Sower

The sower is primarily known in the New Testament through the Parable of the Sower — the first and most foundational of Jesus' parables, appearing in all three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew 13:3–8; Mark 4:3–20; Luke 8:5–8) and provided with Jesus' own detailed allegorical explanation. A sower goes out and broadcasts seed, which falls on four types of ground: the hardened path (eaten by birds), rocky soil (sprouts but withers in the sun), thorny ground (choked), and good soil (yielding thirty-, sixty-, and a hundredfold). Jesus interprets the seed as "the word of the kingdom" and the four soils as conditions of the human heart — ranging from complete incomprehension to fruitful reception.

The agricultural reality behind the parable reflects ancient Palestinian farming practice, in which broadcasting seed before plowing was common, resulting in seed landing on varied terrain. Ecclesiastes 11:4 captures the farmer's necessary confidence: "Whoever watches the wind will not sow, and whoever looks at the clouds will not reap" — urging action despite uncertainty about outcome. Isaiah 28:24–29 uses the sower's varied techniques (plowing, harrowing, planting different crops in different rows) to illustrate God's varied and instructive dealings with his people. In the New Testament the sower of the parable is most naturally identified with Jesus himself — and by extension with any bearer of the gospel word — whose proclamation goes out broadly and meets every conceivable response, with the extraordinary final yield testifying to the ultimate fruitfulness of the kingdom despite the apparent waste of so much seed on unresponsive soil.