Sexagesima
Luke 8:4-15
The parable of the sower is a pretty familiar text. It’s familiar in the sense that you all know, even without having just heard it moments ago, that a sower scatters seed on his land. In the process, some lands on the road, some on rock, some among thorns, and some on the good farm land. Jesus also explained the parable for His disciples—in this case, probably more than just the 12—and told them what the different places where the seed landed represent.
- The path is those to whom the Word of God is proclaimed, but that Word is taken away from them so that, having come to faith, they might not be saved.
- The rock is those to whom the Word of God is proclaimed and receive it in joy at first, but who fall away in the times of temptation because they have no root.
- The thorns is those to whom the Word of God is proclaimed, but are choked by the anxieties, riches, and pleasures of this life, so they don’t bear the fruit of of faith to maturity.
- The good farm land is those to whom the Word of God is proclaimed and take it to heart, holding it fast in steadfast endurance.
When Jesus first began explaining this parable, He essentially divided these people into two types. It’s a hard saying, but since Jesus says it, it must be heard and believed. “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’” Those two types? Those who have been given knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom by God, and those who do not know the mysteries.
Let me help you reconcile this.