Sunday March 30, 2014 - The Parable of the Sower

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Parable of the Sower (Matt 13:3b-8, 18-23; Mark 4:3b-8; 14-20; Luke 8:5-8a, 11-15; Thom 9)

This parable, shared by Matthew, Mark and Luke, also appears in the Gospel of Thomas. The original date and provenance of the latter is debated (maybe Syria, late first century, or early second?), but is indeed a compelling gospel given the number of parallels that it shares with Matthew, Mark and Luke (the Synoptic Gospels). What is striking about the Thomas version is that it does not attempt to allegorize the parable, unlike the Synoptics. Such a feature supports the argument of many parables scholars that Jesus never intended his parables to be read as allegories. Rather, the gospel writers, or perhaps their sources, sought to allegorize the parables because they were attempting to understand and interpret them. However, parables survive, it seems, because they do not have an easy application, or succinct moral teaching. Parables, as C. H. Dodd argued some time ago, juxtapose the kingdom of God with strange images such that the mind becomes a little disoriented but as a result, is teased into thought. Parables make the mind active! What could be going on with the Sower?

In this parable, the sower goes out to sow, and some seeds accidentally fall on the path and are eaten by birds. Others fall on rocky terrain, sprout, but then shrivel up in the sun. Still others fall upon thorns, which choke the plants which attempt to grow. Finally, some drop into good soil (again by accident) and bring forth grain … lots of it! These images would have been familiar to a first century peasant. However, if the parable is not an allegory, what does it mean? Perhaps, as Bernard Brandon Scott has suggested, it demonstrates that the kingdom of God consists of ordinary things, including ordinary failures, but also ordinary successes? The kingdom of God is not about grandeur and glory, but everyday life, full of both loss and fulfillment.

-Alicia Batten