NOTES for Mat 13:1-23
Thanks to the evangelists, we have access not only to the parable of the sower itself, but also to its interpretation, which the disciples heard directly from Jesus. But every parable He spoke is so many-sided that all its depths cannot be exhausted by a single interpretation, even the wisest one. We grasp the meaning of what the Lord said layer by layer. Therefore it is not a stretch to read this parable not only as a story about how different people receive the Word of God, responding differently to preaching, but also as an account of different states of the soul in one and the same person. Each of us, throughout life, has responded very differently to what we have heard. Many of those who today, like good soil, receive and carry the seed of the good News were once rocky ground. And conversely, many of those who today are overgrown with thorns can be cleared of them.
And sometimes even good soil unexpectedly turns stony or becomes wildly overgrown with weeds, so we should not relax by prematurely taking stock of the successes of our spiritual life...
The disciples ask Christ a completely natural question: why does He speak in parables? Indeed, if parables are so difficult for people to understand, why not give them instruction directly? In answer to this, Christ cites the words of Isaiah, who foretold that the hearts of those who heard would become so dull that what they heard would pass by their ears. But then why say anything at all before such people? Is Christ casting words to the wind?
No, He does nothing in vain. Apparently this is precisely why Christ addresses people through parables: so that the seed hidden in figurative speech may still fall into their souls and begin to sprout, even if below the surface. Yes, the consciousness of a considerable part of the listeners is still closed, but their souls in their depths are far more receptive than superficial reason. And if what they hear finds even a small response in the soul, it will begin spiritual growth, that is, the increase of what the Lord had given such people. Those who are confident in the sufficiency of their "spiritual level" and have no intention of increasing it will lose it simply because spiritual life excludes complacency and self-satisfaction.