The Parable of the Sower

The light the last few days has been amazing. I could not resist taking a more detailed view of the carving of the pulpit at The Mackintosh Church.

The carving on the pulpit which is repeated 5 times round its curved front, seems to show bird's wings embracing and protecting young vegetable shoots; perhaps they are the seed which was sown on fertile ground. Echoes of the parable of the sower (which comes from St Matthew's gospel) abound round this church of St. Matthew.

Here is an extract from the Parable of the Sower from St. Matthews Gospel:
Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: "Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear."