The Parable of the Sower

Weekly Update – March 27th, 2025 

For the most part, I think that I am a pretty good listener.  Maybe some will think differently, but overall, I don’t think there is a lot that I miss.  But there is a difference between listening to something and truly hearing.  The same is true with seeing.  Have you ever looked inside the refrigerator for something that you wanted and not been able to see it, even though it was right in front of you?  You were seeing, but not truly seeing.  The point is not that we need to look better in the refrigerator or that we need to write down the things that we are listening to.  No, there is something deeper connected with our ears and eyes. 

Some of the parables of Jesus speak directly to the importance of either seeing or hearing.  Consider the parable of the sower that we looked at on Sunday.  After telling this parable, Jesus says in Luke 8:8, “He who has ears, let him hear.”  But then, in Luke 8:10, Jesus gives us a bit of insight as to the importance of truly hearing and clearly seeing.   When speaking about the purpose of the parables that he gives, he says, “…because seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.” What this is speaking to is the nature of faith.  All those who Jesus spoke these parables to will hear and see him speak, but only some will understand and believe the truth.  With physical senses those with Jesus would hear and see, but with their spiritual hearts, only some would understand and believe. 

Lets make this a bit more personal now.  How do we know if we are ones who have hearing that leads to understanding and have sight that leads to belief?  In Luke 8:16, Jesus says, “No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light.”  How do we know if we have truly heard and seen?  We display the new life that Jesus calls us to live.  James echoes this in his epistle as well.  In James 1:22 James writes, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”  Sadly many will be deceived, for as Matthew 7:21-23 says, many will think that they have heard the word of the Lord and seen his truth, but they never truly understood and believed. 

So then how do you know if you understand and believe?  As Luke 8:15 says, “…those who hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart and bear fruit…”  What does this fruit look like?  A life that longs for Jesus and is different from the world.  The one who bears fruit is not someone who checks off a couple of good deeds for the day and then moves on.  No, the one who bears fruit displays it as the man who “in his joy goes and sells all that he has” to obtain a priceless treasure (Matt. 13:44).  The one who bears fruit is the one who upon “finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it” (Matt. 13:46).  Fruit is not shown primarily through good works, although they should be present.  Fruit is shown through heart attitudes and desires.  It is shown through those who are striving to grow in “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Gal. 5:22-23). 

How then should we seek to bear fruit?  By hearing and seeing.  What does this look like in our lives?  Romans 10:17 says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”  We hear through the word of God being heard, read, or spoken to us.  Then through hearing the word of God, by God’s grace, we begin to see “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.” (2 Cor. 4:4).  Therefore let us pray that through hearing God’s word that we might have “the eyes of our hearts enlightened” (Eph. 1:18), leading us to bear the fruit of faith.

Serving Him with You,
Pastor Michael Nelson