Sower - UPDV Updated Bible Version

The sower is a figure who walks a field and casts seed by hand, trusting weather and ground for the increase. From this single image scripture draws a wide arc: practical counsel about when to sow, a parable about how the word is received, proverbs on the moral law that what is planted comes back as harvest, and prophetic visions of a reaping that ends the age. The sower's work is hidden, deferred, and exposed only in what comes up.

The literal sower

The Preacher warns the would-be sower against the paralysis of waiting for ideal weather: "He who observes the wind will not sow; and he who regards the clouds will not reap" (Ec 11:4). Isaiah likewise pictures the farmer's deliberate ordering of the field, casting "abroad the fitches, and scatter[ing] the cumin, and put[ting] in the wheat in rows, and the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in its border" (Isa 28:25). The sower's craft is patient and ordered, but it cannot wait on perfect conditions.

The same labor stands behind the sheaves of the harvest scenes. Joseph dreams of binding "sheaves in the field" while his brothers' sheaves bow to his (Gen 37:7). Deuteronomy commands the reaper who has "forgot a sheaf in the field" to leave it "for the sojourner, for the fatherless, and for the widow; that [the Speech of] Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hands" (Deut 24:19). And the destitute, in Job's lament, "go about naked without clothing, And being hungry they carry the sheaves" (Job 24:10) — gathering for others a harvest they cannot eat.

The parable of the sower

The parable opens by directing attention to the act itself: "Listen: Look, the sower went forth to sow" (Mark 4:3). Luke gives the same scene in compressed form: "The sower went forth to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trodden under foot, and the birds of the heaven devoured it" (Luke 8:5).

In Mark's telling, four soils receive the same seed and produce four outcomes:

"and it came to pass, as he sowed, some [seed] fell by the wayside, and the birds came and devoured it. And other [seed] fell on the rocky [ground], where it did not have much earth; and right away it sprang up, because it had no deepness of earth: and when the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. And other [seed] fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. And others fell into the good ground, and yielded fruit, growing up and increasing; and brought forth, thirtyfold, and sixtyfold, and a hundredfold" (Mark 4:4-8).

Luke's parallel ends the same way: "And other fell into the good ground, and grew, and brought forth fruit a hundredfold. As he said these things, he cried, He who has ears to hear, let him hear" (Luke 8:8; cf. Mark 4:9).

Mark records the explanation Jesus gave his inner circle. "The sower sows the word" (Mark 4:14). The wayside hearers are those from whom Satan "takes away the word which has been sown in them" (Mark 4:15). The rocky-ground hearers "receive it with joy; and they have no root in themselves, but endure for awhile; then, when tribulation or persecution rises because of the word, right away they stumble" (Mark 4:16-17). Those sown among thorns hear, but "the cares of the age, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful" (Mark 4:18-19). Only the good-ground hearers "hear the word, and accept it, and bear fruit, thirtyfold, and sixtyfold, and a hundredfold" (Mark 4:20).

The sown word also stands behind the kingdom-parable of the mustard seed: it "is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown on the earth, though it is less than all the seeds that are on the earth" (Mark 4:31), and yet it "grew, and became a tree; and the birds of the heaven lodged in its branches" (Luke 13:19). The disproportion between the seed and the tree is the kingdom's signature.

Sowing in tears, reaping in joy

The sower's labor is often grief before it is gain. The psalmist promises that "those who sow in tears will reap in joy. He who goes forth and weeps, bearing seed for sowing, Will doubtless come again with joy, bringing his sheaves [with him]" (Ps 126:5-6). Isaiah extends the blessing more widely: "Blessed are you⁺ who sow beside all waters, who send forth the feet of the ox and the donkey" (Isa 32:20). In both, the sower's tears or toil are pledges of a harvest that has not yet appeared.

Whatever a man sows, he will also reap

The agricultural image is then stretched across the moral life. Paul gives the principle its sharpest form: "Don't be deceived; God is not mocked: for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his own flesh will of the flesh reap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap eternal life" (Gal 6:7-8). The corollary is the call to persevere: "And let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we will reap, if we do not faint" (Gal 6:9).

The proverbs and prophets fill in what sowing evil yields. "According to as I have seen, those who plow iniquity, And sow trouble, reap the same" (Job 4:8). The perverse man "devises evil continually, Who sows discord" (Prov 6:14); a perverse man "scatters abroad strife" (Prov 16:28); the sower of iniquity "will reap calamity" (Prov 22:8). Ben Sira gives the same warning between brothers: "Do not knowingly plow against a brother; Or else you will reap it sevenfold" (Sir 7:3).

Hosea's image is the most violent: "For they sow the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind: he has no standing grain; the blade will yield no meal; if it does yield, strangers will swallow it up" (Hos 8:7). And again: "You⁺ have plowed wickedness, you⁺ have reaped iniquity; you⁺ have eaten the fruit of lies; for you trusted in your way" (Hos 10:13). Isaiah pictures the same reversal: planting that is hedged in and made to "blossom; but the harvest flees away in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow" (Isa 17:11). Jeremiah indicts those who "have sown wheat, and have reaped thorns; they have tired themselves out, and profit nothing" (Jer 12:13), and announces that Babylon "is like a threshing-floor at the time when it is trodden; yet a little while, and the time of harvest will come for her" (Jer 51:33).

The same harvest figure crowns the prophetic visions of judgment. Hosea announces, "Also, O Judah, there is a harvest appointed for you, when I bring back the captivity of my people" (Hos 6:11). Joel summons the nations: "Put⁺ in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe: come, tread⁺; for the wine press is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great" (Joel 3:13). The Apocalypse repeats the call: "Send forth your sickle, and reap: for the hour to reap has come; for the harvest of the earth is ripe" (Rev 14:15). And the gathering at the end is itself a kind of reaping: "And then he will send forth the angels, and will gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven" (Mark 13:27).

Against this dark side stands the counter-promise: the wicked "earns deceitful wages; But he who sows righteousness [has] a sure reward" (Prov 11:18); and Hosea closes with the call to plant well: "Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap according to kindness; break up your⁺ fallow ground; for it is time to seek Yahweh, until he comes and rains righteousness on you⁺" (Hos 10:12).

Sowing to the Spirit

The sower also stands behind the apostolic mission. At the Samaritan well Jesus directs his disciples' eyes: "Look, I say to you⁺, Lift up your⁺ eyes, and look at the fields, that they are white to harvest" (John 4:35). What follows is the joint joy of sower and reaper: "Already he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit to eternal life; that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together" (John 4:36). The harvest is plenteous, the workers few — "pray⁺ therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth workers into his harvest" (Luke 10:2). And when the grain is ripe the sower acts decisively: "But when the fruit is [ready to] deliver, right away he puts forth the sickle, because the harvest has come" (Mark 4:29).

The sower himself is supplied by God. Paul writes: "And he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, will supply and multiply your⁺ seed for sowing, and increase the fruits of your⁺ righteousness" (2 Cor 9:10). And the costliest sowing of all is the seed that dies to bear: "Truly, truly, I say to you⁺, Except a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it stays alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit" (John 12:24).

The fruit that proves the sowing

The good-ground outcome of the parable — "thirtyfold, and sixtyfold, and a hundredfold" (Mark 4:20) — is taken up under the wider rubric of fruit-bearing. "In this is my Father glorified, that you⁺ may bear much fruit and may be my disciples" (John 15:8). "Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes it away: and every [branch] that bears fruit, he cleanses it, that it may bear more fruit" (John 15:2). The fruit shows the seed: "According to the cultivation of a tree so is its yield, [So] the thought of a man according to his nature" (Sir 27:6). Or, in the vinedresser's complaint: "Look, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: therefore cut it down; why does it also cumber the ground?" (Luke 13:7).