Parable of the Sower

And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."

And he said to them, "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parable, so that 'they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.'"

And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.

But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."

In each narrative, Jesus used the boat as a means of being able to address the huge crowd gathered on the lake shore.

He quotes Isaiah 6:9–10, who preached to Israel knowing that his message would go unheeded and not understood, with the result that the Israelites' sins would not be forgiven and they would be punished by God for them.

[3] The parable recorded in Mark comes just after a description in the previous chapter of a developing hostility toward Jesus and his ministry.

Some schools of thought found such actions permissible only if the person treated was in danger of death.

Anglican bishop Charles Ellicott thought that "the hundredfold return was, perhaps, a somewhat uncommon increase, but the narrative of Isaac’s tillage in Genesis 26:12 shows that it was not unheard of, and had probably helped to make it the standard of a more than usually prosperous harvest";[7] however, Protestant theologian Heinrich Meyer argued that "such points of detail ... should not be pressed, serving as they do merely to enliven and fill out the picture".

Examine, then, whether your soul be a proper soil for this seed; whether it be trampled upon continually by distractions and idle thoughts; and whether it be stony and full of the cares and occupations of this life, and consequently not susceptible of the divine influence of heavenly grace.

Jerome: "By this sower is typified the Son of God, who sows among the people the word of the Father.

For the sower goes out oftentimes for other ends; as, to break up the ground, to pluck up noxious weeds, to root up thorns, or perform any other species of industry, but this man went forth to sow.

But with minds and doctrines it is otherwise; there it is possible that the rock be made rich soil, that the way should be no more trodden upon, and that the thorns should be extirpated.

For He that sowed put no difference between rich and poor, wise or foolish, but spoke to all alike.