People were streaming in from every direction — town after town — until a great crowd had gathered. Jesus told them a story: “A farmer went out to sow. As he scattered seed, some fell along the path. It was trampled. Birds devoured it. Some fell on rock and sprouted, but without moisture it withered. Some fell among thorns. The thorns grew alongside it and choked it out. But some fell into good soil. It grew and produced a crop — a hundred timestranslateTextA hundred times (ἑκατονταπλασίονα)In first-century Palestinian agriculture, a yield of four to tenfold was considered good. Thirtyfold was exceptional. A hundredfold was miraculous — Isaac's harvest in Genesis 26:12 at a hundredfold is explicitly attributed to God's blessing. Jesus' parable sets up a paradox: three out of four sowings fail completely, but the one that succeeds produces an impossible abundance. The kingdom of God, Luke suggests, operates by a different arithmetic. what was sown.” “Whoever has ears to hear — hear!”