Matthew 13:1-23 | Sir John Everett Millais | Imagine a sower going out to sow

Matthew 13:1-23 Imagine a sower going out to sow

The Sower, Engraving by Sir John Everett Millais (1829–1896), Wood engraving on paper, Published 1864, Part of Illustrations to ‘The Parables of Our Lord’, engraved by the Dalziel Brothers © Tate Gallery, London Jesus left the house and sat by the lakeside, but such large crowds gathered round him that he got into a boat and sat there. The people all stood on the beach, and he told them many things in parables. He said, ‘Imagine a sower going out to sow. As he sowed, some seeds fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on patches of rock where they found little soil and sprang up straight away, because there was no depth of earth; but as soon as the sun came up they were scorched and, not having any roots, they withered away. Others fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Others fell on rich soil and produced their crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Listen, anyone who has ears!’ Then the disciples went up to him and asked, ‘Why do you talk to them in parables?’ ‘Because’ he replied, ‘the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven are revealed to you, but they are not revealed to them. For anyone who has will be given more, and he will have more than enough; but from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. The reason I talk to them in parables is that they look without seeing and listen without hearing or understanding. So in their case this prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled: You will listen and listen again, but not understand, see and see again, but not perceive. For the heart of this nation has grown coarse, their ears are dull of hearing, and they have shut their eyes, for fear they should see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and be converted and be healed by me. ‘But happy are your eyes because they see, your ears because they hear! I tell you solemnly, many prophets and holy men longed to see what you see, and never saw it; to hear what you hear, and never heard it. ‘You, therefore, are to hear the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom without understanding, the evil one comes and carries off what was sown in his heart: this is the man who received the seed on the edge of the path. The one who received it on patches of rock is the man who hears the word and welcomes it at once with joy. But he has no root in him, he does not last; let some trial come, or some persecution on account of the word, and he falls away at once. The one who received the seed in thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this world and the lure of riches choke the word and so he produces nothing. And the one who received the seed in rich soil is the man who hears the word and understands it; he is the one who yields a harvest and produces now a hundredfold, now sixty, now thirty.’ READ MORE Reflection on the Engraving The parable of the Sower is probably one of the parables we are most familiar with. Jesus is describing four different kinds of soil: edge of path soil; patches of rock; soil with thorns; and good soil. These four soils Jesus is describing are not just physical, agricultural soils, but they are the very inner soils of our human hearts. They are the various landscapes of our human souls. We are not just the one type of soil; we are a combination of all four. But Christ is asking us to expand the field of good soil as much as possible in our hearts. In the wood engraving on paper we are looking at today, we see all soils: the rocks, the thorns, the birds picking away at the seeds… and then the good soil in the top right section where the sower is abundantly and resolutely sowing the seeds. God as the divine Sower wants His seed to fall on good, rich, nurtured soil. No soil, no field, no person is left unsown. No ground is declared undeserving of the Sower’s seeds. However, it is up to us to cultivate the good soil. This parable is about God’s generosity towards us. Every part of our lives is being sown with the seeds of God, and the more falls on good soil, the more of God’s seeds can become abundant fruits... by Patrick van der Vorst