Luke 8:11

THE WORD AS THE SEED

‘Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.’

Luke 8:11

All our Lord’s teaching is most truly practical, and it is only when we begin to try to live according to its spirit that its full meaning becomes clear; and even before putting it into practice, our best chance of understanding it is to compare it, step by step, with what we already know of ourselves and our own hearts and our own lives.

I. Who is this ‘Sower’?—None of the Evangelists tell us precisely. Christ Himself says that the seed is the Word of God: and the sower is often said to represent those whose duty it is to preach—the ministers of God’s Word. This is, no doubt, a lawful application of the figure, but assuredly it is not its first meaning. We may borrow the explanation from the next parable, ‘The tares.’ There we are plainly told that ‘He that soweth the seed is the Son of Man.’ He, without doubt, is the Sower here.

II. But how does He sow His seed?—Assuredly not by the lips alone; or how little by comparison would be included in the heavenly sowing. We are influenced by much which is never actually spoken. The ground cannot be the ear. That is a mere passage to our hearts and minds. It is there within that the Divine Sower, sowing good seed, and the enemy, sowing tares, are both at work—in the heart. Whatever becomes of the seed, He, the Sower, is always the same, and He has a hand in every part of the process. The heavenly Sower’s work is everywhere and at all times. The parable is true of all men. They may try to keep out of reach of any human preacher’s voice which speaks to them of God and His holy Law; but they cannot move themselves out of reach of the true Sower. Not one, be he ever so ignorant, can plead that he has received no seed from above. God takes care that it is sown, and man’s responsibility consists in how he receives it, and how he suffers it to live and grow.

III. ‘He that soweth the seed is the Son of Man.’—The (Incarnate) Son of God is known to us as the ‘Son of Man.’ Thus He speaks to us in the still small voice of our own nature. ‘Take heed how ye hear,’ says Christ. (But the words do not apply to the outward ear alone.) Though no human lips may have spoken God’s message, yet men in one way or another hear the voice of the ‘Son of Man.’ In the pressure of poverty, or sickness, or sorrow, He is sowing that which, if it falls on a soft and fruitful soil, will help to make our lives rich with heavenly graces; as St. Paul says: ‘Afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them that are exercised’ by the present pain. Where we discover in ourselves any struggle against evil, any high desire, accomplished or not, we shall, if we search diligently, find the seeds of His sowing; and out of these, if we do not baffle His purpose, those heavenly plants shall hereafter spring. Thus we see that God’s voice is not heard only through His Book. The word of God is whatever God speaks.

However men may be divided, each of us has all the soils in his heart, and he has the Sower always with him. God’s ministers may preach, His Bible may teach, but it is within that the true Word of words is sounding.

—Rev. Dr. Hort.

Illustration

‘What we are responsible for, all of us who are engaged in Christian work, is that we should make known to men, as far as we ourselves know it, the Word of God. That is the seed of the perfect life. We may interest them in very many ways, but if we do not interest them in God, and in what God has said, our work is a failure. We may impress them in many ways, in many ways create strong emotion among them, but if they are not impressed by God, and by what God has said, our work is a failure. We may excite them greatly. There is a certain dangerous influence in our own earnestness that other men can hardly help feeling, but if the excitement is not produced by what God has said, our work is a failure. The Word of God—that is the true seed of the diviner life in man.’