NOTES for Mat 13:1-23
Why does the Lord speak to us in parables? After all, He could simply tell each person what is required of them to enter the Kingdom of God, say it plainly, and then at the Judgment ask how we carried out His assignment. But will we be able to hear, will we be able to understand His call? We read condescendingly about the Jews who "seeing, do not see" and "hearing, do not understand," but are we ready to hear the Word addressed to us and carry it out without delay or doubt?
And so, in His mercy, the Lord paints for us (and for the listeners around Him) a scene from everyday life: a sower sows seed. This picture will let us take from the Savior's words exactly as much as we are able to understand and accept. Therefore, the more we grow, the more "words about the Kingdom" we are able to put into practice, the more will be revealed to us through these parables. But if we do not want to understand and put into practice what we have already grown into, we face spiritual regression, stagnation of the spirit: whoever has will be given more, and whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.