than on external factors.
More importantly, the soils represent four hearers, four types of response to Jesus’ word. The seed on the path, devoured by birds, represents anyone who “hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it.” In that case, “The evil one . . . snatches away what has been sown in his heart” (v. 19). The phrase “sown in his heart” seems to mean serious proclamation has occurred, since the heart represents the core of one’s being. The seed, the word, could have taken root. But just as seeds lie on hard earth, the word lay on a hard heart until Satan, represented by evil birds (cf. Rev. 18:2), snatched it away.
The seed on rocky ground, which springs up and dies immediately, represents a shallow hearer. This spiritual enthusiast “hears the word . . . with joy” but “has no root in himself.” As Klyne Snodgrass points out, “People can receive the word with joy and still be guilty of hardness of heart.” Perhaps they expect the kingdom to bring psychological or economic benefits. But that person’s faith links him not to God but to created things. This hearer endures when skies are fair but falters when “tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word” (Matt. 13:20–21). The Greek for “falls away” in verse 21 is skandalizō, which often means to take offense (the cognate noun, skandalon, means a trap or cause of offense). “Take offense” makes sense: this listener abandons the faith, perhaps thinking he was duped by a religion that promised peace and prosperity but brought trouble. At any rate, he did not expect tribulation and quit when it came.
The seed among thorns represents the person who hears the word with interest but indulges competing interests as well, so that “the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word,” and it becomes unfruitful (v. 22). Certain interpreters take this as a fruitless believer, since Jesus does not specify that he fails to listen or fall away. But the category “fruitless believer” is alien to Jesus, who insists that “every healthy tree bears good fruit” (7:17; cf. 12:33–36; John 15:1–8). If persecution thwarted the previous group, prosperity impedes this one.
Finally, the word falls on good soil, which represents the man or woman who listens, understands, and bears fruit exceeding all expectations (Matt. 13:23). When the word takes root, the fruit is prolific. In brief, the four soils depict in turn those who hear nothing, counterfeit listeners, fruitless hearers, and fruitful believers. The parables invite hearers to ask how they should respond to Jesus.
When Jesus adds that he is the sower in verse 37, we see another layer of meaning in the parable. If Jesus is the sower, he sows the word every time he speaks. The parable also reveals how the kingdom works. It enters the world like a seed, in hidden form, without power or compulsion. It comes as a seed, not as a mighty army. The kingdom is genuinely present but not fully present. Many stumble over this. If the kingdom has arrived, why does it seem so weak? Why does it struggle for respect, converts, and resources? Jesus does not explain why but says that it must be so for a time. But let no one despair. Jesus promises that the seed will yet gain a great harvest.