V. 11. Now the parable is this: The seed is the Word of God, V. 12. Those by the wayside are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the Word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. V. 13. They on the rock are they which, when they hear, receive the Word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.
The disciples at that time had as yet little spiritual knowledge and understanding. And so Jesus patiently explains to them the meaning of the parable, since to them it was given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, not by their merit or worthiness, nor because they had been interested in Christ or His work by their own reason and strength. In case of the others, however, that did not want to believe, the parables served a different purpose. Seeing they should not see, and hearing they should not understand. The eyes of their bodies might behold all that was going on in miracles and other happenings, and yet they would not recognize the power of God, the Messiah-ship of Jesus. Their ears might hear the sounds of the words, but their meaning was hidden from them.
What Isaiah had been obliged to say with regard to the hardening of Israel was being fulfilled, Is. 6, 9. 10. The judgment of God upon a disobedient people had begun in the days of Isaiah, and was completed in the days of Christ and the apostles. It is an earnest warning for all times, 2 Cor. 2, 15. 16; 4, 3. 4. Christ's explanation of the parable was brief and simple. The seed of which He speaks is the Word. That shall be strewn, that shall be scattered broadcast again and again, with patient labor. The first class of hearers are those by the wayside, hearers only. There is not even a chance for the Word to begin its saving influence in their case. The seed is lying on top of the hearts, and the devil takes it away, lest, believing, they should be saved.
"Therefore He says that the devil comes and takes the Word from their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. Which power of the devil not only signifies this, that the hearts, hardened by worldly ideas and life, lose the Word and let it escape, that they never understand it, but also that in the place of the Word of God the devil sends false teachers that tread it down with doctrines of men. For both is here given, that the seed is trodden down on the path and that it is eaten by the birds." (Luther, 11, 516).
The second class of hearers are those that have a mere veneer, a shallow covering of Christianity. With them the "getting religion" is merely an incident, and they are able to change their profession like their clothes. There is no idea of indoctrination in their case; they are not firmly grounded and rooted in Scriptures. They are violent enthusiasts while it lasts, but the excitement does not last. For a time, and usually a short time, at that, they are prominently identified with the work of the Church. But then their interest flags and departs as suddenly as it came into being. In the time of temptation, when there seems to be danger of suffering for the sake of their convictions, they are no longer among those present.
"The second class contains those that accept with joy, but they do not hold out. This is also a great crowd, that hear the Word properly and accept it in its purity, without any sects and schismatics and enthusiasts; they are glad also that they may know the right truth and find how we may be saved without works through faith; also because they have been delivered from the imprisonment of the Law, the conscience, and human doctrine. But when it comes to the battle, that they should on that account suffer harm, contempt, loss of life and goods, then they fall away and deny it all." (Luther, 11, 517).