The crowd that gathered round him was so large that he got into
a boat and sat in it, while the crowd stood on the shore. He used
parables to tell them many things.
"Once there was a man who went out to sow corn. As he scattered
the seed in the field, some of it fell along the path, and the
birds came and ate it up. Some of it fell on rocky ground, where
there was little soil. The seeds soon sprouted, because the soil
wasn't deep. But when the sun came up, it burnt the young plants;
and because the roots had not grown deep enough, the plants
soon dried up. Some of the seed fell among thorn bushes, which grew
up and choked the plants. But some seeds fell in good soil, and the
plants produced corn; some produced a hundred grains, others sixty,
and others thirty." And Jesus concluded, "Listen, then, if you have
ears!" … Listen, then, and learn what the parable of the sower
means.
Matthew 13: 2 - 9
Matthew 13: 18 - 23
Endurance
This parable is a picture of how we can endure to grow well
and 'ripen'. The meaning of this parable is 'hidden' but explained
later in the chapter by Jesus. It is really the soil that gives the
plants the strength (endurance) to grow well. As Jesus explains in
the later verses it is
his words and teaching which will give us this
endurance.