When Jesus then is with the multitudes, he is not in his house, for the multitudes are outside of the house, and it is an act that springs from his love of humanity to leave the house and to go away to those who are not able to come to him.

It was not without a purpose that he sat beside the sea. The Gospel writer has expressed this in a hidden manner. The purpose of Jesus’ doing this was to order his listeners in a precise way. He wanted to see them all face to face. He left no one at a disadvantage at his back.

There is a reason why the Lord was sitting in the boat and the crowds were standing outside like simple followers: he was about to speak in parables. Jesus was therefore indicating that those who were outside the church were at a distance from being able to grasp his words of truth. For the boat symbolizes the church, and those who lie barren and fruitless outside like grains of sand are unable to understand the word of life put forward and preached.

The people were unable to enter Jesus’ house, nor could they be present when the apostles heard the mysteries. For that reason the compassionate and merciful Lord goes out of the house. He sits by the seaside of this world so the crowds may gather about him and hear along the shore what they were not entitled to hear inside. So that he got into a boat and sat down. And all the crowds stood on the shore. Jesus was in the boat as it was being buffeted here and there by the waves of the sea. Secure in his majesty, he made the boat approach the land. And the people, sensing no danger or insurmountable odds, stood in rapt attention on the shore to hear his words.

He told them many things in parables. He had not done this on the mount.^[1] Here he wove into his discourse many parables. For on the mount were multitudes only, and a simple people. But here are also scribes and Pharisees.

The crowd is not of a single mentality, for each person has a different frame of mind. He therefore speaks to them in many parables so they may receive different teachings depending on their frame of mind. Further, it should be noted that he did not speak everything to them in parables, but many things. For if he spoke everything to them in parables, the people would go away without gaining anything. Jesus mixes what is clear with what is obscure, so that through the things they understand they may be drawn toward the knowledge of the things they do not understand.

But note carefully what kind of parable he began with. Note the order in which Matthew put them. Which parable does he speak first? That which it was most necessary to speak first, that which makes the hearer more attentive. For because Jesus was going to talk with them in hidden sayings, he dramatically catches the attention of his hearers by his first parable.

He was indoors, staying at the house, where he spoke to the disciples about that which is holy. He who sows the word of God then went out of his house that he might sow among the crowds. This means that the sower who sows is the Son of God the Father, sowing the word among the ordinary people. Note too that this is the first parable that was given with an interpretation. Furthermore, whenever the Lord speaks to his disciples and answers their questions indoors, he sows words that give us to understand nothing more or less or other than what he has accurately explained.

For this reason Jesus speaks in parables, in order that through them he should show that he is the One who was prophesied. Concerning [him] David said, I will open my mouth in parables,^[1] and again, and there will be a man who shall hide his words, and he will be hidden as though carried away by the waves of the sea.^[2]

The sower went forth to sow, not simply going from place to place but with a deliberate design. He did not go where he had not been before, nor did he abandon the place he had left, because God is everywhere. He did not go beyond his presence because God is everywhere. Rather, he went out because God is present where his righteousness is honored. Where his righteousness is not present, neither is God fully received. Those who are within his righteousness are found inside, and those who are not within his righteousness are found outside. Therefore, as long as God was in heaven where all are righteous, he was inside. Coming forth into the fallen world, however, which was completely outside God’s righteousness, he went outside in order to bring it inside. Therefore, since all nations, disdaining God’s righteousness, were living under the power of the devil, he went forth outside in order to sow righteousness in the world, where it had been absent before on account of their sins. The sower went out to sow. It was not sufficient for him to say, He went out to sow, but he added, The sower went out to sow to point out that he was not a new sower and was not doing this work for the first time. It was just like God to do this. He has always been sowing. Indeed, from the beginning of the human race it was natural for God to sow the seeds of knowledge. He is the One who, through Moses, sowed among the people the seeds of the commandments of the law. He is the One who, speaking through the prophets, sowed not only the remedies of things present but also the knowledge of things future. He went out, so that in a human body and through himself, he might sow his divine commandments.

Some seeds fell by the path. What is this path? It is the world into which all are born and pass through. It is a path, a pilgrimage and a passing to all who come from God and hasten to God. As the prophet said, I am your passing guest, a sojourner, like all my fathers.^[1] So even as the wayfarer is not concerned about anything along the way except for what he really needs, so too humans in their passage through the world must not be concerned about anything except for that which they really need. What is found along the path? People living according to this world, who know everything that is of the world and nothing that is of God. But day and night their minds and appetites are concerned with eating well and drinking well and cultivating the sordidness of the body. From these things all evils arise.

Let us look, as from a broader perspective, at what it means to be on the road. In a way, every road is hardened and foolish on account of the fact that it lies beneath everyone’s feet. No kind of seed finds there enough depth of soil for a covering. Instead, it lies on the surface and is ready to be snatched up by the birds that come by. Therefore those who have in themselves a mind hardened and, as it were, packed tight do not receive the divine seed but become a well-trodden way for the unclean spirits. These are what is here meant by the birds of the heaven. But heaven we understand to mean this air, in which the spirits of wickedness move about, by whom, again, the good seed is snatched up and destroyed. Then what are those upon the rock? They are those people who do not take much care of the faith they have in themselves. They have not set their minds to understand the touchstone of the mystery.^[1] The reverence these people have toward God is shallow and rootless. It is in times of ease and fair weather that they practice Christianity, when it involves none of the painful trials of winter. They will not preserve their faith in this way, if in times of tumultuous persecution their soul is not prepared for the struggle.

The seeds of the word that are lying on rocky ground are snatched away by fleeting devils. Tell me, whose fault is it? That of the devils who snatch away the seeds or that of the careless souls who do not bury them in the furrows of their hearts? I believe the fault is not that of the snatching devils. The thief who breaks through the wall enters the secret part of the house. But since he is stationed in a position outside, how can the thief be blameworthy so to speak? Thus also the devil, were he able to enter the innermost recesses of your heart to snatch the word away from you against your will, would indeed be blameworthy. But now what has been neglected and held in contempt by you, he snatches away.

And other seeds fell upon rocky ground. A rock has two properties of nature: strength and hardness. Therefore a man is said to be a rock either because of the constancy of his faith or because of the hardness of his heart. The prophet says in this regard, I will take out of them the heart of stone.^[1] What then is the ground? It is the sin nature that remains in the soul of the faithful who are still drawn toward the flesh. For many have a good mind according to nature, but some do not have a faithful mind. Their mind is from God, but their soul is from the divided will. There are people who, if you speak to them about the glory of the saints or the blessedness of the heavenly kingdom, immediately become joyful and take delight in listening. Being wise according to nature, they readily accept the word. But you who are not content to give alms from your possessions, how will you be able to sustain the loss of your material things when hard times or persecutions strike in the light of God’s word? You will become unsettled.

Other seeds fell among thorns. First, I would like to say how a word sown in you is cultivated, as you may well understand, and how it is choked by your neighbors. You cultivate it by listening carefully to the Scriptures and the traditions of the doctors. In this way the word of God is strengthened in you, grows and gladdens you, for thus it is with everything according to your belief.

You must realize that the pursuit of wealth holds you back from attending church services to hear the Scriptures and the traditions of the doctors and be fed on the word that you have received. Though you approach with your body, you do not approach with your mind. Though you listen with your ears, you do not listen with your heart. Your heart lies entirely in those things you are concerned about. The desire for wealth does not permit you to do good works. Further, why does it permit you to lend what you own at interest, and what compels you to aggrandize yourself on another person’s property? Likewise, if the word of God is jeopardized because you desire wealth or fear to lose what you have or wish to acquire what you do not have, you do not openly profess the truth of your faith. Do you see how the concern and desire for riches suffocate the word and do not allow it to yield fruit?

A fourth part is saved. But even here all are not alike. There are great differences.

Now these things Jesus said, showing that he preached to all without grudging. For the sower makes no distinction in the land submitted to him but simply and indifferently casts his seed. So he himself too makes no distinction of rich and poor, of wise and unwise, of slothful or diligent, of brave or cowardly. He plants his seed among all, fulfilling his part. Although foreknowing the results, it is within his power to say, What ought I to have done that I have not done?^[1] And the prophets speak of the people as of a vine: For my beloved had a vineyard^[2] and He brought a vine out of Egypt.^[3] His concern is with sowing the seed. What is this illustrating? That obedience now will be quick and easier and will presently yield its fruit.

But when you hear once again that the sower went forth to sow, do not think of it as a needless repetition. For the sower frequently goes forth for some other act also, either to plough, or to cut out the evil herbs, or to pluck up thorns, or to attend to some such matter. But now he is going forth to sow.

Now tell me how the greater part of the seed was lost? Not through the sower but through the ground that received it. The soul was unreceptive.

Note that Jesus does not say: The careless received some seed and lost it, the rich received other seed and choked it, and the superficial received some seed and betrayed it. It is not his intention to rebuke them severely, lest he should cast them into despair. Christ leaves the reproof to the conscience of his hearers. Remember also in the parable of the net that much was gathered in that was unprofitable.^[4]

But he speaks this parable as if to anoint his disciples and to teach them that they are not to be despondent even though those lost may be more than those who receive the word. It was with this same ease that the Lord himself continued to sow, even he who fully foreknew the outcomes.

But why would it be reasonable to sow among thorns or on rocks or on the pathway? With regard to the seeds and the earth it cannot sound very reasonable. But in the case of human souls and their instructions, it is praiseworthy and greatly to be honored. For the farmer might be laughed at for doing this, since it is impossible for a rock to bear fruit. It is not likely that the path will become anything but a path or the thorns anything but thorns. But with respect to the rational soul, this is not so predictable. For here there is such a thing as the rock changing and becoming rich land. Here it is possible that the wayside might no longer be trampled upon or lie open to all who pass by but that it may become a fertile field. In the case of the soul, the thorns may be destroyed and the seed enjoy full security. For had it been impossible, this sower would not have sown. And if the reversal did not take place in all, this is no fault of the sower but of the souls who are unwilling to be changed. He has done his part. If they betrayed what they received of him, he is blameless, the exhibitor of such love to humanity.

But mark this carefully: there is more than one road to destruction. There are differing ones, and wide apart from one another. For they who are like the wayside are the coarse-minded and indifferent and careless; but those on the rock such as fail from willed weakness only.

Some upon good soil. Good soil stands for those who abstain from deceitful wealth and who do good as far as they are able. They yield fruit thirtyfold. If they show contempt for all their goods and undertake to serve God, they have sixtyfold. And if they are afflicted by a bodily infirmity and put up with it patiently, they have a hundredfold, and the ground is good.

One who yields thirtyfold, that is, who does no evil but does good to the extent one can, this is indeed thirtyfold. One does not yield completely. One who yields sixtyfold is not fully able to show contempt for all one’s goods and fast regularly all one’s life, or live in celibacy, or suffer bodily deprivations. That would be sixtyfold. Therefore the Lord says to his apostles, who are capable of sixtyfold: Sell what you have and give alms.^[1] But upon those incapable of sixtyfold he enjoins thirtyfold, saying, Give to everyone who asks of you, and do not turn away from the one who asks for a loan.^[2] Likewise, the one who is capable of sixtyfold cannot completely attain a hundredfold. How many are those who are able to give up their goods, suffer the loss of their possessions, live in celibacy, suffer bodily deprivations and yet do not have the heart to sustain a hundredfold?

We have good cause to admire the disciples. Longing as they do to learn, they know when they ought to ask. They do not ask in the presence of the crowd. Matthew shows this by saying, And they came. But to show that this is not a conjecture, Mark has expressed it more distinctly by saying that they came to him privately.^[1] This is what his brothers and his mother should have done. It would have been better if his family had not called him out and made a scene.

But mark the disciples’ gentle affection, how they have much regard for the others and how they seek the other’s good first and then their own. For why, they ask, do you speak to them in parables? They did not say, Why do you speak to us in parables? On other occasions as well we can see their kindness in their human relationships, as when they said, Send the multitude away^[2] and Do you know that they were offended?^[3]

The question may be raised as to how the disciples came up to Jesus when he was sitting in the boat. Perhaps we should understand by this that they had gotten into the boat with him a short while before and were now standing there asking him to interpret the parable.

To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. In light of these words some might put the blame on God for their own negligence, saying: It isn’t my fault if I don’t know what God has not given me to know. And they don’t say this dolefully, because they do not understand anything about God. Rather, they are only seeking an excuse for their sins. The psalm says concerning them: Incline not my heart to any evil, to finding excuses for my wicked deeds in company with those who work iniquity.^[1] Therefore let us speak more clearly on this point. Every intellect is from the Holy Spirit and is a God-given grace. It is one thing that God has given his grace to all humanity. It is another thing to refine this by saying that the grace he gives is not given to all people irrespective of their responses but to those who are more worthy and excellent and fit to be chosen.

Notice how Jesus says, To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.^[2] He did not say to you it is given to someone who has no knowledge whatever of good and evil. All rational souls are given a chance to understand the difference between good and evil. Yet not all have the grace of knowing the mysteries of the kingdom. It is not the fault of God who does not give, because this general rational knowledge is available, but of the person who does not ask or make haste or work in order to be ready to receive the kingdom. If you pursue this general knowledge of good and evil—that is, if you make good use of what you can know—you will be ready to receive the special knowledge of knowing the mystery. But if you have hidden that general knowledge in the ground, that is meant to supply nature’s needs, how will you merit the special knowledge that is meant as a reward for good will or works?

Although the saying is quite obscure, it indicates unspeakable justice. For what Christ is saying is something like this: When anyone has zeal and eagerness, there will be given to him on God’s part all things sufficient for his needs. But if he lacks any responsiveness and is not ready to contribute his own share, neither are God’s gifts bestowed. In that case even what he seems to have, so Jesus says, shall be taken away from him. Here it is not so much God taking something away from him as it is his own unreadiness to receive these gifts.

We ourselves do this all the time. When we see someone listening carelessly and when with much effort we cannot persuade him to listen at all, then it remains for us to be silent. For if we continue, even his carelessness is aggravated. But for someone who is striving to learn, we lead on and pour in much.

In people who are teachable and well disposed for receiving the divine words the Holy Spirit will make his abode, increasing in them his gifts. But in those who have acquired only a tiny spark of light and have been negligent even with that, even the little that they formerly had becomes utterly quenched and is taken from them. This is what some Jews have experienced, who received a light from the law but gained no increase from it. When the Truth arrived, they became dim-sighted toward it; even what they had has been taken away.

It is certainly possible for something to be added to someone who has. But it is impossible to take away from him who does not have. How are we to understand this? If something is taken away from him who does not have and yet he does not have anything to begin with, what is taken away from him? Here is how we should understand this. He who has a mind and does not do justice with it pertaining to God’s glory but rather occupies it with earthly things, of him we say: having he does not have. For though he has a mind and can see, he is said to be blind. That person does not have who brings nothing to God.

It was frequently his habit to make use of parables for at least two reasons: either because he would be speaking about things unseen, so as, by the parable, to make invisible things seen, so far as this was possible. Or it was because of the unworthiness of the hearers, when nothing beneficial would come to them from the things that were said. But there was another, third cause for parables. Frequently, when he was saying something by way of refutation, he would by means of a parable temper the harshness of the refutations for the sake of the hearers, as when he tells the parable of the vineyard and says that he will miserably destroy those evil men and will rent out his vineyard to others.^[1] In saying these things to the Pharisees, Jesus clearly avoided harsh language.

If Jesus had said, I will speak to them in parables so that seeing they may not see, it might be thought to not be the fault of those Jews who did not understand but of Christ who spoke in such a way that they did not understand. But now he says, This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see. You must understand therefore it is not the fault of Christ who is unwilling to speak clearly but of those who while hearing are unwilling to hear. It was not because Christ was speaking in parables that they did not see but because of their way of seeing. Therefore Christ spoke to them in parables. Behold, they saw the wonders of Moses. Did they not truly see? If they did truly see, they certainly would have also feared God the worker of miracles. Behold, they heard the Teacher of the law. Did they not truly hear? If they did truly hear him, they certainly would have lived according to the law and believed in him about whom the law prophesied. They saw also the wonderful things, but seeing they did not really see. If they had seen them, they would also have profited by them. It is easier for those who see to know what they saw than for those who hear to understand what they heard. How did it happen that those who heard of the wonderful revelation of God did not see and know them? Because the Jews seeing were accustomed not to see and hearing not to hear; therefore God did not give them the eyes of faith to see Christ’s divine miracles or to hear his living words.

After this, lest any one should suppose his words to be a mere accusation and lest people should say, Being our enemy he is bringing these charges and calumnies against us, Jesus introduces the prophet Isaiah. The prophet pronounced the same judgment as Jesus himself: With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which says, ‘You shall indeed hear but never understand, and you shall indeed see but never perceive.’ So it is the prophet himself who accuses them with the same precise point. He did not say You see not but You shall indeed see but never perceive. He did not say You do not hear but You shall indeed hear but never understand. So they first inflicted the loss on themselves, by stopping their ears, by closing their eyes, by making their heart fat. For they not only failed to hear but also heard heavily, and they did this, he said, lest they should turn for me to heal them. Thus he described their aggravated wickedness and their determined defection from him. But he said this to draw them closer to him, and to provoke them and to signify that if they would convert he would heal them. It is much as if one should say, He would not look at me, and I thank him; for if he had given me even a glance, I would straightway have given in. He spoke in this way to signify how he would wish to have been reconciled. He implied that both their conversion was possible and that upon their repentance they might be saved. It was not for his own glory alone, but for their salvation, that he was doing all things.

For if it had not been his will that they should hear and be saved, he would have remained silent and would not have spoken in parables. But now in this very manner he stirs them up, even by speaking under a veil. For God does not will the death of the sinner but that he should turn to him and live.^[1]

Faith perceives the mysteries of the kingdom. A person will make progress in those things he has been immersed in and will abound with an increase in that progress. But in those things he has not been immersed in, even that which he has shall be taken away from him. In other words, he suffers the loss of the law from the loss of his faith. Lacking faith, the people of the law lost even the efficacy of the law. Therefore, gospel faith receives a perfect gift, because it enriches with new fruit those things that have been undertaken. But once it is rejected, even the help of one’s former means of support is taken away.

He gives reasons why seeing they do not see and hearing they do not hear. He says, The heart of this people has been hardened . . . and with their ears they have been hard of hearing. And lest we think that their hardness of heart and hearing are natural and not voluntary, Jesus alludes to the fault of the will and says, They have closed their eyes, lest at any time they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their mind, and be converted, and I heal them.^[1] Therefore with closed eyes they who are unwilling to perceive the truth hear in parables and in riddles.

To say lest at any time they should turn and I should heal them points to a hardened intractability. . . . For he speaks in this way in order to save them, since [otherwise] he ought rather to have said nothing but have been silent, except that it is not for his own glory’s sake but for their salvation that Jesus does everything.

He blesses them, accordingly, as hearers of the Son’s voice and as having been made ready to see him, through whom and in whom they saw, intellectually, the nature of God and the Father. Of these things the saints of old were accounted worthy, those, namely, who most completely possess a joy in good things.

He teaches the blessedness of the apostolic times to those whose eyes and ears are fortunate to look upon and hear the salvation of God. These are the prophets and the righteous who have longed to see and hear the fulfillment of the expected times. They share in the joy of that expectation reserved for the apostles.

Do you see that what has been given them is a free gift? Yet they would not have been blessed unless they had cooperated with the gift with well doing of their own. Do not tell me this is spoken obscurely. Those who did not hear might have come and asked him for further clarification, as the disciples did. But they did not will to do so, being careless and apathetic. Why do I say that they did not will to do this? They were doing the very opposite, not only disbelieving, not only not listening, but even waging war. They were disposed to be very bitter against all he said. So Jesus brings before them the charge of the prophet: Their ears were unwilling to hear.

But the hearers were not like this, and this is why they were blessed. In yet another way he assures them again, saying, Many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it, that is, hear of my coming, my miracles, my voice, my teaching. Here he compares the hearers to the nonhearers. He affirms the hearers as blessed not only because they have seen what the prophets did not see but even what those of old desired to see but did not. For they indeed beheld by faith only, but these were beholding by sight too, and much more distinctly.

Do you see once again how Christ connects the old dispensation with the new, signifying that those of old not only knew the things to come but also greatly desired them? But had they pertained to some strange and opposing God, they would never have desired them.

It seems that what he said elsewhere runs counter to this point: Abraham desired to see my day. He saw it and rejoiced.^[1] He did not say all the prophets and righteous people desired to see what you see, but many. Among many it may be that some see and some do not see, although in our interpretation we seem to be making a distinction between the merits of the saints. Therefore Abraham saw dimly as though in a mirror, but you now have and hold your Lord and question him freely and eat with him.

The wicked one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. The wicked one snatches away the good seed. You must also understand that it was sown in the heart. The diversity of soils stands for the diversity of the souls of believers. And when trouble and persecution come because of the word, he at once falls away. Notice what was said: He at once falls away. Hence there is some distance between the one who is constrained by many troubles and sufferings to deny Christ and the one who in the face of persecution immediately falls away and succumbs.

Not all the Gospel writers use the same terms in reporting this parable. Matthew wrote of the evil one, Mark of Satan, and Luke of the devil.^[1] The phrases by the wayside and in the path are not quite the same thing. Weigh in the allusion of the statement I am the way.^[2] Both Matthew and Mark say, most felicitously, that the word was sowed on stony ground, not upon a stone.

Now to all that which is by the wayside, the words those who do not understand apply. But to the good ground these words apply: This is he who hears the word and understands it. Perhaps then those seeds that fall on stony ground and those that fall among thorns fall between the people without knowledge and those who understand. This then is an exhortation to meditate diligently upon the faculty of perception. If the seed of the one who is dense is snatched away, the seed of intellect ought to be taken up and covered in the ground of memory, so that it may spread forth roots and may not be found naked or snatched away by the spirits of wickedness.

The deceitfulness of riches chokes, and so does the speech of heretics. The rich are liars, contrasted with the poor, righteous person, who is poor in speech and knowledge but righteous in life. The care of all the churches of which the apostle speaks^[1] is distinguished from the care of this world.^[2] One suffers from these worldly cares when one does not rejuvenate one’s own soil but receives the word without paying attention and sprouts up thorns, with which the earth was cursed because of the disobedience of Adam. He heard of the thorns and thistles it shall produce for you,^[3] whose end is to be burned.^[4] For these are not sown but spring forth of themselves. They choke the word of God through troubles and whims. One who knows truly both understands and bears fruit. But if anyone seems to understand without bearing fruit, one does not understand. If one seems to bear fruit without understanding, one does not bear fruit. This displays the variety of levels of virtue spoken of in the text: sixtyfold and thirtyfold and a hundredfold. Virtue’s strictness is not exhibited by everyone to the same degree. Some care less about it, some more.

The seed sown among the thorns is the person who listens to the word, but the anxiety of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it is made fruitless. This reminds us of the words spoken to Adam: You shall eat your bread among thorns and thistles.^[1] This mystically signifies that those who give themselves over to the pleasures and cares of this world eat the heavenly bread and true food among thorns. Hence the Lord fittingly added, The deceitfulness of riches chokes the word. Riches are enticing indeed, promising one thing and doing another. The possession of riches is uncertain. They are borne from place to place. Unpredictably they either desert the haves or gorge the have-nots. The Lord also states that it is difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven, for riches choke the word of God and weaken the force of the virtues.

Daniel, knowing that the intelligent are the light of the world and that the multitudes of the righteous differ in glory, seems to have said this, And the intelligent shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and from among the multitudes of the righteous as the stars for ever and ever.^[1] And in the passage, There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars. For one star differs from another star in glory: so also is the resurrection of the dead,^[2] the apostle says the same thing as Daniel, taking this thought from his prophecy.

And the one sown upon good ground is he who hears the word, understands it and bears fruit. Even as on bad ground there were three diverse situations (by the path, upon rocky ground and among thorns), so too on good ground the diversity is of three types: fruit of one hundredfold, sixtyfold and thirtyfold. Both in one and the other there is a change that takes place in the will, not in the nature itself. In both the unbelievers and believers it is the heart that receives the seed. The wicked one comes, he says, and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. In the second and third cases, he says, That is he who hears the word. In the explanation of the good ground, he is the one who hears the word. First we must listen, then understand; after understanding, we must bear the fruits of good teaching and yield fruit either one hundredfold, sixtyfold or thirtyfold.