Paul Bugner
Dean Cecconi
Alana Berardinelli
Christina Foos
April 2000
"The Parable of the Sower and the Seed" (Lk 8:5-8) was written was to illustrate Jesus’ power and his identity (Brown 240). In this pericope, Luke writes about Jesus’ parables and how he used them to illustrate his messages to his followers.
This pericope is appropriately divided. The Parable of the Sower is not just a passage put in the middle of the section. Before the passage, Galilean women follow Jesus wherever he goes because he cured them. Jesus was going from town to town proclaiming the Good News and when a large group gathered around him, Jesus spoke of the Parable of the Sower. After the parable, Jesus explains the meaning of the parable. Jesus then told another parable to the crowd.
Luke is from Syria and possibly from the city of Antioch but he did not work for the church of Antioch. Originally Luke was not Jewish; he was converted by Paul and Barnabas. He was also a physician. Luke was a gifted literary artist and is accredited for writing the Acts of the Apostles (Brown 267). Luke was a fellow worker and traveling companion of Paul. He joined Paul at Traos and then accompanied him to Philippi in Macedonia. Luke then stayed in Philippi for about seven years to assist with the newly founded church. Luke was Paul’s constant companion up to the first imprisonment at Rome. He again accompanied Paul between the first and second imprisonment’s up to Paul martyrdom in Rome (Dowd 106-107).
Luke intended his audiences to be Jewish Christians with Greek background. Some of his writings were to the Roman officials. He is trying to persuade them to deal freely with the Christians.
Scholars can not agree on a date for Luke, but it is generally agreed that it was written between 75-85 CE. It took about 2 years to complete, and it is possible that he was in Rome when it was written. Nero was the emperor during the time Luke was writing. He prosecuted Christians his entire reign. Rome was recently burned in 64 CE. Peter and Paul are put to Death. The First Jewish Revolt takes place from 66-70 CE (Brown 273-274).
Luke begins his gospel in a manner similar to ancient historians. 'In as much as many have undertaken to compile a narrative...it seemed good to me also... to write an orderly account for you...’ In the least this implies two things: 1) Luke was aware of written (and oral) sources based on eye witness accounts. 2) Luke used some of these sources in the composition of his gospel." (http://www.bible.org/docs/soapbox/synoptic.htm)
There is a textual issue concerning this pericope. There is a direct link to the same parable in Matthew (13:3-9). This is significant because one of the authors may have copied from the other. It is important to see which one was written first and to see if one is more credible. Here are some possible reasons why Luke and Matthew are so much in agreement: coincidences by their redactional treatment of Mark, the overlapping of Q, textual corruption, and overlapping oral traditions. (http://www.bible.org/docs/soapbox/synoptic.htm). One possible theory is that of Griesbach. It says that Matthew influenced Mark and Luke, and that mark was influenced by Luke. This can be said because some parts of Luke and Matthew are so similar, and because there are no parts of mark in Matthew.
One key word that was discovered was the word "seed", which in this case means the word of God. The central idea of this pericope is that the seed is the word of God. The people think they need to follow the path but the devil comes and takes away the words from their hearts and they believe that they can not be saved .The audience should not sway away from God. Knowledge can be perceived in many different forms. The seed may look but not see or hear yet still understand. This passage is "Catholic" because Jesus is saying that all are welcome as long as they are willing to open their ears and listen.
Luke does not have all of the details that the other authors write about. He tries to get his message across without going in to detail about what the soil is like. He uses a sower because sowing seed by hand is something that the people would have know about. A contemporary audience may be persuaded because Jesus says, "Let anyone with ears to hear listen". This may be interesting because in today’s society, things are so individualistic, and Jesus is saying that there is one message for all people. A contemporary audience might not be able to relate to a sower very well. In our modern society, very few people sow many seeds by hand. Perhaps if it were rewritten with a different occupation as the focal point more contemporary
Christians would be able to relate to it.