This sermon was preached on Sunday 12th July 2026

Bible Reading: Matthew 13:1-9,18-23

If you were ever going to choose a suitable time of year for a parable about planting seeds, then let me begin by saying that this is not the time of year. In fact, I cannot think of worse weather in which to try and plant seeds. The ground is dry, and the sun is scorching everything in its sight. Our garden, as I suspect many of your gardens, is bone dry and all the grass has turned yellow. And now we have a hose-pipe ban, so this is not going to get better any time soon. It seems like the worse time of the year to plant and water a seed to see it grow into a thriving plant or crop. Yet this is the focus of Jesus’ parable we hear today. 

Parables are stories that Jesus told to help get his message across to people. I think most of us are more responsive to hearing stories than a list of facts and information, which is why Jesus so often used stories as part of his teaching. What is great about this parable is that Jesus even oftens an explanation for the parable. So, I guess I can sit down because Jesus has done my job for me. 

But in all seriousness, I actually think it is really powerful to hear this parable given the reality of what the ground all around us looks like. I think it helps bring the reality of his message and his kingdom mission to life. 

It helps as we begin to identify who the Sower represents and what the grain represents. The Sower is the person who proclaims the message of the kingdom, which is you and me. As Jesus’ disciples, we are the people who proclaim the good news message of God’s kingdom. We are the people who go and tell the world about Jesus Christ and his saving love for the whole world. We are the Sower. The message that we proclaim about Jesus is the grain. Like a Sower scatters grain into the field, we scatter and share the good news of Jesus as we go about our lives. 

Then, in the parable, Jesus takes us through the reality of what sowing the seed might look like. He is honest about the difficulty that we might find when we tell others the good news of Jesus. He gives four scenarios of what might happen. I don’t think that this is an exhaustive list, but I think they capture a sense of some of typical outcomes you might see. 

First outcome

First, ‘some of it fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.’ Jesus sheds light on this by saying: ‘Those who hear the message about the Kingdom but do not understand it are like the seeds that fell along the path. The Evil One comes and snatches away what was sown in them.’ 

The reality is when we preach the good news of Jesus, sometimes the message is snapped up or disappears before it even gets the chance to try and grow in the person. It’s a free Bible giveaway you do at schools for the kids, but they never pick it up and it is lost and dusty at the back of a cupboard. It’s the people who are so closed off to hearing anything you have to say about God, that everything you say falls on death ears. It can be disheartening when this happens, but we should not be surprised. Jesus tells us that this is the reality of being a Christian and sharing the news of Jesus’ kingdom. Sometimes, the seeds we sown are eaten up and disappear like they were never planted. 

Second Outcome

Second, ‘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 burned the young plants; and because the roots had not grown deep enough, the plants soon dried up.’ This is what we have been seeing in our garden at the moment. The plants are struggling because the ground is so dry, there is hardly any good, soft soil where the seeds can grow. Then anything that does grow in this weather is scorched by the sun. Many of our window sill plants are touch and go in this weather.  

Jesus says that this image describes people ‘who receive the message gladly as soon as they hear it. But it does not sink deep into them, and they don’t last long. So when trouble or persecution comes because of the message, they give up at once.’ These are people who come to believe in Jesus, believe he is real, and that he says good things about how to live our lives. 

However, there is a difference between believing in Jesus and being a follower of Jesus. When it comes to living the life of a follower of Jesus, to do what he did, we see that there is going to be more push back. Jesus had it all the time. When we choose to give our time to care for the outcasts in society, or embrace those of different political beliefs, and generally people who we might find difficult to get along with. Or it’s fine being a Christian when you keep it privately to yourself, but when you start telling your family and friends that you are Christian and you go to church, the questions and push back, the ‘you are so ridiculous to believe in God’ gets you down, and eventually that seed of faith in you burns out in scorching heat of the situation. 

Many of us might have experienced this when we were younger. Those of us who grew up in church but never let what we heard about Jesus take root in us. 

Third Outcome 

Third, ‘Some of the seed fell among thorn bushes, which grew up and choked the plants.’ These are Christians who are growing well in their faith, but then the big things of life can feel like they take over their lives and soon they faith withers away. How often do you hear of people stop coming to church because work is busy? Or they stop praying because they don’t have time to pray with three young children. Jesus says that ‘The seeds that fell among thorn bushes stand for those who hear the message; but the worries about this life and the love for riches choke the message, and they don’t bear fruit.’ 

There is good faith in these people. Good seeds have been sown, but the context around them has choked out their faith. That is why as a Christian, it is important to think about what are the key foundations in your life? What the things you are going to hold fast to, and what are you going to avoid? That is not to say that work, family, hobbies, and the rest are bad. But if we are not careful, they may slowly knock our faith down the list of our priorities. 

You want to surround yourselves with people and set ups around you that support you to withstand the things of life that can choke our growth. When these things come, our roots and foundations will help us grow through and away from the thorns.  

Fourth Outcome

The three outcomes that we have heard so far, even with the improvements as we go, all still sound a bit bleak. The good news is that this all changes with the fourth outcome. Jesus says, ‘But some seeds fell in good soil, and the plants bore grain: some had one hundred grains, others sixty, and others thirty.’ Jesus says, ‘the seeds sown in the good soil stand for those who hear the message and understand it: they bear fruit, some as much as one hundred, others sixty, and others thirty.’

When we have heard God’s message to us, when we have seen God’s kingdom has come near and we want to live our lives alongside Jesus, being with him, doing what he did, we will see God bear his fruit in our lives. If we are good soil for seeds of faith to grow, we will see this positive outcome spread out to those around us. When we are living like Jesus, we help show who Jesus is to people. We become the living embodiment of his message. His love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control that shine in our lives help tell world about his message. Then through us, we see God’s message start to take root in people. 

How many of us came to faith because it was sown in us by our parents? Think of the Christian who prays for her friends and see what happens. Think of the Christian who feeds the hungry, so the hungry may know something of God’s provision. Everyone of us, when we are good soil that hears and lives God’s message, help to produce a harvest of God’s kingdom that grows, 30 times, 60 times and 100 times over. To put it plainly. Your Christian life may impact 30 people, 60 people, or 100 people with the love of God. It sounds a lot, more than what any of us can do. I often struggle to think how I can I bring one person to know Jesus, let alone 30 or even 100. But as much as we are the ones sowing the seeds, God is the one who makes them grow. We don’t need to worry about the seeds will grow, but trust that when we are good soil, God will use us to bear fruit in his kingdom 30, 60 and 100 times over. This is the kind of soil, the kind of disciple and follower of Jesus that we are called to be. 

Why tell us all these outcomes?

You are probably wondering at this point, why did Jesus tell us about all these different outcomes. Why not just focus on the good final outcome?

Awareness of these different outcomes helps us to not be discourage, acknowledging that there are often things beyond our control when it comes to our mission to reaching out to the world around us. But this parable also informs us how we can become more effective Sowers of the message. 

We have been watching the latest series of Clarkson’s Farm, and in this series, Jeremy Clarkson has been trying to look at ways to incorporate new technology to make farming more efficient. He is essentially, trying to become a more effective Sower of the seeds he is planting so that they may produce a greater yield. This is just one farm, but on every farm, farmers are cultivating the soil and looking at ways to produce a greater yield. Why? Because they want to see the produce. They want to see the crops grow. It’s a good thing to see more life-giving food produced for people to eat. So why wouldn’t we want the same in the kingdom? We too want to see the seeds of the kingdom message grow in peoples’ lives so that we may see the life-giving joy of life with Jesus.  

Our question is, how can we nurture ourselves to become good, healthy soil for God’s seeds to grow in us and onto other people? To grow in our discipleship and to mature as healthy soil, we need to be enriched by more of Jesus. We need to spend more time with him in prayer, reading the Bible, and in fellowship with one another. We need to become like Jesus that we may be Jesus like soil in which his kingdom message will grow 30 times, 60 times 100 times and more. 

Let us come to Jesus today so that we may be more like him and see the seeds of his kingdom grow in Corby and all the world. 

Amen.