Parable of The Sower
Jesus continued, “But blissful are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. For, amen, I tell you that many prophets and upright men yearned to see the things you see and did not see and to hear the things you hear and did not hear. Did you not grasp this parable? Listen, therefore, to the parable of the sower. The sower sows the word of God. When anyone hears the words of the Kingdom and does not understand, the Accuser immediately comes and seizes away the word that has been sown in his heart so that they may not have faith and be saved; that is what was sown beside the path. And what has been sown upon stony places: this is the one who hears the word and immediately accepts it with joy and has faith for a season, but they do not hold onto the root within themselves, and it is temporary, and when affliction and persecution come on account of the word, he immediately falters and falls away. And what is sown among the thorns: this is the one who hears the word, and the anxiety of the age and the beguilement of riches and longings for other things and pleasures of this life intrude, throttling the word, and it becomes fruitless and never reaches ripeness. But what has been sown upon the good soil: this is the one who hears with a fine and good heart understands the word and welcomes it and by their constancy bears fruit, one a hundredfold, another sixtyfold, and other thirtyfold.” (Matthew 13:18-23, Mark 4:13-20, Luke 8:11-15)
Lamp On Lampstand
Jesus continued and said to them, “Now no one who lit a lamp and then covered it and placed it under the dry-goods basket or under a bed or couch? Rather, he places it on the lampstand so that those who enter may see the light. For there is nothing that is hidden except that it might be made manifest, nor that has become concealed and secret that will not certainly come out into plain sight and in the open. If anyone has ears to hear, let them listen. Pay attention to what you hear and how you listen. Whatever measure you measure, it shall be meted out to you and added to you. For he who has, to him it will be given; and he who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.” (Mark 4:21-25, Luke 8:16-18)
Jesus said, “Such is the Kingdom of God: just as a man might cast seeds upon the earth, and might sleep and rise night and day, and the seeds sprout and increase while he does not observe. The earth bears the fruit of itself, first a shoot, then an ear, then the full grain within the ear. But when the fruit permits, he immediately extends the scythe because the harvest has come.” (Mark 4:26-29)
