Daily Bible Reading 4th July 2026 // Luke 8:4-15
4 And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable: 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6 And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. 8 And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
9 And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, 10 he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand’. 11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. 14 And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. 15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.
These verses contain not only the parable of the sower but also our Lord's own interpretation of it, and it is inevitable therefore that we should study both together. Although it is called the parable of the sower, it is clear that the soil in which the sower sows his seed is, for us, the critical factor. For the parable throws the burden of responsibility for the yield of the harvest upon men, upon those who hear. It is right hearing and right reception of the seed of the Word that brings forth fruit to the glory of God. We cannot sufficiently admire the clear indication the parable gives as to what the work of the kingdom and the heart of the gospel enterprise really is: preaching! The seed is the Word, and the sowing is the preaching of that Word. This is the weapon that God has put in our hands - this is that which under God is mighty to the pulling down of strongholds. This is the way - the God-appointed way - that the kingdom of God is to be extended. This is the way in which God speaks to men and changes and transforms their lives. Many times in Scripture, the coming of the Word of God to a man is spoken of as that which produces the fruits of the kingdom of God - cf 1 Peter 1:23ff; James 1:18ff; Hebrews 4:2,12 - such passages speak in plain language what Christ speaks here in parable form. In the last of these references there is a significant comment which illuminates the nature of the response that we must make to the Word - it is that the hearing of it should be mixed with faith that is essential for the bringing forth of fruit. Ultimately, faith is the gift of God, and itself comes by hearing; and yet, in some mysterious and incontrovertible sense, it is our responsibility - our response, our reaction, to the Word of God.