Parable of the Sower

On that same day, Jesus, having  left the house, sat down  close to the sea; and a large crowd of people gathered around him. Therefore, he climbed into a boat and sat down, while the people remained on the shore. He then told them many things in parables, speaking to them in this way:

“A sower went  out to sow; and as he was sowing, some of the seed fell by the wayside and the birds of the sky came and ate them.

Other  seed fell upon stony places where there was not much earth; they soon sprouted because the soil was not very deep. But when the sun came up, it scorched them,  and since they had no roots, they withered.

Still other seed fell among thorns, and when they began to grow, the thorns choked them.

Finally,  some seed fell on good ground and produced a crop, some rendering a hundred to one, others sixty and others thirty.

He who has ears, let him hear.” (Mt. 13:1-9)

“Hear therefore the parable of the sower.

Whoever hears the word of the kingdom but does not heed it, the evil spirit comes and takes away what had been sown in his heart. This is the one who received the seed by the wayside.

He who received the seed among the stones is the one who hears the word and receives it joyously as soon as he hears it. But he has no roots in himself, and it lasts only for a while. And when he is overcome by obstacles and persecutions on account of the word, he soon regards it as an object of offense and ruin.

He who receives the seed among the thorns is the one who hears the word, but then the cares of the times and the illusions of riches choke the word within him, rendering it unfruitful.

But he who receives the seed on good soil is the one who hears the word, who heeds it and who produces a crop, rendering a hundred or sixty or thirty to one. (Mt. 13:18-23)

6. The parable of the sower represents perfectly the nuances that exist in the ways one profits from the teachings of the Gospel. How many people there are, in fact, for whom the Gospel teachings are only a dead letter which, like the seed that has fallen on the stony soil, produces no crop!

This  parable finds a no  less correct application in  the different categories of Spiritists. Is it not a symbol of those who are interested only in the physical phenomena but derive nothing of consequence from them because they see them as nothing more than an object of curiosity? Of those who seek nothing but the wonder in spirit communications, who are interested in them only to the extent that they satisfy their imagination, but who, after having received them, are as cold and indifferent as they were in the first place? Of those who find the counsels to be very good and admirable, yet apply them only to others and not to themselves? And of those, finally, for whom the teachings are like the seed that falls on good soil and yields a crop?